Christian Symbolism in James Joyce

The first symbol that we find in "The Sisters" is the symbolism of light and darkness. Joyce emphasizes this symbol by using numerously the words that represent the darkness: night, death ("corpse") and words that represent the light: candles. "Night after night I had passed the house and studied the lighted square of window: and night after night I had found it lighted in the same way, faintly and evenly." (1). The words that represent darkness appear more than the light. With that symbol Joyce wants to show that the Church's dark institution that it's influence on people's life is so strong that they follow it blindly : "I would see the reflection of candles on the darkened blind for I knew that two

The breviary, the book of rules that had fallen to the floor symbolizes the priest's feeling of freedom of the religious captivity of the Church. "Whenever I'd bring in his soup to him there, I'd find him with his breviary fallen to the floor, lying back in the chair, with his mouth open.."(6). The open mouth represents that his mind was open to the truth. James wants to say that in the end the priest had abandoned the Church. He did not want anything to do with the Church and its rules any more because he was disappointed of it "…he was a disappointed man" (6).

Joyce who was deeply anti-Catholic exposes the immorality and wrongs of religion through the priest and other Catholic symbols in "The Sisters". He shows the Catholic religion in negative light by showing the corruptness, captivity and an empty meaning of the Church. It is fooling its followers because it isn't what it appears to be.

candles must be set at the head of the corpse."(1).

We can see that in the end religion is victorious again because the new knowledge the priest discovered died with him.

The symbol of the broken chalice is one of the most important symbols in the story because when the chalice breaks priest's eyes got open to the truth about an institutionalized religion. "`It was that chalice he broke... That was the beginning of it" (7). The chalice is the most important vessel in the Catholic Church used in the Eucharist and according to church dogma holds the b

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Catholic Church, Church Eucharist, Church Church, Joyce's Sisters, Sisters Catholic, Whenever I'd, Joyce Church's, catholic church, Father Flynn, words represent, words represent darkness, idle chalice, religion priest, night night, discolored teeth, fallen floor, empty meaning, empty chalice, captivity church,