Masculinity and femininity are important topics today; however, they were also important topics in the 20th century. Authors such as James Joyce, who wrote The Dead, fought this prominent topic in 1914. Masculinity is the characterization of masculine qualities associated with men, such as aggression and emotionless attributes (Farlex). Femininity is described as the characterization of feminine qualities associated with females, it is essentially the nature of the female sex (Merriam-Webster). Joyce wrote in favor of masculinity, which is to say that at least in The Dead he did. In The Dead, Joyce provides perfect examples of this battle between masculinity and femininity and his lack of the latter. The main character Gabriel Conroy only seems to approve of the female characters as if they are background noise and only there to feed his ego or push him further. She is someone who plays the piano, and beautifully. She's a strong female character and that's something we don't see in most female characters in the story. Despite the fact that she is ignored by Gabriel. Despite being a beautiful and amazing pianist, she is humiliated by Gabriel. He criticizes her internally and discusses how she can't play certain notes and those notes are unbearable to listen to because they are out of tune. You get the sense of a battle between Joyce wanting to be feminist and show that femininity; but he is overwhelmed by his masculine culture. So, on the one hand the opposite can be argued; however, it does not seem to go the way of Joyce and that aspect of feminism. You notice the way Joyce seems to keep belittling these female characters, even though they are supposed to be a strong woman