A Priest’s Death: An Examination Of Uncanny Elements In James Joyce’s "The Sisters"

Part I of Essay
In "The Sisters," James Joyce implements several elements of the uncanny. The story centers on an evasion of understanding and comprehensibility. It primarily focuses on the death of a priest, in itself a rather unsettling incident. The feeling of disengagement is perpe ....

Part II of Essay
.... While the narrator awaited the Reverend’s death, news of the event startled him: I knew that I was under observation, so I continued eating as if the news had not interested me…I felt that his [Cotter’s] little black beady eyes were examining me, but I would not satisfy him by looking up from my plate (10). Seemingly unwilling to accept the news on face value, he goes to see the for himself the following day. After seeing the death notice on the door, the narrator is "persuaded that he was dead" (12). The boy’s apparent relief at the news of ....