Summary
As Sister Aloysius takes Sister James into her new eighth-grade classroom, she ruminates on the church’s power hierarchy. Then, she asks James about Donald Miller and his progress in class. As Sister Aloysius asks Sister James about other ill-behaved students, a strong, “peripatetic” wind blows through the classroom. As she closes the window, Sister Aloysius becomes distracted by Father Flynn, who is discussing something with a fellow priest below.
Sister Aloysius then begins chastising Sister James for allowing ballpoint pens in her classroom. Frustrated, she hangs a picture of the Pope on the blackboard. When Sister James explains that this is not the current Pope, Sister Aloysius explains that Sister James should use the image’s reflection to observe the behavior of her students. Sister James seems uneasy at this suggestion.
In the church’s gym, Father Flynn teaches the students how to shoot a basketball. After a student successfully makes a shot, he orders the class to sit in a circle. As he walks around, Father Flynn tells the young boys that too many of them have dirty fingernails. Father Flynn explains that although he likes his fingernails long, he keeps them impeccably clean. The students look at their priest in both shock and disbelief.
The following scene shows the priests eating dinner. As they eat bloody pieces of steak, the priests talk rowdily, drink whiskey, and smoke cigarettes. This strongly contrasts with the silent dinner that the nuns share together. Another day, Donald Miller forlornly watches as Father Flynn talks to another altar boy.
Meanwhile, Sister James successfully uses the reflection from the Pope’s picture to catch misbehaving students. After ordering a student to return to the seat, she receives a call from Father Flynn to send Donald Miller to the rectory. As she accompanies her students to a classroom dance lesson, Sister James notices Father Flynn put something in Donald Miller’s locker. Suspicious, she opens the locker and finds a white undershirt. Later, she notices that Donald Miller is visibly upset and asks him if he is feeling okay.
Disturbed by what she has seen, Sister James approaches Sister Aloysius to discuss Donald Miller’s behavior. After Sister Aloysius asks if Donald has been bullied by his white peers, Sister James replies that Father Flynn is Donald’s “protector.” Sister Aloysius jumps to the conclusion that the two have developed an intimate relationship, which makes Sister James feel guilty and culpable. Later, Father Flynn talks to the boys about the proper etiquette for asking girls to dance.
Sister Aloysius takes Sister James into her office to further discuss the relationship between Donald Miller and Father Flynn. She explains that Donald Miller is the church’s “first negro student,” which places him in an isolated and vulnerable position. Although she denies their relationship, Sister James explains that Donald had alcohol on his breath after returning from his meeting with Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius explains with frustration that there is no higher male authority to confide in regarding the accusation, and that she and Sister James will need to take matters into their own hands. Coincidentally, a strong wind hits the church and causes a large tree branch to fall, injuring one of the elderly nuns.
Analysis
In this series of scenes, we see the introduction of an important motif throughout the film—weather. When Sister Aloysius describes the winds as “peripatetic,” she alludes to the unrest that has spontaneously shaken her life at church. When the branch falls and injures one of her colleagues, Sister Aloysius asserts that “the world is falling.” In this way, the film uses the pathetic fallacy in order to describe the anxiety that accompanies change. Unpredictable weather is used throughout the plot as a metaphor for Sister Aloysius’s suspicion and unrest.
The use of the Pope’s picture is another powerful symbol in the film. Though Sister James is preoccupied by the fact that it is not a current image, Sister Aloysius does not care. Instead, she encourages Sister James to use the framed picture as a way to observe her students. Their disparate relationships to this image symbolize how they view their positions as church educators. While Sister James is more concerned with upholding the truth, Sister Aloysius uses her religious and educational authority to exert control.
Additionally, this scene establishes how the church has institutionalized the gender binary. This is first apparent in the contrasting dinner scenes. As Father Flynn and his colleagues wine and dine one another, the nuns drink their milk in silence. As the audience, we are prompted to consider whether this dissimilar behavior is a result of nature or nurture. Are the nuns genuinely more pious? Or are they held to the institutional expectation that they must be models of purity and good conduct?
As the scenes progress, we begin to think more about the questions posed above. After Sister James approaches Sister Aloysius with her suspicions, Sister Aloysius begins to consider the ways in which she can uncover the truth of the relationship between Donald and Father Flynn. As she strategizes, she is inhibited by the realization that Father Flynn is the church’s highest authority. In this way, we realize the disenfranchisement of women in the Catholic church.
Just as the film comments on the church’s restrictions on women, we become acquainted with race and the church. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, ending segregation in public places and banning employment discrimination. In the context of Doubt, we discover that although the laws began to change, many white citizens continued to view black people as “other” and discriminate against them. Although Donald Miller’s presence at the church indicates the supposed “progress” of American society, the accusations brought against Father Flynn demonstrate Donald’s vulnerability and subjection to “othering.”
