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Over the course of “The Sisters,” readers can determine that Father Flynn is a sinister figure whose legacy should be questioned instead of honored. Once Father Flynn dies, the young narrator only wants to process and understand the meaning of their relationship. The priest’s role as an antagonist to this objective is twofold: first, the memory of the priest haunts and confuses the narrator, and secondly, the story hints in very vague terms that the priest may have been abusive or at the very least predatory to the narrator. While the narrator is in bed, the “heavy grey face of the paralytic” priest haunts him and murmurs in the dark, wanting “to confess something.” Neither the narrator nor the reader knows what needs to be confessed, but the reader can assume it is sinful in nature. Furthermore, even though the priest taught the narrator about history and religion, lessons that he both enjoyed and appreciated, the narrator felt, to his surprise, that he “had been freed from something by his death.” Whatever influence the priest had on the narrator, it was dark, confusing, and probably controlling. Though we never learn exactly why, the reader can confidently agree with the men in the narrator’s life—that Father Flynn’s impact was not appropriate.
