Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Sisters, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Utility of Education
Authority and Corruption
Death, Grief, and Mourning
Paralysis, Deterioration, and the Obsolete
Summary
Analysis
A local priest has suffered his third stroke, and the narrator suspects that this will be his last. Every night, the narrator passes the house where the priest lives to discover whether or not the time has finally come. The narrator is curious about the priest’s paralysis; to him, the word is just as mysterious as certain words in the Catechism, like gnomon and simony. The narrator both fears paralysis and is curious to see what effects it has on the priest’s body.
Here, although the narrator is close to Father Flynn, his response to death isn’t just sadness, but also a cold sort of curiosity. This sets readers up for an analysis of death in the story that includes the most unexpected of emotional responses to it. What’s more, the narrator’s mention of simony—the practice of buying one’s way into heaven—is the first hint in the story that Father Flynn might be an ethically corrupt priest.
Themes
One day, the narrator goes downstairs to supper and hears Old Cotter speaking about someone, saying “there was something queer…there was something uncanny about him.” The narrator is frustrated by Old Cotter’s rambling, thinking to himself that Old Cotter is a “tiresome old fool.” Old Cotter goes on to say that it was “one of those peculiar cases…” and, the narrator’s uncle, realizing that the narrator doesn’t know who they’re talking about, tells him that the priest, Father Flynn, has died.
In this moment, Old Cotter is alluding to the open disdain that the community feels for Father Flynn, which complicates his mysterious relationship with the narrator. His comment that Father Flynn is a “peculiar case” could even be interpreted as an implication that the priest is pedophilic. Interestingly, the narrator doesn’t seem to have been perturbed by Father Flynn’s old age, but becomes easily irritated by Old Cotter for his own old age when he refers to him as a “tiresome old fool.” This demonstrates the narrator’s attachment to Father Flynn, regardless of what has occurred between the two of them, which contrasts the first moments of the story when the narrator seemed more detached from the possibility of the old priest’s death.
Themes
Literary Devices
The narrator’s uncle shares with Old Cotter that his nephew and Father Flynn were “great friends.” Neither man seems to approve of the narrator’s relationship with the older priest. Old Cotter says, “I wouldn’t like children of mine […] to have much to say to a man like that,” and then explains that he thinks young people should spend time with people their own age. The narrator’s uncle agrees, jokingly referring to his nephew as a “Rosicrucian” who ought to exercise more and spend less time on his religious studies. Although he says nothing, the narrator is irritated by the older men’s opinions.
Here, both the narrator’s uncle and Old Cotter express their opinions on how young people should be raised. By referring to his nephew as a “Rosicrucian,” the uncle alludes to a sect of mystics dedicated to the study of the esoteric. It’s clear that he doesn’t approve of esoteric or religious study that the narrator has been doing with Father Flynn—the implication that the two men make is that such education isn’t as practical for the narrator as spending time outside, for instance, or with people his own age.
Themes
Later that night, the narrator is struggling to fall asleep. He tries to put together Old Cotter’s cryptic words from earlier but is unable to. He keeps visualizing Father Flynn’s “heavy grey face,” and, to avoid thinking of the dead priest, he “[tries] to think of Christmas.” But the narrator is still haunted by images of the dead priest, and imagines that the man’s smiling grey face, with lips “so moist with spittle” was trying to confess something to the narrator. The narrator imagines that he smiles back at the face, “as if to absolve the simoniac of his sin.”
The language that the narrator uses to describe Father Flynn paints a grotesque portrait of the old priest, which serves to undermine his credibility as a positive influence on the narrator’s life or, indeed, an effective religious leader. The narrator’s reference to simony later in the passage emphasizes Father Flynn’s lack of moral authority—if he accepted money from parishioners under the guise of granting them entrance to heaven, then he was not an ethical functionary of the Church. Finally, the narrator’s mention that he tried to “think of Christmas” demonstrates his own desire to cling to the Catholic faith as a source of comfort. Even though he is reckoning with the possibility that his religious mentor may have had a corrupt character, he seeks to comfort himself by thinking of a holiday from that same faith.
