In Reading, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, I could not help but relate the speaker to James Joyce's main character in "The Dead" Gabriel. Both of these men mimic many of the same characteristics pertaining to their views of themselves in dealing with society. In both pieces of work the setting is a party, both men gaze at their loves from a far while their thoughts are worlds apart from that of their love interest, both men have the disposition of the inability to act on their emotions, and both men live in fear of simply taking a chance for fear of the outcome.
             In, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Prufrock never allowed himself the chance to really live. It always seemed that he wanted to do more and more, but his self-determination never got the push it needed to actually drive his ambitions. His behavior seemed like he was almost begging someone to ask him his thoughts, a depressive cry for help. The poem begins with an excerpt from Dante's Inferno:
             "If I thought that my reply would be to one who would ever return
             to the world, ...but since none has ever returned alive from this depth, if
             what I hear is true, I answer you without fear of infamy"(Dante, Inferno
             I believe that Eliot opened the work in this way because it basically summarizes the poem's main point: Prufrock would never speak any of his thoughts or dreams to anyone who would have the chance at repeating them for fear of being rejected.
             Another point that stood out in the poem is that Prufrock really seemed like he wanted to act on his thoughts. I easily pictured him standing in a corner, as if at his first formal dance, conjuring up the courage to as a young lady to dance, but each time recoiling into his shell of discomfort and cowardice. He seemed to believe that his indecisiveness was valid because he had plenty o
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