The Utility of Education Theme Analysis

In James Joyce’s “The Sisters,” the narrator is a young man dealing with his complex emotional response to the death of Father Flynn, a local priest, who served as a mentor to him. While the narrator seems to have, for the most part, admired and enjoyed the company of Father Flynn, other members of the community didn’t seem to have had the same respect for the elderly priest. The narrator’s family members disapprove of him spending time with Father Flynn, believing that the young man should be educated in ways that are more practical and less esoteric. In the story, then, Joyce presents two conflicting views about the ways that young people should be raised and educated—while one school of thought prioritizes religious education through the Catholic Church, the other espouses a form of education rooted in real-world practicality. Over the course of the story, the characters are far more critical of religious education, which Joyce portrays as full of superficial, esoteric rites that are unrelated to people’s real-world needs.

Readers are first introduced to disapproval of Father Flynn when Old Cotter, who lives with the narrator and his aunt and uncle, begins to talk about the narrator’s relationship with the priest. Old Cotter seems to think that Father Flynn’s religious lessons don’t prepare the narrator for success in the real world. While Old Cotter acknowledges that Father Flynn taught the narrator “a great deal,” he is quick to add that he wouldn’t want his own children “to have much to say to a man like [Father Flynn].” The narrator’s uncle agrees, referring to the narrator as a Rosicrucian, and emphasizing the importance of physicals exercises in a young man’s routine. As an afterthought, he adds, “Education is all very fine and large…’” In this moment of dialogue, the adult male figures in the narrator’s life other than Father Flynn demonstrate their distaste for formal, religious education. Rather than book smarts, they seem to value physical fitness and resilience. In referring to his nephew as a Rosicrucian, the narrator’s uncle references a 17th- and 18th-century secretive group dedicated to studies of alchemy—the magical process of converting one substance to the other—and the metaphysical, or studies related to God and other supernatural beings. These branches of study are about as far from physical exercises as it gets. The men’s disapproval of Father Flynn seems to stem from the belief that his religious teachings aren’t practical for the real world, and therefore, aren’t suitable for a young man to be learning.

While the narrator does grieve Father Flynn’s death and seems to have fond memories of him, he also doesn’t seem to have received a useful education from the priest. In some ways, the education the narrator receives from the priest seems to unnecessarily complicate things rather than clarify them. In one moment, the narrator writes that “[Father Flynn’s] questions showed me how complex and mysterious were certain intuitions of the Church which I had always regarded as the simplest acts.” Father Flynn’s style of imparting knowledge to a young person stands in stark contrast to Old Cotter and the narrator’s uncle’s views on the ways that young people should be raised. Rather than basing his lessons in what is practical, Father Flynn seems to prioritize making what initially seems practical more complicated than it is at a first glance. At no point does the narrator imply that being exposed to this level of complexity is beneficial to his studies. Rather, Father Flynn seems to simply confuse the narrator rather than teaching him anything worthwhile. What’s more, Father Flynn seems to value the complexity, and therefore the inaccessibility, of the Church’s teachings. He tells the narrator that “fathers of the Church had written books as thick as the Post Office Dictionary, and as closely printed as the law notices in the newspaper.” The choice to emphasize the spacing of the lines underscores the extent to which Father Flynn equates complexity with intellectual value. There is no reason for anyone to brag about lines being close together other than to highlight the literal density of the text, the quantity of words written. Joyce casts Flynn’s view of education as archaic, and silly in its superficiality.

While the narrator claims to have enjoyed spending time with Father Flynn, his unemotional reaction to the priest’s death betrays the possibility that he, too, may not have found a great deal of meaning in Father Flynn’s lessons. Immediately before divulging the details of Father Flynn’s lessons, the narrator admits that “neither [he] nor the day seemed in a mourning mood,” suggesting that he is not as sorry as he thought he would be at the priest’s death. Because this admission immediately precedes the narrator’s discussion of his education, there is an implication that the narrator is relieved to be rid of these long-winded, archaic lessons. Joyce and many of his contemporaries were highly critical of the Church’s corruption and its teachings that were inaccessible to common people. While Joyce does not do much to support Old Cotter and the narrator’s uncle in their strong advocation for a practical, secular education, he does heavily criticize and question the value of the religious education that the narrator receives from Father Flynn.