As with many of James Joyce's short stories
in The Dubliners, "The Sisters" seems to have little to no plot.
On the surface little seems to happen. We know from the beginning that Father Flynn is
dying. "There was no hope for him this time." The narrator is his student, who has
been taking lessons in religion from the priest. The narrator finds out from a family
friend Old Cotter that the priest has died. The next day, the narrator goes to the
priest's house. There he meets the title characters--the sisters. These two women are
the sisters of the priest who have tended to his needs and from whom we learn much about
the priest's physical and mental decline. From them we learn that he dropped the
chalice, an incident that seems to precipitate Father Flynn's collapse, and later he was
found laughing in the confessional. The sisters declare that he was a "conflicted man"
but view his corpse as a "beautiful" one.
The narrator who
seems to be experiencing the death of someone he knows for the first time views the
priest through unfiltered eyes. To him the priest was a friend. Yet, his death brings a
curious sense of relief He seems focused on the priest's physical deterioriation both
in life and in death. To him his corpse is anything but
beautiful.
Much, though, seems to be omitted from this
story. Like the gnomon, one of the words that so fascinates the boy, parts are left
out. We don't truly know the extent of the priest's interactions with the boy or the
reasons for the priest's mental decline. But we, like the narrator, sense a certain
uneasiness when the priest is mentioned, as if his true flaws are not revealed--either
by the narrator who is too innocent to understand or by the sisters who seem to find
comfort in routine and ritual.
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