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Paralysis, Deterioration, and the Obsolete
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The Sisters Quotes
Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis. It had always sounded strangely in my ears, like the word gnomon in the Euclid and the word simony in the Catechism. But now it sounded to me like the name of some maleficent and sinful being. It filled me with fear, and yet I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work.
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In this moment, the narrator is contemplating the possibility of Father Flynn’s death. Although at the beginning of the same paragraph the narrator expressed sadness and remorse that his friend and mentor would soon die, in this passage he reveals a certain curiosity about death and about Father Flynn’s sickness that is more voyeuristic than it is empathic. This is the first moment in the story that Joyce establishes a character’s response to death that goes beyond the expected sadness, grief, and mourning. In demonstrating this aspect of the narrator’s reaction to Father Flynn’s passing, Joyce deepens readers’ understanding of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis cons
“No, I wouldn’t say he was exactly…but there was something queer…there was something uncanny about him. I’ll tell you my opinion…”
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Here, the narrator has walked in on a conversation between Old Cotter and his aunt. Although the narrator doesn’t yet know that Father Flynn has passed, the two are discussing the priest’s death and questioning his moral character. This is the first moment in the story that Joyce introduces the possibility that Father Flynn was pedophilic. Old Cotter’s use of the word “queer” in particular points to that—at the time Joyce was writing, the word was a pejorative term for homosexual people. Old Cotter’s use of this term in reference to Father Flynn implies that Father Flynn’s relationship with the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consecte
“Let him learn to box his corner. That’s what I’m always saying to that Rosicrucian there: take exercise. Why, when I was a nipper every morning of my life I had a cold bath, winter and summer. And that’s what stands to me now. Education is all very fine and large…”
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The narrator’s uncle and Old Cotter are still discussing Father Flynn’s death in this moment. The two men both agree that the narrator shouldn’t have been spending so much time with the old priest. Here, the narrator’s uncle suggests that religious education isn’t practical for young men. He refers to his nephew as a Rosicrucian—a member of an esoteric sect dedicated to obscure studies of mysticism—in order to emphasize the point that religious studies don’t have real-world applicability. His descriptions of intense physical activity and hardship in his own youth draw a stark contrast to what he imagines the narrator Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Q
“Though I was angry with old Cotter for alluding to me as a child I puzzled my head to extract the meaning from his unfinished sentences. In the dark of my room I imagined that I saw again the heavy grey face of the paralytic. I drew the blankets over my head and tried to think of Christmas.”
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In this passage, the narrator seems to be grappling with the possibility that the old priest wasn’t a wholly positive figure in his life. His anger at Old Cotter for referring to him as a child is interesting, and suggests that he may not be as aware of his own youth or immaturity as those around him. This may have made him particularly vulnerable to Father Flynn if the priest were pedophilic, as Old Cotter subtly suggested earlier in the story. If the narrator didn’t seem himself as a child in relation to the older man, he may not have Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque.
“But the grey face still followed me […] It began to confess to me in a murmuring voice and I wondered why it smiled continually and why the lips were so moist with spittle. But then I remembered that it had died of paralysis and I felt that I too was smiling feebly as if to absolve the simoniac of his sin.”
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Here, the narrator is still in bed, haunted by memories of Father Flynn. His language in describing the image of the priest’s faith remains grotesque. The description of the spittle on Father Flynn’s lips, particularly, serves to undermine Father Flynn’s authority as a religious leader. While he is supposed to be an admirable source of religious wisdom, his appearance is that of a sloppy old man in poor health, which draws a stark contrast to what one would expect of an authority figure and particularly of a holy man. The narrator’s implication that he was absolving Father Flynn of a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit.
“It may have been these constant showers of snuff which gave his ancient priestly garments their green faded look for the red handkerchief, blackened, as it always was, with the snuff-stains of the week, with which he tried to brush away the fallen grains, was quite inefficacious.”
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In this moment, the narrator reveals the extent of Father Flynn’s snuff habit. Here, his description of the way the snuff would dirty Father Flynn’s “ancient priestly garments” demonstrates the extent to which the priest seems to have disregarded his need to maintain a respectable appearance. Allowing his sacred clothing to become dirty suggests that the priest was likely also lax about other rules of the faith and had an overall lack of respect for Catholicism, perhaps rendering him unsuited to be an authority figure in the Church. Father Flynn’s snuff habit also serves to humanize him—although he is supposed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo
“I found it strange that neither I nor the day seemed in a mourning mood and I felt even annoyed at discovering myself in a sensation of freedom as if I had been freed from something by his death.”
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In this moment, the narrator explicitly admits for the first time that his reaction to Father Flynn’s death is not exclusively one of sadness. The fact that he feels “freed from something” because of the priest’s death suggest that the narrator was, in a way, metaphorically just as paralyzed by the priest himself. He suggests that his relationship with the priest in some way prevented him from being free, from growing or learning in the way that he needs to. This invites readers to consider that the Catholic faith is also becoming obsolete. The young narrator’s involvement with the religion Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occae
“I was not surprised when he told me that the fathers of the Church had written books as thick as the Post Office Dictionary and as closely printed as the law notices in the newspaper.”
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In this moment, Father Flynn reveals an unusual way to evaluate the quality of religious texts. The narrator is describing the various religious lessons he would have with Father Flynn, and has emphasized that the priest liked to complicate even what the narrator had thought were the simplest Catholic rituals. This quote from Father Flynn epitomizes this tendency for overcomplication. He brags that father of the Church write books that are, essentially, complicated and hard to read. This demonstrates that Father Flynn is in no way concerned with making the teaching of the Catholic Church accessible, and therefore, even making Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Poss
“There he lay, solemn and copious, vested as for the altar, his large hand loosely retaining a chalice. His face was very truculent, grey and massive, with black cavernous nostrils and circled by a scanty white fur. There was a heavy odor in the room—the flowers.”
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The narrator is describing Father Flynn’s appearance as the priest lays in his coffin at the wake. Here, the narrator strongly emphasizes the ugliness of death. The description of Father Flynn’s face is grotesque, and contrasts with what Eliza will later say about the priest—that he made a “beautiful corpse.” The contrast between the narrator’s interpretation of the priest death and Eliza’s represents Eliza’s struggle to bypass the difficult realities of life and death through her religious beliefs. This sentiment is also encapsulated in the narrator’s description of the flowers—although flowers at wakes exist to beautify the environment to honor Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Com
“It was that chalice he broke…That was the beginning of it.”
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In this moment, Father Flynn’s sister Eliza is sharing the story of the beginning of Father Flynn’s poor health. She has just shared that, toward the end of the priest’s life, she and her sister, Nannie, were aware that there was something off with him, that he was losing his mind. By linking his ill health with his accidental breaking of an empty chalice, she reveals her own superstition: she seems to believe that God has chosen to punish the old priest with poor health for disrespecting a religious instrument. By characterizing Eliza and Nannie as superstitious, Joyce by extension Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Min
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