Today was the day of sharing diamonds from The Dead in class. There are many to be had, even though it is undeniably styled like a mundane story, not something that we would see elsewhere in a big exciting world other than the one we live in(mundane actually is derived from mundo, the world). Because, according to Mr. Sexson, 95% of writing out there is aimed at lazy readers, who expect the story to do everything for them. Joyce needs you to be an active reader and pull the meat from the story out on your own(really Virginia Woolf is another writer who requires her readers to be active).

One learns things one wouldn't expect to. I did not catch the linking of the painting of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet with Michael Furey, or with Gabriel looking up at his wife on the stairs in ecstacsy from the music. But now I do. Guess I need to strive toward being a more active reader than.