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“Had he not been dead I would have gone into the little dark room behind the shop to find him sitting in his arm-chair by the fire, nearly smothered in his great-coat.”
This is the first description that the reader gets of the room that the narrator and Father Flynn used to meet in. This is arguably the most important setting in the story because it is here that the pair developed their intimate and inappropriate relationship. Joyce alludes to the sinister side of these meetings by emphasizing the darkness of the room. He also invokes hellish iconography by mentioning fire which he then pointedly places next to Father Flynn.
“I walked away slowly along the sunny side of the street, reading all the theatrical advertisements in the shop-windows as I went.”
Here, the narrator walks away from Father Flynn’s house after he is unable to enter it the day after he learns of Father Flynn's death. As usual, Joyce’s attention to detail is crucial. The narrator specifically mentions that the sun is shining as he walks away from Father Flynn’s home. This symbolizes the liberation that the narrator feels as he distances himself from his old mentor. He also reads all of the advertisements as he walks away, indicating that he has other things on his mind as opposed to wallowing in grief.
“I went in on tiptoe. The room through the lace end of the blind was suffused with dusky golden light amid which the candles looked like pale thin flames. He had been coffined. Nannie gave the lead and we three knelt down at the foot of the bed. I pretended to pray but I could not gather my thoughts…”
This passage describes the room where Father Flynn’s body resides until it is time for the funeral. In this scene, the narrator, his aunt, and Nannie kneel and pay their respects over Father Flynn’s body. Joyce creates a somber yet peaceful tone through words such as “lace,” “golden,” “light,” and “pale.” The setting’s tone is juxtaposed with the narrator’s mental state because he is disturbed by the proceedings as opposed to comforted like the rest of the adults.
