Study Tools
James Joyce’s “The Sisters” is an exploration of religion, paralysis, and the dead’s hold on the living
. It follows a young, unnamed boy from Dublin who is processing the death of a priest named Father Flynn with whom he had a close but unnerving relationship. “The Sisters” is the first story in Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of fifteen short stories set in Dublin, which was first published in 1914. “The Sisters” and the fourteen other short stories offer a realistic depiction of what life was like for the Irish middle class in the early 20th century.Read the free full text, a full story summary, a full story analysis, and explanations of important quotes from “The Sisters.”