Response to Michael Levenson’s “Living History in ‘The Dead’” Essay Example

e to the next? What is the connection between the political background and the two characters? Is there any significance to this alternating method of discussion? Though the interchange between Gabriel Conroy and Miss Ivors is short, it is vital to finding the answering these questions and understanding Levenson’s motivation behind this irregular arrangement.

Levenson first uses the scene on page 164 of “The Dead” in illustrating Gabriel’s thoughts on the connection between literature and politics. Miss Ivors has just figured out that Gabriel is a book reviewer at The Daily Express and teases him by calling him a “West Briton,” which is someone who views Ireland as an imperial extension of Great Britain and a person “who fails to acknowledge an independent Irish identity” (Levenson, 164). Gabriel finds himself a bit perturbed and struggles to find a response to the playful ribbing