James Joyce's story "The Dead" has a tremendous impact on the
             readers, especially those who are familiar with the political situation in
             Ireland at the time about which the Joyce wrote the final story in
             Dubliners. In exploring the meaning of James Joyce's long short-story,
             "The Dead", there are many critical approaches to take. Each approach
             gives readers a lens, a set of guidelines through which to examine and
             express ideas of the meaning of "The Dead." Joyce himself said that the
             idea of paralysis was his intended them of all the stories in The Dubliners
             of which "The Dead" is the final story.Of all critical approaches, reader
             response works best for me. This approach examines the images, symbols,
             point-of-view, characterization and setting of "The Dead" in such a way as
             to reveal the theme of paralysis that Joyce intended. The two characters
             that appeal to me are, Gabriel and his wife Gretta who are invited every
             year to a family gathering by Gabriels two aunts on New Years eve. Gabriel,
             who is a university professor, does not want to be identified with Ireland.
             He wants to be identifies as a citizen of the world.
             His arrogance is revealed in his interaction with others. A
             primary example would be the way he treats his wife Gretta as an object.
             As Peter J. Rabinowitz informs one that in reader response
             criticism the "...activity of reading always alters the text at hand. Unless
             we are limiting ourselves to reading in the sense of uninflected recitation,
             reading is never a passive activity to which the reader contributes nothing.
             In the reader response criticism, reading is a text in which individual
             experiences bear on the subject. Every individual interprets the text
             differently due to one having different experiences that determines the
             The images reflect Gabriels ego in a sense, at the same for his
             marital relationship, and at the end death, which m
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