Abstract The paper compares how the play "Doubt: A Parable" by John Patrick Shanley and the short story "On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien are built on the foundations of uncertainty and doubts. The paper also shows how the two works allow the reader to come to his own conclusions about what ultimately happens in these two works. The paper relates that these works teach that one needs to question what he knows and believes and to understand there will always be uncertainties in life.
From the Paper "The uncertainties at the end of this play are very clear. First, there is a real uncertainty that Father Flynn did anything at all, and that he was simply afraid of Sister Aloysius and her accusations, and chose to leave rather than to acknowledge them. Today, with so many scandals following priests in the Catholic Church that is not hard to believe, even though this story is set in 1964. However, there are more uncertainties than just Father Flynn's guilt by the end of the play. Should Sister Aloysius be so absolutely sure of her suspicions, even though she has absolutely no proof? Is she really so convinced of her suspicions that she felt it was all right to lie, she a woman of the cloth and a person the children of the school are supposed to look up to? How could anyone be so self-righteous and despicable, and how could she possibly be a nun?"
