”I Think He Died for Me,” She Answered

1. ”I Think He Died for Me,” She Answered GUIDED ANALYSIS MILLENNIUM 2 P. 189

2. Read the first paragraph. • From the opening of the passage we realise how much Gabriel is attracted to Gretta: quote. • “trembling with delight at her sudden kiss …. put his hands on her hair and began smoothing it back .. with his fingers” (ll. 1 – 3); • His heart was brimming over with happiness” (ll. 3 – 4); • “the impetuous desire that was in him” (l.6). • Consider the rest of the passage • What is the reason for Gretta’s tears? • The memory of a young boy she knew when she was a girl and was at her grandmother’s house in Galway, Michael Fury, the boy, aged 17, worked in the gasworks and died of consumption just a few days after going out at night in the snow to see her once again before her departure. This makes Gretta say he died for me. • Gabriel looks at himself twice in two different ways: quote the lines and say how he sees himself. • In lines 18 – 21 he happens to catch sight of his own image in the mirror and he seems to be proud of his good looks but also perplexed at the expression of his face. • In lines 59 – 62, instead, he sees himself as a foolish, ridiculous, vain, sentimental and selfish man, afraid of the comparison Gretta might have made between him and the memory of Michael Fury.

3. Match each emotion with the corresponding colour • Focus on characterization. The expressions that indicate Gabriel’s emotions have been highlighted for you in the text: • anger • “The smile passed away from Gabriel’s face …angrily in his veins” (ll. 30 -32); • jealousy • “ Gabriel was silent. He did not wish her to think that he was interested in this delicate boy” (ll.36 – 37); • “O then, you were in love with him?” said Gabriel” (l.40); • “Perhaps that was why you wanted to Galway with that Ivors girl” he said coldly (ll.43 – 44); • “How do I know? To see him perhaps” (l.48). • respect • “Gabriel held her hand …shy of intruding on her grief … walked quietly to the window” (ll.110 – 112);

4. humiliation • “Her eyes made Gabriel feel awkward” (l.47); • Gabriel felt humiliated by the failure of his irony “ (l.55); • “a shameful consciousness of his own person …a ludicrous figure” (l. 58-59); • “Instinctively he turned his back more to the light…. the shame that burned upon his forehead” (ll.62 – 63); • “his voice when he spoke was humble and indifferent” (ll. 64 – 65). • terror • “A vague terror seized Gabriel …gathering forces against him in its vague world” (ll. 73 – 75). • tenderness • “put his hands on her hair and began smoothing it back … with his fingers” (ll.2 -3); • “A kinder note than he had inended went into his voice (l.24); • “caressed one of her hands and said, also sadly” (ll 69 -70); • “he continued to caress it just as he had caressed her first letter … morning” (ll.78 – 79).

5. Personal response. • What interpretation do you give of Gabriel’s contrasting feelings? What do they tell us about his personality? • Gabriel’s different reactions reveal that he is a sensitive man who, after a first reaction of anger and jealousy, becomes tender and steps back not to intrude on Gretta’s feelings.