Themes Used In Jamejoyce's The Sisters

This, the first story in Dubliners, introduces many of the themes and motifs that will recur throughout the book, linking its component parts together into something that is not quite a novel but more than a mere collection of short stories.

The first theme is paralysis. James Joyce believed that the Irish society and culture, as well as the country's economy, had been paralyzed for centuries by two forces. The first was the Roman Catholic Church, the teachings of which most Dubliners of Joyce's day adhered to passionately. The second was England, which had conquered Ireland in the seventeenth century and resisted granting the country its independence until 1922.

In the first line of "Sisters," Father Flynn has suffered a third and fatal stroke--a malfunctioning of blood vessels in the brain that can cause paralysis, if not death. In fact, it may have been a stroke that resulted in the scandalous dropping of the chalice revealed near the end of the story. And of course, the gray face in the boy's dream that "had died of paralysis" is that of Father Flynn himself.

Clearly Father Flynn represents the paralyzed Catholic Church in this story--and the church's ability to paralyze others. The time spent with the priest prevents the boy from having fun with his peers. Father Flynn, in turn, lives on Great Britain Street and dies on the anniversary of England's victory over Ireland in 1690.

The second theme that Joyce introduces is corruption. In the second paragraph of this story, the narrator (storyteller) mentions the word simony, the selling of blessings, pardons, or other favors by the Roman Catholic Church to its members. Later, Father Flynn will be referred to as a simoniac, one guilty of this offense. Because corruption prevents progress, it is closely related to the theme of paralysis.

The third theme is death, whether that death be physical or merely spiritual. Joyce's attitude