The Dead is one of the twentieth centurys most beautiful pieces of short literature. Taking his inspiration from a family gathering held every year on the Feast of the Epiphany, Joyce pens a story about a married couple attending a Christmas-season party at the house of the husbands two elderly aunts. A shocking confession made by the husbands wife toward the end of the story showcases the power of Joyces greatest innovation: the epiphany, that moment when everything, for character and reader alike, is suddenly clear.