Child Sexual Abuse and Father Flynn

Catherine Pierce Dr. Lyon English Composition 10 October 2012 Guilty Conscience It’s safe to say that the Catholic Church does not have the best reputation when it comes to sexual harassment and child molestation accusations. Cases such as these have been coming up for years but all seem to have similar outcomes. The priest typically gets a slap on the wrist, gets moved to another parish, and the issue is never spoken of again.In some of the more controversial cases, the priest is removed from the priesthood simply to get his name away from any association with the church because the church is known to do anything it can to cover up such accusations and rumors. This is no different for Father Flynn in the book Doubt, where he is accused of making sexual advances on an eighth grade boy that attends the school that he works in. He is accused by the principle of the school, Sister Aloysius, who is convinced he is guilty of giving the young boy wine from the sacristy and making in appropriate advances on him after doing so.Sister Aloysius may not have real evidence but based on Father Flynn’s behavior, his interest in boys with little to no friends, and his guilty conscience, it is easy to see that he is in fact guilty. Father Flynn, on the outside, seems like a very caring man that wants nothing more than to make everyone in his community feel welcome and comfortable. This would be all well and good if his behavior around the young boys did not so closely resemble that of a pedophile. Pedophiles typically gain the trust of their victims which is exactly what Father Flynn does with the eighth grade boys that he coaches in basketball.He likes to have bull sessions with the boys inside the rectory and talk to them as if he is one of them. They are also said to have a good standing within their community which he clearly has since he is the communities priest (Ruggles). Father Flynn is very good at making the boys feel comfortable around him, especially w hen he talks to them about things such as getting girls to like them. In Act III, he says to the whole basketball team, â€Å"You try to talk to a girl with those filthy paws, Mr. Conroy, she’s going to take off like she’s being chased by the Red Chinese! † (Shanley 16).He likes to joke around with the boys to make them feel comfortable around him and to make himself seem more relatable. This is not exactly the behavior that someone in his position during that time should have with young boys. He should be much more authoritative and guiding since he is a clergyman. Another component to Father Flynn’s guilt in the fact that he chooses the young boys that do not have many friends to have a deeper connection with. Father Flynn sees that Donald Muller is very isolated from the other kids that attend the school because he is the first and only African American child to go there.In Act VIII, Father Flynn says to Sister Aloysius, â€Å"I am trying to do good! † (Shanley 51). One of the number one characteristics of a pedophile is that they will try to â€Å"court† the children and lavish attention and concern for their well-being upon them (Pedophilia). He has it in his mind that by showing this extra attention to the boy that has no friends, that he is actually doing a good deed. He shows extra attention towards Donald because he is vulnerable and does not have friends to turn to in order to explain his problems to.Father Flynn also knows that Donald has a troubled home life and is beaten by his father. He sees this as an excuse for Donald’s behavior instead of the obvious fact that he has been sexually abused. The third and final reason that proves Father Flynn’s guilt is the fact that he became overly defensive when Sister Aloysius told him that she had gotten in contact with one of the former nuns that he worked with at his previous parish. Father Flynn has an extremely guilty conscience in this case becaus e he becomes frustrated when Sister Aloysius did not go straight to the Pastor of that parish.He says to her in Act VIII when he realizes she spoke to a nun, â€Å"That’s not the proper route for you to have taken, Sister! The Church is clear. You’re supposed to go through the pastor. † (Shanley 53). Father Flynn sees that Sister Aloysius has not followed the typical protocol of finding out information about his past which makes him nervous because he knows that a nun would know the real story. He knows that a nun would not be allowed to say anything that pertained to the case but he also knows that she would be honest with a fellow sister like Sister Aloysius. It is known hat when a priest has been accused of molestation or rape, the church has been very adamant about covering it up and being very easy on the accused clergyman. ABCNews. com posted a story about a Boston priest that was repeatedly accused of molesting children over a 30 year period. The site was quoted as saying the priest, â€Å"was treated leniently and sympathetically by the highest officials in the Boston Archdiocese, who continually re-assigned him as a parish priest. † (Claiborne). Since Sister Aloysius did not go to the higher authority, Father Flynn knows that this fellow nun would not lie and that she would tell her everything.Many skeptics and people that are taking Father Flynn’s side will and say that he is a genuine man that cares for the children of his parish and only wants what is best for them. This can easily be refuted by simply talking about his discussion with Sister Aloysius and how as soon as he found out that she supposedly spoke to another nun, he called for a transfer like she told him to. He has an extremely guilty conscience because he knows that the nun from his former parish know what he did.Although it may seem that Father Flynn is just trying to show everyone the compassion they deserve, his behavior resembles that of a pedophi le much too closely and he seems to shows even more interest in the boys that don’t have friends. If Father Flynn was an innocent man he would have fought harder for himself instead of believing Sister Aloysius when she said she spoke to another nun and leaving their parish. After compiling all the evidence against him, it would be hard for anyone to disagree with the fact that Father Flynn is indeed a guilty man. Work Cited Shanley, John Patrick. Doubt.New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2005. Print. Ruggles, Tammy L. â€Å"Profile of a Pedophile. †Ã‚  MHMatters. N. p. , 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 3 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Pedophilia and Child Sexual Molestation. †Ã‚  Pedophilia and Child Sexual Molestation. PSC, n. d. Web. 3 Oct. 2012. . Claiborne, Ron. â€Å"Pedophile Priest Protected by Church. †Ã‚  ABC News. ABC News Network, 23 Jan. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. .

