The boy is a close friend of the priest; he sees him very often and gets most of his education from him. During their time together the priest often said to him, “I am not long for this world”. The boy had “thought his words idle”, but now he knew they were true.
The word paralysis comes up very often in the story and in other short stories
by Joyce. He uses it not just in the physical and literal meaning, but also in the mental.
Old Cotter is one person who does not like the boy having anything to do with the priest. One thing about this story however is that we never get to know the boy’s name. This is probably quite significant as Father Flynn is bringing the boy up to be a priest, to be like him and to follow in his footsteps.
Old Cotter begins to convince the boy’s uncle that it is not good for the boy’s health to be friends with such an old man; he should be out with boys his age, having his childhood. The boy, in a sense, is paralysed himself, he does not know what to do, and he has been such a close friend of the priest for so long now that he is stuck.
Later on, the boy feels a sort of sense of relief that the priest has died so that he can get his freedom. A bit further on, the sisters begin talking about the priest’s death and how he has “gone to a better world” and how he had “a beautiful death” and how he made “such a beautiful corpse”. All of these comments are very strange, showing the simplicity of the women. They are using so many clichés that just don’t fit the mood and somberness of the moment.
Later on we hear that the boy broke a chalice and he feels responsible and has a nervous breakdown. At the funeral, we see the priest lying in his coffin, “an idle chalice on his breast”. This is ironic; it is showing a chalice with nothing in it being reflective of the priest’s life, as if he has been a failure.
The whole story is based on the theme of paralysis and death and shows how the priest brainwashes the boy, trying his best to make him follow in his footsteps, as if to re-incarnate himself as the boy, to live another life but this time to do something better with it.