Themes
Literary Devices
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The next morning, the narrator walks over to Father Flynn’s house on Great Britain Street and reads the death announcement. He thinks that, were the priest still alive, he would likely have gone in to give Father Flynn some snuff. Due to his strokes, the priest wasn’t able to take the snuff without “spilling half the snuff on the floor.” The narrator reflects that “it may have been these constant showers of snuff which gave his ancient priestly garments their green faded look.”
Joyce’s subtle choice to have Father Flynn live on Great Britain Street is a reference to the Vatican’s compliance with the British Conservative Party, which opposed Irish independence. This is further evidence that Father Flynn is not only morally corrupt, but also politically. What’s more, the narrator’s description of Father Flynn’s snuff habit further serves to challenge the priest’s moral authority. The priest’s clumsy application of the snuff makes it difficult to admire him, and his addiction to the substance has caused him to soil his priestly robes. The priest’s clothing represents his authority, but the stains of snuff on it represent his inability to properly engage with that authority.
Themes
Literary Devices
The narrator considers going in to see Father Flynn’s body, but feels too shy to knock. So, he walks away, surprised to find that “neither the day nor [he] seemed in a mourning mood.” He goes on to think that he feels, in fact, that he “had been freed from something by his death.” The narrator is surprised at these feelings, because Father Flynn had taught him many things. The priest had studied in Rome at the Irish College and had instructed the narrator in Latin. The narrator recalls that many of Father Flynn’s lessons focused on the most complicated aspects of the Church—even those which the narrator himself had thought were simple. Father Flynn would quiz the narrator on how to handle various situations, the severity of sins, and the duties of various church figures. Indeed, Father Flynn appreciated the complex aspects of the Church, and at one point told the narrator that “fathers of the Church had written books as thick as the Post Office Dictionary.”
For the first time, the narrator overtly admits not to feel only sadness in response to Father Flynn’s death. His admission that he feels “freed from something” implies that Father Flynn—and, by extension, the Catholic faith—kept him stuck. The idea that Catholicism immobilizes its practitioners draws a parallel between the faith itself and Father Flynn, who experienced literal paralysis after his strokes. When the narrator goes on to describe the type of instruction he received from Father Flynn, it becomes clear that feels relieved in part because what he was learning with the priest is not relevant to his life—nothing about Latin applies to the narrator’s daily reality. It appears from this passage that Father Flynn was more concerned the teachings of the Catholic Church being complicated than he was with them being useful.
Themes
Literary Devices
The narrator remembers that Father Flynn used to ask him to recite portions of the Mass, and as he was speaking, the priest would use snuff and smile. The narrator remembers that the priest would “uncover his big discolored teeth and let his tongue lie upon his upper lip – a habit which had made [the narrator] feel uneasy in the beginning of [their] acquaintance before [he] knew him well.”
Again, in this passage, the narrator’s description of Father Flynn is grotesque. The image of “big discolored teeth" and the priest’s open mouth is disturbing and serves to further characterize Father Flynn as an authority figure who may not deserve the power that he has over the people that respect him. Additionally, the narrator’s mention that Father Flynn made him uncomfortable invites readers to consider why a young man would be uncomfortable about a mentor figure, and whether Old Cotter’s earlier implication that the priest was pedophilic may in fact have been the case.
Themes
Literary Devices
Later that evening, the narrator goes with his aunt to visit the house where Father Flynn had lived. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Nannie, one of the two sisters who took care of Father Flynn in his old age. The three of them go up to kneel before Father Flynn’s coffin. The narrator attempts to pray but is distracted by the sound of Nannie’s prayers. He also notices that she has dressed herself very clumsily.
Here, the narrator’s mention that he is distracted by the sound of Nannie’s voice and by her clothes suggests that his attempt to engage spiritually with Father Flynn’s passing ins unsuccessful. He tries to honor the deceased priest by praying but is too distracted by his material surroundings to effectively practice the religious rite of praying for the dead. This is yet another example of the ineffectiveness or impracticality of Catholicism in the story.
Themes
Literary Devices
As he kneels before Father Flynn’s coffin, the narrator imagines that the priest is smiling. However, when he stands to look at the corpse, he sees that Father Flynn, although “vested as for the altar” with “his large hands loosely retaining a chalice” is not smiling, nor is his appearance very elegant—the narrator observes the same huge, grey face that he visualized the night he learned the priest died. He notices, also, a “heavy odor in the room – the flowers.”
