Dubliners: The Sisters

The first story in the classic collection by James Joyce

James Joyce’s Dubliners is a book I’ve returned to many times over the past few decades. I have decided to tackle this slim volume again. This time reading all the stories over the next few weeks. As it is a collection of short stories, it is easy to dip into. The stories are perfect examples of a modernist text. Half truths are revealed. There is much ambiguity and the reader needs to work hard at reading between the lines. The sentences are sparse and unflamboyant with little fat or extra flavour. Like Chekov the tales are centred on the everyday life, the routines of normal living that often crushes the individual in a rusting cultural vice. Throughout the collection of stories there are central themes that continue to emerge. One is a feeling of paralysis and stagnation. The individuals are suffocating in the cultural traditions of Ireland. They are paralysed. They are spiritually and emotionally dead.

The first story The Sisters is written in the first person narration of a young boy coming close to adulthood. As with all the stories, the plot is slight. It deals with the death of Father Flynn who was an important figure in the unnamed narrator’s life. The title of the story refers to the two sisters of Flynn. The narrator visits and joins them in prayer over Flynn’s open coffin.