THE BOARDING HOUSE-----James Joyce-----

OUTLINE

"The Boarding House" is a short

story originally published in 1914

as a part of the literary classic,

"Dubliners." It is considered one

of James Joyce's favorite short

stories.

The title page of the first edition in

1914 of Dubliners

- Mrs. Mooney’s boarding house in the seedy

part of the city of Dublin.

- In the early 20th century

SETTING

PLOT

Mr. Doran decides to stay

and gets married with Polly.

Mrs. Mooney separates from Mr.

Mooney. She establishes a

boarding house and lives with

her kids, Polly and Jack Mooney.

Polly becomes involved in an affair with Mr.

Doran. Mrs. Mooney does not act immediately

because she makes a plan.

Mr. Doran doesn't know whether he

should run away or actually get married to

Polly.

Mrs. Mooney confronts Polly about the situation. She

later confronts Mr. Doran and tells him he has to

marry Polly.

• The story is told by an omniscient narrator.

=> Allows the reader to know what is occurring within the character, which

means the reader comes to know each of three characters well.

• The narration is mobile, moving from outside the characters to inside the

consciousness of Mrs. Mooney, then from inside Mrs. Mooney to inside

two other characters.

• This mobile and omniscient approach keep the interest of the reader.

Shifting the focus from character to character gives the reader the

opportunity to enter the consciousnesses of the other two far more

emotional and chaotic characters' consciousnesses.

POINT OF VIEW

CHARACTERSMrs. Mooney

- She is the daughter of a butcher and mother of Polly and Jack.

- She is separated from her husband and is the owner of the Boarding House.

- When she finds out about her daughter’s affair, she wants reparations, not in

the form of money but in marriage, for the loss of her daughter’s honor.

- She is a manipulative woman. She has a greater role than what is shown on

the surface.

- She demands equal treatment for men and women as she feels that men

should pay for their actions by marriage.

=>She is a round character because we know a

lot about her and are given insight into her

thoughts.

=>She also plays a central role in the story, by

influencing the outcome.

CHARACTERS

Jack Mooney

- Polly's tough brother, fond of drink and fighting.

- Jack is strong and belligerent, a drinker who likes getting into fights.

- He is very touchy on the subject of his sister's honor.

- Mr. Doran is afraid of him.

- Jack gives Mr. Doran a dirty look as Mr. Doran passes.

CHARACTERS

CHARACTERSPolly Mooney

- She is a slim girl of nineteen and the daughter of Mrs. Mooney.

- She stays at home to do housework and helps her mother out.

- She gets sexually involved with Mr. Doran, an older man, and she has

little say in what will happen in the future as she lets her mother take

care of the rest.

- During the story she has an epiphany that she cannot do anything about

the situation she is in.

- She learns that her actions have consequences and she is obliged to

marry Mr. Doran.

CHARACTERS

=>She is a round and dynamic character

as she is central to the conflict and she

self evolves.

CHARACTERSBob Doran

- A man in his thirties and the lover of Polly Mooney.

- He is a successful clerk, and fears that his reputation will be

tarnish due to the affair he has with Polly.

- He worries about what people will think about him and her and

whether he really loves Polly.

- He then comes to an epiphany that he has to get married

regardless of his feelings

=>This makes him a dynamic character.

CHARACTERS

Small characters

Mary

Mr. Sheridan

Mr. Meade

Bantam Lyons

Mr. Leonard

SYMBOLISM

All the resident young men

spoke of her as The Madam.

This symbol shows the strength

of character Mrs. Mooney.

Highlighting the level of involvement

that the Catholic Church had in the lives

of ordinary people in Ireland at the time

that Joyce wrote Dubliners. Priest

would have been a first port of call for a

lot of people.

- “George’s Church”

- “ Priest”

SYMBOLISM

This symbol of Bob Doran’s fogging his

eyeglasses gives the reader the impression

that Bob Doran is in fear.

