Definition of Stream of Consciousness
Joyce’s use of stream of consciousness is more pronounced in his 1922 novel Ulysses, which arguably represents the apotheosis of the technique in Western modernist literature. Still, there are glimpses of it in "The Dead," too, which features a close third-person perspective. In this passage, the narrator tracks Gabriel's disjointed thought process as he and Gretta prepare for bed in their hotel room:
His eyes moved to the chair over which she had thrown some of her clothes. A petticoat string dangled to the floor. One boot stood upright, its limp upper fallen down: the fellow of it lay upon its side. He wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From what had it proceeded? [...] Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse. [...] Soon, perhaps, he would be sitting in that same drawing-room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees.