The Sisters Summary

Father Flynn, a local priest with whom the narrator has a close relationship, has suffered several strokes and is likely to pass away soon. Every day, the young narrator passes by the church where the old priest lives to see whether he is still alive. While he does care for Father Flynn, the narrator also anticipates the priest’s death with a sort of excitement, as he is curious to see the effects of paralysis on Father Flynn’s body.

One day, the narrator’s uncle and Old Cotter explain to the narrator that, after suffering a third and final stroke, Father Flynn has finally passed away. Of all of the members of the narrator’s family, he is the only one who seems upset. Old Cotter and the boy’s uncle think Father Flynn was a “queer” old man. Old Cotter especially disapproves of the relationship the narrator had with the priest, saying that young men should explore the outdoors or spend their time with people their own age rather than dedicating themselves to religious studies, as the narrator did with Father Flynn. The narrator feels frustrated as he listens to the older man criticize his relationship with Father Flynn.

Later, though, when he has the opportunity to reflect upon the priest’s death, the narrator himself doesn’t seem to upset about it. Indeed, he admits to himself that he feels he has been freed of something—even though Father Flynn taught him many things about Catholicism, the priest made the narrator feel uncomfortable sometimes. The narrator recalls in particular that he had to help Father Flynn to open his snuff packets, as the old man’s strokes reduced his mobility. What’s more, the narrator was never certain that what he was learning from Father Flynn was really useful. It seemed like Father Flynn liked to complicated teaching about the Catholic Church that the narrator had thought were really simple.

When the narrator and his aunt arrive at the wake, the narrator observes a poorly dressed woman praying, and, as he approaches the coffin, tries to pray himself, but finds that he is distracted by the sound of the other people’s prayers. Peering into the coffin, the narrator notices that Father Flynn’s face is grey and almost translucent, surrounded by hair that looks more like white fur. The priest is loosely holding a chalice, and the narrator imagines that he is smiling softly—but is startled to see that the priest is not, in fact, smiling.

The narrator and his aunt talk with Nannie and Eliza, the two sisters that looked after Father Flynn in his old age. Contrary to the grotesque image the narrator paints of the priest’s corpse, the sisters comment several times that he had a “beautiful death” or was a “beautiful corpse.” They express their grief over Father Flynn’s death, saying he was really no trouble for them to care for—although they had noticed prior to his death he was beginning to lose his mind. Nannie thinks the priest’s poor health all started when he broke a chalice. Eliza shares that she once went to give the priest his soup and found him sitting up with his mouth open, his breviary fallen to the floor. She also remembers that the end of his life, Father Flynn had the idea to get a carriage and drive back to the house where he grew up.

The narrator, uncomfortable with all of the stories, listens closely in the house to hear if anyone else is walking around, but then remembers that the priest is still in his coffin. Eliza resumes her story, explaining how she once came across Father Flynn wide awake and laughing to himself in his confessional in the chapel, and that that was when she knew “that there was something gone wrong with him.”