Robert Kaplan in “Madness and James Joyce” points out that James Joyce is known as “the best modernist writer of his time” (172). The specific technique of Joyce's modernism is its stream of consciousness. However, some critics view this stream of consciousness as simple madness (Kaplan 172). Whether this is true or not, it is a typical Joyce characteristic. In “The Dead,” there are several examples of this stream of consciousness. One of them, the reader, has unlimited access to the flow of Gabriel's thoughts and feelings as he leaves the party with his wife Gretta. Joyce says: “He then felt proud and happy, happy that she was his, proud of her grace and bearing as a wife. But now, after having rekindled so many memories, the first contact of her body, musical, strange and fragrant, sent him a sharp pang of lust” (706). This is just one of many examples of the stream of consciousness the reader can see throughout “The Dead.” This shows that Joyce is clearly using modernism in “The Dead”. Although modernism is a typical characteristic, there is another typical characteristic that Joyce uses in this project.