- “Every two or three minute a mist gather

on his eyeglasses so that he had to take

them off and polish with is pocket-

handkerchief”

SYMBOLISM

Color

- Yellow

- Brown

Symbolise decay and paralysis

SYMBOLISM

FIGURE OF SPEECHSIMILE

“ She dealt with moral problems as a clever

deals with meat”

SARCASM

He was a shabby stooped little drunkard with a

white face and a white moustache white

eyebrows, pencilled above his little eyes, which

were veined and raw.

PERSONIFICATION

- The belfry of George’s Church sent out

constant peals and worshippers”

- His instinct urged him to remain free, not to

marry.

- Her memories gradually giving place to

hope and visions of the future.

FIGURE OF SPEECH

METAPHOR

- “The girl has to bear the brunt.”

- “She had made a clean breast of it to her

mother”

HYPERBOLE

- Her house had a floating population

made up of tourists.

FIGURE OF SPEECH

• Gloomy

The reader is exposed to the harsh realities of life

demonstrated to them by the characters actions and the

outcome of the story.

• Worried

- Mr. Doran is worried about tarnishing his reputation in

his work place and with his friends.

- Polly is crying as she doesn’t know what to do and

wants to put an end to herself

MOOD AND TONE

• Despair (… helpless and hopeless)

• Mellow and melancholic tone

=> These moods and tone evokes a

sympathetic reaction from the readers and

aids the readers in understanding the

characters.

MOOD AND TONE

• The story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed

narrator.

The reader is given the point of view of two of the main

characters in the story, Mrs. Mooney and Bob Doran.

• A style of “scrupulous meanness”

Set a scene, create an atmosphere, or establish details of

character in a few words.

With this style, readers are left to interpret and feel the bare

facts for themselves.

STYLE

• The theme in “The Boarding House” is a desire to escape

- Mr. Doran and Polly Mooney both want to escape the

consequences of their affair but are unable to undertake the

process.

• The imprisonment of the powerless, the experience of paralysis

- Mr. Doran is seen as the powerless as he is manipulated

into marrying Polly.

- Polly is also powerless as she leaves the fate of her future

to her mother, to handle.

THEME

• Social opinion or the perception of what others think.

- Mrs Mooney believes that she has ‘all the weight of social

opinion on her side, she was an outraged mother.’

- For Mr. Doran , social opinion is important, there is a fear as

regards what his friends and employers will think about Polly,

she is not as refined as he would like her to be.

- The importance of social opinion to Bob and Mrs Mooney can

also be seen at the end of the story.

THEME

QUIZ

Who tells the story?

A.An omniscient narrator

B.Mrs. Mooney

C.Polly Mooney

D.Bob Doran

QUIZ

What nickname have the lodgers given

Mrs. Mooney?

A.Mrs.

B.Mistress

C.The Madam

D.All are wrong

QUIZ

When Mrs. Mooney knows the relationship between Mr.

Doran and Polly, does she interfere or act immediately?

What does she do?

=>Mrs. Mooney does not act immediately because she

makes a plan. Mrs. Mooney waits until the most profitable

moment—until she is sure Mr. Doran, a successful clerk,

must propose to Polly out of social propriety

QUIZ

In “The Boarding House,” Mr. Doran is

tricked into doing what?

A. Deceiving Mrs. Mooney’s husband

B. Marrying Mrs. Mooney’s daughter

C. Paying double rent

D. Taking the blame for a recent robbery

QUIZ

Why does Mrs. Mooney trick him into marry

her daughter?

=> Mrs. Mooney is trying to trap him in a

marriage just to get Polly to a better position in

life

QUIZ

When Mrs. Mooney interferes*, what is Mr. Doran

worried about? Does he worry about Polly’s

feeling? What is his final decision?

=> He worries little about Polly’s feelings, and instead

considers his years of hard work and good reputation

now verging on destruction.

He agrees to marry Polly.

* Prevent (a process or activity) from continuing or

being carried out properly

QUIZ

How is the mood of the story?

A.Happy and funny

B.Boring and depressing

C.Gloomy and worried

D.All are wrong

QUIZ

What are the themes of the story? Choose the

correct answers

A.desire to escape

B.imprisonment of the powerless

C.value of money

D.perception of what others think

E.negative aspect of marriage

F. life of lodgers

QUIZ