Catholicism, Judgment and Hypocrisy Theme Analysis

In “First Confession,” Jackie—a young boy from a devout Catholic family—judges others for qualities he himself embodies. He is ashamed of the uncouth manners of his grandmother, Gran, and he believes that his sister Nora is inherently “evil” and hypocritical. Yet Jackie is a flawed individual himself, having lashed out violently at Nora and even plotted to killed Gran, and he is terrified of being judged by the Catholic priest at his first Confession in the same manner in which he casts judgment at others. The priest, however, refuses to judge Jackie, and instead merely reinforces Jackie’s critical attitude. By demonstrating how the priest—and by extension the church—reinforce Jackie’s hypocritical, self-centered mindset, O’Connor suggests that, when religion is centered on judgment, it can cause believers to act more sinfully, rather than less.

Jackie’s moral judgments about others are flawed and biased, in part because he embodies many of the dishonest and violent behaviors he critiques in others—a far cry from the Christlike acceptance and love that is typically encouraged in the Christian faith. For example, Jackie judges his grandmother as sinful because she walks barefoot in the house, eats potatoes with her fingers, and drinks port at dinner. At worst, these are innocent mistakes of etiquette, yet they disgust and embarrass Jackie to the point that he plots to kill her. While it’s clear from his judgments of Gran that Jackie values knowing proper etiquette, he himself falls short on this front sometimes—most notably when he doesn’t know how the Confessional booth works, and he climbs onto the elbow-rest, tumbling out in front of other congregants. Ironically, when Nora punishes him for embarrassing her (which he himself would do to Gran), Jackie believes that Nora is being evil. This whole situation shows how hypocritical Jackie is and it suggests that his strict Catholic upbringing has encouraged him to be relentless and unforgiving in his judgment.

Jackie is hypocritical and judgmental in other situations, too, demonstrating that he is not morally superior to those he criticizes. He engages in the same violence that his father inflicts on him, for instance. While his father beats him for transgressions, Jackie attacks Nora with a bread-knife during a fight. Jackie also judges Nora harshly, even though she genuinely tries to be good. He views her as a “raging malicious devil” and, even though she takes church seriously and appears pious after her own Confession, Jackie assumes without evidence that her faith is false, thinking “God, the hypocrisy of women!” Yet, Jackie does not reflect this same judgment back onto himself. He only cares about being seen as good, and as long as he thinks his sinful behavior is hidden, he fails to feel any remorse for how he affects others. This is obviously false piety of the kind he accuses Nora, but he never thinks to question himself.

Even though Jackie doesn’t critique or change his own bad behavior, his fear of his first Confession indicates that he knows, on some level, that his behavior has been sinful. The first Confession, then, is an opportunity for Jackie to be reprimanded by a priest and possibly change his ways. However, when the priest hears Jackie’s Confession about his immoral behavior, he himself proves to be a sinful hypocrite. The priest makes light of Jackie’s sins, affirms Jackie’s harsh judgments of others, and even admits that he himself would like to commit egregious sins, such as stabbing someone. That the priest seems to share all of Jackie’s sins implies that the Catholic faith is at the root of Jackie’s hypocritical attitude, and that the religion merely reinforces the very behavior it claims to abhor.

Furthermore, the church seems to treat its parishioners differently based on their gender. When Nora slaps Jackie’s ear in the church, the priest reprimands her, exclaiming, “how dare you hit the child like that, you little vixen?” However, when Jackie confesses to attacking Nora with a breadknife, that same priest says “’Someone will go for her with a bread-knife one day, and he won’t miss her.’” For Jackie’s sins, he receives a lenient penance of only three Hail Marys, while Nora’s penance—for much lesser sins—is far graver. This affirms Jackie’s opinion that Nora is evil, and hypocritically suggests that it is morally acceptable for Jackie to be dangerously violent towards Nora, while even Nora’s petty violence is worth a strong reprimand. In addition, when Jackie confesses to plotting to murder Gran, the priest takes an indulgent and humorous tone and advises him that he shouldn’t kill his grandmother, but only because Jackie would be hanged for it. This attitude underscores the sense Jackie gets that the lives of women and girls are less valuable than his own, while their sins are more grave.

While Jackie’s experience of Confession could have made him come to terms with his own sin and hypocrisy, making him kinder and more generous to others, the ritual has the opposite effect: afterwards, Jackie feels justified in continuing to sin, reflecting that his behavior—even attacking Nora with a knife and plotting to kill his grandmother—no longer “seems so bad.” To cement this impression, the priest gives Jackie a piece of candy and walks out of the church with him, demonstrating to Jackie and Nora that Jackie is the favored child, even though Nora tries harder to be good. This preferential treatment ultimately teaches both Jackie and Nora that moral judgment is subjective and arbitrary rather than objectively fair, and that—in light of this—there is “no advantage to anybody trying to be good.” This conclusion reflects the story’s cynical outlook on Jackie’s experience of Catholicism as an institution that encourages hypocrisy, cruelty, and self-interest.