632 Joyce, James
to putting religion to non-religious, profitable ends.
Religion therefore becomes empty of anything
meaningful. In “The Sisters,” the narrator recalls his
relationship with the late Father Flynn. We are told
that Father Flynn had taught the narrator a great
deal about history and various aspects of religion.
More important, Father Flynn used to pose chal-
lenging questions to the boy:
Sometimes he had amused himself by put-
ting difficult questions to me, asking me
what one should do in certain circumstances
or whether such and such sins were mortal or
venial or only imperfections. His questions
showed me how complex and mysterious
were certain institutions of the Church which
I had always regarded as the simplest acts.Although the narrator goes on to list various
ritual acts performed by priests as “the simplest acts”
he used to take for granted, Joyce is also trying to
tell us that one should never take anything we see
or hear for granted, especially where it concerns
religion. Faith and belief must be accompanied by
rigorous examination and assessment of the dogmas
presented to us, so that we are not merely following
them blindly.
Toward the end of the story, one of the sisters,
Eliza, informs us that Father Flynn died because
“the duties of the priesthood was too much for
him.” Father Flynn was a “disappointed man”; but
what initiated Father Flynn’s spiritual and physical
deterioration was “that chalice he broke . . .” which
fortunately “contained nothing.” The chalice, in
the Catholic faith, contains the consecrated wine,
believed to be the blood of Christ, and breaking it
is a sign of disrespect. Whereas the sisters believe
this to have been the cause of Father Flynn’s guilt,
leading to mental instability and eventually death,
the narrator and reader understand otherwise. The
chalice may be read as a symbol of the Church and
religion. Its emptiness symbolizes that Church and
religion are empty of meaning, that there is noth-
ing beyond the words and symbols of the Church.
When a man drinks the consecrated wine from the
chalice, his fellowship with God is sealed. The lack
of wine seems, therefore, to symbolize the severance
of the bond between man and God. This is the cause
of Father Flynn’s disappointment, and perhaps a
cause for his gradual spiritual and mental deteriora-
tion. When the narrator looks into the coffin, he sees
Father Flynn clutching the chalice loosely, possibly
suggesting Father Flynn’s own loss of faith in the
relationship between man and God.
That no one seems to have any clue as to why
Father Flynn died is all the more significant and
ironic. They think that “there was something gone
wrong with him. . . .” This illustrates how little the
sisters, and those around him, were aware of his
concerns, and by implication how little they were
aware of their own spiritual poverty. Ironically, it
is not Father Flynn but themselves who had “gone
wrong” spiritually.
Another story that deals with the emptiness
of religion is “Grace.” Briefly, the story is an
account of the efforts of a group of businessmen
to convince one of their acquaintances to give up
his damaging habit of excessive drinking. Their
intention is to convince Tom Kernan to attend a
religious retreat for businessmen, during which he
might regain God’s grace. The word grace itself
takes on several meanings in the story. First, it
refers to the freely given, unconditional favor and
love of God. Second, it refers to an allowance of
time after a debt is due to be paid, before any
charges or further penalty are brought against
the debtor. Third, it refers to the moral strength
one has to perform one’s duty. Last, but not least,
grace refers to the elegance of one’s manners. The
several meanings come together in Joyce’s tale. At
the beginning, Kernan is shown to be very drunk,
behaving in a manner lacking in physical grace, as
well is in social grace. In his excessive debauchery,
he has certainly fallen out of God’s grace. His
businessmen friends, in their visit to try to con-
vince him to attend the retreat, display a degree
of moral strength in their concern for their friend.
As the story progresses, we begin to see how the
material aspects of the term grace begin to enter
into the picture, with the steady introduction of
gossip of members of the business community.
It becomes quite clear that asking the stubborn
Kernan to attend the retreat directly is bound to
be met with failure, and the only way is to broach