What Does Flaubert Think of Emma

Madame Bovary is about the life of Emma Bovary whose unhappy marital life has thrust her into illegitimate relationships with other men. Emma’s character serves to stand for the women of 19th century who found themselves in the web of unhappy life from which they failed to free themselves. The dominant theme of the novel is about the search of a woman for true happiness and independence but the irony of the novel is that she is deceived by the interplay of illusion and reality. Emma Bovary struggles to free herself from the conventions of the society through escapades in illusionary world and relationships which give her nothing in return. Emma’s character is criticized as that of a lustful woman but the way the author of the novel portrays and treats her is as important as the interpretation of the critics. The attitude of the author, however, has a considerable impact on the reader’s perception of Emma’s character and the readers come to see the character of Emma through the eyes of Flaubert. The novel is an admixture of ‘rebellion, violence, melodrama and sex, expertly combined in a compact plot’ (Llosa). What Flaubert thinks of his heroine is clear with his statement, ‘Madame Bovary, C’est Moi? ’ that implies that he can never think to imagine of the sufferings of Emma (Zarin). The story of Emma commences as she is married to Charles Bovary who is a physician. Charles undergoes an unhappy marital life before Emma where ‘his wife was a master’ (Flaubert 10). The author treats the character of Emma with a delicacy and sensitivity as she is presented as a romantic woman whose dreams are devastated as soon as she realizes that her choice to marry a physician was fatuous, ‘What exasperated her was that Charles did not seem to notice her anguish. His conviction that he was making her happy seemed to her an imbecile insult and his sureness on this point ingratitude’ (Flaubert 101). It seems that the author himself sympathyzes with Emma and wants to capture the reader’s attention towards her pitiful condition that is an excuse for the life she chose for herself. Another dominant theme of the novel is the interplay of illusion and reality which makes Emma to take decisions for her life. The callousness of her husband pushes her towards rebellion and she asks, ‘for whose sake, then was she virtuous? ’ (Flaubert 101). Emma finds escape in lascivious affairs with Leon Dupius and Rodolphe Boulanger. She ‘could not think that the calm in which she lived was the happiness she had dreamed’ (Flaubert 35). The sad fact is that Charles realizes his wife’s worth in his life after her death. Even when he has discovered the love letter of Rodolphe he admits that everyone ‘must have adored her’ and ‘all men assuredly must have coveted her’ (Flaubert 342). The attitude of Charles seems odd as well as he adores her as if a goddess and ‘she seemed but the more beautiful to him for this’ (Flaubert 342). But it is the choice of Flaubert who himself is found in love with his character that even after the enormous loss in the life of Emma she is treated with sympathy by the novelist. During her life the sole concern of Charles is ‘his reputation’, ‘fortune’ and ‘berth’s future’ (Flaubert 313). Emma commits suicide and does not realize her mistakes even after she is left by her lovers. The rites of passage does not appear in her life as she felt to be ‘disillusioed’ with ‘nothing’ to ‘learn , and nothing more to feel’ (Flaubert 35). The dilemma of Emma’s life, though, is that she fails to achieve perfect happiness and the victim of her rebellion was her daughter, Berth, who is bound to work in factory after the demise of her parents. Flaubert treats Emma as a woman who craves for wealth, joy and the superficial side of the things. The luscious style of life attracts her as the novelists describe ‘the silver dish covers’ that reflect ‘the lighted wax candles in the candlebra’ and the silk linen were the things that made her eyes glimmed (Flaubert 43). The ambitions of Emma lead her to sin and death are a part of western history of morality and religion (Llosa). The important aspect of Emma’s treatment of Flaubert is that the novelist portrays her character as a rebellious soul who is heroic in her own sense. Rebellion in Emma’s case’, says Llosa, ‘does not have the epic dimensions of that of the masculine heroes of the 19th century novel, yet it is no less heroic’ (Llosa). The attitude of the novelist towards the pivotal character is positive and he treats her as an Amazon of her own life but the fact is that Flaubert’s attitude inserts inverse imp act on the perceptions of the readers as they come to see her character as that of a lusty woman who bears no fidelity like that of women in other 19th century novels who came to compromise with the circumstances of their lives. The critics also criticize Emma Bovary for her impulses, her ‘incurable materialism’, her ‘predilection for the pleasures of the body’ than ‘soul’ and her ‘preference for earthly life’ which are also a part of a modern western woman (Llosa). ‘Here is the rebellion of an individual’, ushers Llosa, ‘and to all appearances a self centered one’ (Llosa). Emma Bavory represents women in 19th century society who are caught in