Time and the way in which it interacts with feelings is exemplified in Joyce's "The Dead", through Gretta's lack of ability to let go of her former love all these years later, suspended within the memories of the short moment in time when he was alive. She tenderly recalls her time with this boy who was so in love that she believed he died for her (Joyce 221) before, "She stopped, choking with sobs, and, overcome by emotion, flung herself face downward on the bed, sobbing in the quilt (Joyce 223).