flynns motives
The Reverend James Flynn died July 1st, 1895. Together the priest and boy had spent a great amount of time discussing religious issues: classifications of sins, duties of the Eucharist, and secrecy of the confessional. The priest's passing caused the boy to reflect back upon his time spent with the old man, and through his memories and the comments of the other characters the boy pieces together a final impression of Father Flynn and his intentions. Although the priest had failed in his duties and faith, he tried to exonerate himself by training the boy as his successor. Due to his acts of simony, ineptness at ceremonies, and deteriorating mental health the priest could only absolve his deeds, not himself, by creating an adept proxy who would hold true to his duties. Father Flynn was grooming the narrator for a place among the clergy, and the boy was an eager, if not fully aware, student. The boy spent a disproportionate amount of time with the priest discussing concerns of the church and pondering rhetorical situations. This caused him to come under attack by his own uncle who criticized him for his level of involvement and advised him to get outside and play, " That's what I'm alwa
Father Flynn had failed his church and his duties. When he realized that he had a finite amount of time left, he concluded that he must make reparations for his own shortcomings. Through whatever reasoning Flynn employed, he chose to lead the boy into the faith. Sometime near the latter end of his life Father Flynn began to realize that he had become a failure as a priest. After developing an incredible addiction to snuff, his abilities suffered a sharp decline. This is displayed when the father dropped and broke a chalice, presumably while delivering the Eucharist, which his sister, Eliza, claims, "...was what was the beginning of it,"(Joyce 11). Understandably, this mishap caused the priest to loose a large part of his confidence, and that in turn detracted from his remaining facilities2. Apparently then the father sank into depression and madness. Eliza's story climaxes with the disappearance of her brother. Later, Father O'Rourke and another priest discover Father Flynn sitting in his own confessional, in total darkness, in a state of delirium, laughing to himself. But was only the blunder associated with the chalice at the root of his decline? Even as that was an unmentionable mistake, it was not the sole issue. While there are no examples of simony3 given explicitly within the story, Joyce alludes to a definite history of those violations in Father Flynn's past. His "It began to confess to me
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 961
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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