unhappy marriages and aspire to obtain their wishes at every cost. Her story is that of a ‘blind, stubborn, desperate rebellion against the social violence’ (Llosa). She ‘violates the codes of her milieu’ only because she is ‘driven’ to act in the way as a consequence of her problems which she undergoes in her life (Llosa). The mastery of Flaubert lies in the fact that he links the thematic garb of the story with that of characterization. As the dominant themes of the novel include the struggle for independence by a woman, interplay between illusion and reality, theme of infidelity and betrayal. The interesting fact of Flaubert’s novel is that all of the themes are associated with the character of Emma Bovary who enjoys pivotal importance in the plot of the novel. This fact emphaizes the need to have a closer look at how is Flaubert’s own attitude towards the heroine of the novel and what he wants to imply through the portrayal of Emma. Emma is regarded as among the heroines about whose ‘appearance’ readers are ‘most likely to diagree’ (Barnes). Moreover Barnes finds it impossible to forgive Thackery for calling Bovary as heartless and callous. She is to be sympathized when she realizes that she is betrayed as she says to Rodolhe, ‘You never loved me. You are no better than the others’ (Flaubert 310). She was ;betraying, ruining herself’ for her ambitions (Flaubert 310). Flaubert shows that Emma’s engagements with the other men were due to the problems in which she was trapped and she was not disloyal to any one as Emma herself resolves to help her lovers when they needed, ‘I would have given you every thing. I would have sold all’ for the eternal love (Flaubert 310). Charles remains in the illusion that he had made her happy throughout her life, ‘Weren’t you happy? Is it my fault? I did all I could’ (Flaubert 316). The end of Emma’s life is presented with a divinity as ‘now’ a ‘twilight dimness was settling upon her thoughts’ (Flaubert 317) and she filled with joy on the ‘visions of eternal beatitude that were beginning’ (Flaubert 323). It was the ‘treachery’, ‘meanness’ and numberless ‘desires that had tortured her’, so she is rid of all the blames by the author (Flaubert 317). The character of Emma is presented by the author with such a sensitivity that it arouses the sympathies of the readers towards Emma’s character.

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There is not the same number of lines in each stanza, and theres no fixed number of syllables in each line like there would be in a Standard English poem. He also doesnt use any form of punctuation, and he even adds a slash in the middle of the line: to split/ up yu syntax. This makes it even more non-standard because slash breaks the rhythm of the poem. All of these things shows the fact that he doesnt believe Standard English is the only form of English; there are other forms of English which are equally legitimate. In Half Caste, the lines throughout the poem are generally quite short, the effect of this is to make the poem go faster, and make us receive short quick messages. Agard also uses many commands, for example, Explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say half-caste. The effect of this is to grab peoples attention, but its also asking the reader what do we mean when we say half caste. Do we say it because we feel prejudiced towards people of mixed ethnicity? In Listen Mr. Oxford Don, the tone starts off lightly; this is when hes talking about who he is and where hes from. As the poem goes on, he begins to talk about violence, I ent have no gun, I ent have no knife. This is when his tone starts to become quite aggressive and threatening. After this he says, I dont need no hammer to mash up your grammar, his tone becomes even more threatening because he says that he will speak whatever he wants. The word mash up implies violence, Agard is threatening to destroy the English language. Unlike Listen Mr. Oxford Don, the tone of Half Caste is lighthearted, only towards the end of the poem that the tone starts to get serious. This is when he says that we need to give people full respect if we want to understand them completely as human beings. If were categorizing them into groups, were not giving them respect. In both of the poems, Agard uses clever humor to grab our attention, but at the same to provoke our preconceptions. Both of these poems are very political, and have a social impact. In Listen Mr. Oxford Don, Agard is challenging the traditional institutions to say that theres no such thing as the correct form of English anymore. Society has moved on, and now we need to embrace other forms of English language as well because we all have different dialects, but each dialect is as valid as the other. The traditional form of English doesnt mean its more superior or more acceptable in society. In Half Caste, Agard not only wants to address the reader, hes challenging the reader into questioning their own preconceptions and prejudices. Hes also getting them to think about the implications of the words they use, because most people do not know the full meaning of it, and do not realize the weight of what theyre saying. For example, the word half caste can seriously offend the people who are of mixed ethnicity.