"The Dead" has both connectedness with and difference from the preceding fourteen stories in Dubliners. In other words, this work covers the area of death symbolized by `paralysis` like the other ones, but it also opens the door to the possibility of regaining a new life. Gabriedl Conroy is a male protagonist who shows both characteristics. Gabriedl Conroy is one of the typical Dubliners who try to dominate others on the ground of minor differences from them. But he is relinquishing his sense of self-importance and all distinctions of which he has prided himself. And this spiritual development is possible thanks to several women who attempt to break down the barriers of differences by the patriarchal ego he is so deeply implicated in. Unlike the preceding stories, there appear many women characters in "The Dead". These women constitute threats to the male protagonist`s shaky feelings of superiority by pointing to the fictitiousness of his superiority. Even though women are generally marginalized in this patriarchal society, they still have the power to recognize and criticize this fictitiousness of hierarchical principles of imperialism and patriarchy. The British defined the Irish as a feminine race and applied the regulations of a patriarchal society. The problem, however, is that this binary thought by the empire was internalized by the colonized Irish. So the political independence alson is not enough to release Ireland from "the spiritual paralysis" rooted in the long-standing colonial situation. That`s why Joyce wants his works to be "a nicely polished looking glass" for his countrymen and attempts to awaken them to a sense of their own debased condition. For this reason, we should value Gabriel Conroy`s spiritual development from egotism to humanitarianism through struggle with women/others. His swoon at the end of the story seems to be a symbolic death from which he can rise revivified. In short, he is the man who seems to be able to change himself and gain "the ture spiritual liberation."