User talk:Elanarw

First Edit of The Sisters

1. I linked the name" Stephen Dedalus" to his wiki page. I was going to link the missing Irish Homestead Journal link, but someone got to it first!

2. I think that a great way to improve this page would be to add a section called "Reception/Interpretation," so that readers can get a real understanding of all of the underlying themes and questions in this story. This section would highlight the priest/narrator relationship, themes, and possible differing interpretations of the story.

Reception/Interpretation

Many readers and critics question the relationship between the narrator and the priest. During the whole story, the narrator is very vague about how he feels about the priest and why his death affects him so much. Critics of the story often wonder whether Father Flynn and the narrator had a sexual or abusive relationship. This is never overtly stated in the story, so part of the suspicion may come from general stereotypes made about priests. Much of the questioning also comes from the fact that narrator, who had a very close yet undefined relationship with the priest, is strangely happy about the priest's death. Moreover, all of his family members critique their relationship. (http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews/2014/06/25/james-joyce-the-sisters/)

One prevalent theme found in this story is "freedom." When the narrator finds out that the priest died, he "‘found it strange that neither I nor the day seemed in a mournful mood and I felt even annoyed at discovering in myself a sensation of freedom." Even in the sad moment of the priest's death, the narrator realizes his ties to Father Flynn are gone, and he is happy about it. However, the narrator is then annoyed at his own feelings of happiness. The fact that the narrator was happy and felt free may have to do with the questionable relationship between him and the priest, or it could be Joyce's way of implying that people will feel freedom after they sever their relationship with the church. http://sittingbee.com/the-sisters-james-joyce/

Another important theme in this is the church. Joyce was a known as being anti-Catholic, so his beliefs definitely effected his works, which are all indirectly auto-biographical. Joyce makes the entire story centered around a sketchy relationship between a priest and a young boy. Old Cotter expresses his beliefs that no child should be spending so much time with a priest, and even though the narrator disagrees, the reader constantly questioning whether their relationship is healthy. It is all up to interpretation, so Old Cotter's suspicion of their relationship could have to do with their strange bond, or simply the fact that it had to do with the Church. Either way, Joyce created a world where the Church (and relationships within the Church) is to be questioned, n not taken at face value, which many people did at that time.