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April 15, 2007
"The Dead" and the living and the somewhere in between
So James Joyce's short story "The Dead" has forever altered (at least my) literary understanding of snow as a symbol. In short, and very simplistically, Joyce uses snow as a symbol which "covers" our memories of the past in order to give way to the present and/or future. It also serves as a universal equalizer because it covers us all. The last line of "The Dead" captures the implication of this symbol much more effectively, and beautifully, than I can so: "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
Interestingly, I thought of Joyce when reading Beloved for the first time during the scene in which Paul D, Sethe, and Denver go to that carnival (it has a feel similar to Joyce's story "Araby"). Then, I noticed myself thinking of Joyce again in the scene in which Beloved pulls out her own tooth and does not cry. This scene follows Sethe inviting Paul D. back to her bed after he asks her to have his baby.
Anyway... enough background. Here is the quotation that made me think of Joyce: "The couple upstairs, united, didn't hear a sound, but below them, outside, all around 124 the snow went on and on and on. Piling itself, burying itself. Higher. Deeper" (134). This is remeniscent of Joyce because like in "The Dead" this scene is one in which snow acts as a force which acts on all whether they recognize it or not. It also somehow acts to at once seperate and unify the "two couples" upstairs and downstairs (Paul D. and Sethe upstairs, Beloved and Denver downstairs).
I wish that I could more precisely define what made me think of Joyce and how the snow functions in this novel. However, I am at a loss. There are other instances of snow (when Paul D. asks Sethe to have his baby and they later see, and are startled by, Beloved) in which both the living and the dead (Beloved) are involved. Anyone have any ideas about this pesky, symbolic snow?
Posted by premonp at April 15, 2007 08:36 PM
Comments
I like the connection you have drawn here. Paul D has been described as (paraphrased): "a man who can walk into a room and make the women cry because they feel they can around him." Basically, his kindness and demeanor allow women to give up all of the stored frustration and doubt they have and realize that there is goodness in the world. If we are to assume the same about his interactions with Sethe, then the snow might serve to cover her memories about the past (forget about how she tried to murder her children); that Paul D is in each of these scenes strengthens this notion. Also, that Beloved begins to fall apart (loses a tooth) and voices her concern about it would further support this, if we are to take that she is a ghost brought forth from her mother's guilt.
In retrospect, everything I have written here seems almost unforgivably lame, but hopefully someone can get something out of this...
Posted by: gdejongh at April 15, 2007 11:10 PM
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