David G. Wright and Vincent J. Cheng in the Norton Critical Edition of Dubliners

Paper #1 Assignment

As the essays by David G. Wright and Vincent J. Cheng in the Norton Critical Edition of Dubliners suggest, readers have disagreed about how to interpret the book’s concluding story, “The Dead.”  Readers of “the Dead” have disagreed about the significance of its formal elements (narration, plot, characterization, setting, etc.) as well as more thematic questions of history, nationality, social class, gender, and marriage evoked by the story.  They have furthermore disagreed about the story’s significance as the concluding story of Dubliners.

Define a topic that links “The Dead” with Dubliners more generally and write an essay that argues for your interpretation of the topic’s significance in the story.  You could concentrate on a formal element of “The Dead” or a thematic question.  Either way, your essay should have a clear thesis and argument, supported primarily by careful analysis of “The Dead,” especially its conclusion.  In developing your topic, consider both the story’s relation to Dubliners as a whole and to the broader implications of the story’s significance.

Required Materials

James Joyce, Dubliners (Norton Critical Edition) –

MUST BE THE CORRECT EDITION