The Dead is a short story by James Joyce and is the last story in his novel The Dubliners. This story was said to have been the best written by Joyce and was later turned into a film by John Huston. Huston uses the majority of the substance created by Joyce to produce his film, as well as add some extra bits and remove some information to keep the film moving. .
To begin, symbols were used in both the film and the story. The story, however, contains more obvious symbols than the film. For example, in the story a painting of Romeo and Juliet is spoken of, which symbolizes Michael Furey and Gretta, as well as foreshadows the story Gretta will tell Gabriel at the end of the story. This symbol is not included in the film; the painting is not shown hanging on the wall that Gabriel glances at.
There were, however, some symbols in both the story and the film. Snow is an example of one of these symbols. This symbol serves the same purpose for both works as well. The snow serves as a uniting object for the living and the dead; the snow covers the dead in their graves as well as covering everything that surrounds the living. Snow also symbolizes purity, covering all the world's imperfections with a fresh, new, white blanket. In both the story and the film, snow is used for these two purposes.
Second, the characters were changed some for purposes in the film that were different than the story, although the dialogue that was in the story remained essentially the same in the film, almost word for word in some instances. One instance where characters were added, was a guest that was added to the party. This guest recites the poem "Broken Vows" before Aunt Julia sings. However, although this character was added, the majority of the characters stay the same, as well as their actions. For example, in the story Miss Ivors and Gabriel dance and have a small argument. This argument exists in the movie between the same characters.
