When Reality Hits

In “The Sisters”, by James Joyce, the reverend that has passed away is the character that experiences paralysis and epiphany. The reverend had experienced physical paralysis because of the fact that he had three strokes. When a person experiences a stroke, a certain part of your body is physically paralyzed due to the shock that your body/brain is put through. Not only did he have a physical paralysis, he also had an emotional paralysis. This could be seen through his actions. Some examples of his paralysis are when “the chalice broke” and it “affected his mind”. For the Christian faith, it is believed that the chalice is the cup that carries the blood of Christ after its trans-configuration. The priest drops the chalice but thankfully it was empty. Another example of his paralysis is when he would be found “with his breviary fallen to the floor, lying back in the chair and his mouth open”. His physical paralysis is seen through this imagery of his mouth being open because a person with a stroke sometimes cannot control their bodily functions. Also, the emotional paralysis is seen when he drops the book that contains all the songs and hymns of the Christian Faith.

It is unknown to the reader what the true epiphany that the reverend had was, but it could be seen that the epiphany led the reverend to have lost his faith in Christianity. For a person who has devoted his life to his faith, to have an epiphany which questions your faith is like having an epiphany in which it questions your life.

Another story in which a paralysis and epiphany occur is in James Joyce’s other short story “Araby”. In this short story, the protagonist Araby is put through a paralysis by love. The young love that he feels for one of his friend’s older sisters blinds him and puts him in a state of paralysis. When the young boy goes to the bazaar with the intention of buying his love a gift, he finds a stall where he could have possibly bought something for her. While he is there, he see’s a young girl, probably about the same age as his love, flirting with soldiers. It is at this point that he has an epiphany. My interpretation of his epiphany is that as he see’s this flirting, he realizes that his love never flirted with him as this girl at the bazaar is flirting with the soldiers.

It is not as paramount as the reverend’s epiphany was, but it is similar in the sense that it has changed Araby’s faith that he had in his love just as the reverends faith in his religion was altered.