The Sisters

by

James Joyce

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Sisters makes teaching easy.

Father Flynn’s Snuff Symbol Analysis

Father Flynn’s Snuff Symbol Icon

Father Flynn’s snuff represents the priest’s corruption, and, by extension, the corruption of the Catholic Church as a whole. In the story, the narrator relates to readers how he would often supply the priest with his snuff, often helping him to prepare it because the older man’s deteriorating health prevented him from opening the packet himself. The narrator describes Father Flynn’s clumsiness as he uses the snuff, which causes him to spill snuff all over his “ancient priestly garments” and also gives him discolored, ugly teeth. In brief, Father Flynn’s snuff habit is extraordinarily inelegant, and undermines the objective of his traditional priest’s clothing, which is to make him appear to be a respectable, spiritual figure. However, Father Flynn’s addiction to a material substance, which sullies his garments, prevents him from embodying that role. In a way, this serves to humanize Father Flynn. Although he is supposed to be such an important religious figure, his snuff habit demonstrates that he is just a human being like all of the other characters, subject to the same vices and bad habits as everyone. Still, even this characterization serves to undermine the authority of the Catholic church, suggesting that the Irish people shouldn’t elevate priests to such positions of power when, ultimately, they are human beings, just as imperfect—if not more so, in Father Flynn’s case—than the parishioners who idolize them.

Father Flynn’s Snuff Quotes in The Sisters

The The Sisters quotes below all refer to the symbol of Father Flynn’s Snuff. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Utility of Education Theme Icon
).
The Sisters Quotes

“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.”

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Father James Flynn, Old Cotter
Related Symbols: Father Flynn’s Snuff
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Sisters LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Sisters PDF

Father Flynn’s Snuff Symbol Timeline in The Sisters

The timeline below shows where the symbol Father Flynn’s Snuff appears in The Sisters. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Sisters
Authority and Corruption Theme Icon
Death, Grief, and Mourning Theme Icon
...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... (full context)