“The Sisters” is quite a bizarre
tale and seems to be left somewhat open ended. The story remains ambiguous.
Father Flynn supposedly died a peaceful death but from the sounds of it, his
whole downward turn towards death does not sound peaceful. His laughing fit in
the confession-box makes him sound mentally unstable and insane, and may allude
to an insane crime or sin he had committed. The narrator’s uncomfortable
feelings around him paired with a sense of admiration make me believe that the
priest may have sexually harassed him. A theme I noticed is a want to escape.
The narrator wants to escape the comfortableness of the wake and the priest’s
presence. Paralysis also comes up quite often. The narrator repeats it several
times and also seems to experience it when at the priest’s wake. The priest is
also paralyzed both before and after his death. The connection between the two paralysis’
possibly relates back to the presumed sexual abuse the priest bestowed on the
narrator. I find it interesting that the only really disturbing attribute of
the priest is that his tongue rests on his front teeth. This is a small detail
but when you think about what one looks like when they do this, they appear
strange and creepy. This is especially true in this context. So little detail
is given yet so much can be presumed.
I project
that a common occurrence amongst Dubliners’ short stories will be ambiguity and
a lack of full detail which ultimately forces the reader to fill in the holes
of the story. The style of writing is simple, yet holds much meaning. It’s lack
of detail, although somewhat frustrating at times, makes analyzing especially
interesting. It leaves a lot of facts to be assumed, turning them from facts to
assumptions.
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