Power and accountability Themes in Doubt Help with text - very good will help with notes and understanding the questions and the text. PDF

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Themes in Doubt Help with text - very good will help with notes and understanding the questions and the text....

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Themes Evidence and Analysis Directions: A theme is a concept or idea that an author explores in a literary work. For each theme, collect 5-6 quotes or examples from Doubt: A Parable (such as specific plot points, symbols, or quotes) that the author uses to explore that theme and enter them in the Evidence section of the table. Next, use the evidence you’ve collected to write a Theme Description that explains the role of the theme in Doubt: A Parable. Your Theme Description should be 1-2 paragraphs (200 words). Here are some questions to consider as you write each Theme Description:   

How do the ideas or actions of the main characters reflect different aspects of the theme? Does the theme develop or change over the course of Doubt: A Parable? If so, how? If your evidence includes symbols, explain how the author uses those symbols to explore the theme. Evidence

3.SISTER JAMES: Can’t you 1. SISTER ALOYSIUS: Usually 2. Scene 4 more children are sent down to just...report your suspicions? SISTER ALOYSIUS: Eight me. years ago at St. Boniface we had a priest who had to be stopped. SISTER JAMES: I try to take But I had Monsignor Scully care of things myself. then . . . whom I could rely on. SISTER ALOYSIUS: That can Here, there’s no man I can go to, be an error. You are answerable and men run everything. We are to me, I to the monsignor, he to going to have to stop him the bishop, and so on up to the ourselves. Holy Father. There’s a chain of . discipline. Make use of it.

4. SISTER ALOYSIUS: To 5. SISTER JAMES: Well, would Monsignor Benedict? The man’s that be such a bad idea? guileless! He would just ask Father Flynn!

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6. SISTER ALOYSIUS: And he would believe whatever Father Flynn told him. He would think the matter settled

If your evidence includes specific quotes from the text, explain how those quotes provide examples of how the theme applies to Doubt: A Parable?

Power and accountability

Throughout John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, the characters follow a tight hierarchy. As a result, Shanley argues, virtuous people like Sister Aloysius find it difficult to criticise authority, even when it's evident that her superiors are protecting one other from accountability. As Shanley points out, persons like Father Flynn can take advantage of their position in the Catholic Church without fear of penalties. Father Flynn has sexually abused Donald Muller, and Sister Aloysius is trying to punish him for it. However, she realises that she has very few options at her disposal because people like Monsignor Benedict are eager to downplay such instances. Father Flynn, on the other hand, is well aware that his superiors will be reluctant to penalise him, and he takes advantage of this by continuously reminding Sister Aloysius of her powerlessness. Eventually, after she establishes his history of sexual assault, he is simply relocated to another parish where he can continue to abuse children without punishment. This tragic reality is presented in Shanley's film in order to teach audiences the dangers of hiding behind various power systems in order to avoid punishment....