The fact that Father Flynn is smiling in the coffin suggests that he was ready for death, which creates the possibility for readers to consider dying as a natural transition rather than something to be dreaded. What’s more, Father Flynn’s loose grip on the chalice is an analogy for his loose grip on the Catholic faith. The chalice is commonly used in Catholic ceremonies, such as communion, that unite the priest with his parish. However, Father Flynn has been unable to adapt his teachings to the needs of the community that he is supposed to serve. Thus, his loose grip on the chalice is symbolic of this failure.
Themes
Literary Devices
As they leave Father Flynn, Nannie, the narrator, and his aunt bless themselves and meet Eliza, the other sister who cared for Father Flynn. Nannie offers everyone sherry, which the narrator accepts, as well as cream crackers. The narrator, afraid that he would “make too much noise eating them,” declines. The group sits in silence, gazing at the fireplace.
In this moment, the narrator’s hesitation to accept the cream crackers reflects his discomfort with Father Flynn’s death. Joyce’s implication is that the narrator is afraid that by making too much noise as he eats, he will somehow be disrespectful of the priest’s death.
Themes
Eventually, the narrator’s aunt breaks the silence by saying that the priest has gone to a better place. Eliza nods and agrees, and then shares with the room that Father Flynn had a “beautiful death.” She shares that Father Flynn looked peaceful after he had died, that he had a “beautiful corpse.” The narrator’s aunt assures Eliza that she and her sister treated Father Flynn very well while he was alive. Nannie has fallen asleep, and Eliza acknowledges that although she and her sister had help from other members of the community in preparing Father Flynn’s body and the church for the funeral, it was Father Flynn himself who made most of his own arrangements before he died.
Here, Eliza’s insistence that Father Flynn made a beautiful corpse directly contrasts what the narrator has shared about the dead body, which is that it is grotesque in appearance. This demonstrates Eliza’s desire to ignore the ugly reality of death. Her willingness to pretend that Father Flynn made a beautiful corpse also suggests that she may also have looked past some of his unethical behavior in life due to her devout Catholic faith.
Themes
Literary Devices
Suddenly, Eliza’s tone changes. She acknowledges that “something queer [came] over” Father Flynn toward the end of his life. She recalls how she would bring him his soup and “find him with is breviary fallen to the floor, lying back in the chair and his mouth open.” What’s more, she adds that he dreamed of getting a carriage to drive over to the house where all three siblings were born. Remembering this, Eliza begins to cry, and then shares that the “duties of the priesthood were too much” for her brother.
It is in this moment in the story that Joyce most clearly hints that toward the end of Father Flynn’s life, the priest went mad. This passage serves to further prove that he was unsuitable for the position of authority that he occupied. What’s more, the detail about the breviary falling to the floor underscores that Father Flynn had begun to neglect or fail at performing his priestly duties. The breviary is something to be studied and read from every morning, and Father Flynn dropping the book to the ground represents his inability to continue and respect this tradition.
Themes
After a silence, Eliza observes that Father Flynn’s poor health began after he broke an empty chalice. After Father Flynn broke the chalice, he became so nervous that he began to walk around aimlessly One day, he disappeared, and no one could find him for hours until a clerk suggested they tried the chapel. There, Eliza shares, they found Father Flynn “sitting up by himself in the dark in his confession-box, wide-awake and laughing-like softly to himself.” At this, she stops to listen, and the narrator does too. He reminds himself that Father Flynn is lying dead in his coffin, “an idle chalice” perched on his chest. Eliza continues, saying that it was at that moment when they knew “there was something gone wrong with him…”
Here, the sisters understand Father Flynn’s madness as God’s punishment for him having broken the chalice, an important religious symbol. This absurd logic characterizes them as somewhat foolish and deepens Joyce’s portrayal of Catholic believers as superstitious and irrational. The connection between the beginning of Father Flynn’s ill health and the breaking of the chalice also suggests that it is because he is no longer able to appropriately serve his community as a priest that his health begins to deteriorate. In other words, Father Flynn demonstrates that he is no longer able to complete his function as a priest, and so it is time for him to pass. The end of the story drives home Joyce’s criticism of the Catholic faith, solidifying his characterization of the religion as obsolete.
Themes
