The Boarding House
James Joyce
Mrs. Mooney is the main character in the story “The Boarding House” James Joyce Presents the story of a bold and strong women and her daughter’s love story.
Mrs. Mooney was a butcher’s daughter who married her father’s foreman. Later she divorced him because she could not withstand his drinking and bullying nature. Taking charge of her daughter Polly and son Jack, she opened a boarding house in Hardwicke Street. She was strong, strict, determined and practical. She knew how to handle matters- when to act and when to remain silent.
When reading further in the story, we find that the boarding house is a trap, where Mrs. Mooney is a hunter who's looking for a decent husband for her daughter Polly within her guests. She is using Polly as bait to catch Mr. Doran, the victim in the story. Mrs. Mooney manipulates Mr. Doran into her trap by using her daughter's innocence as the bait and Mr. Doran's innocence as a victim. Mrs. Mooney is a woman of business and Mr. Doran is the perfect victim for her and for Polly. Mr. Doran has also a decent job and he fits perfectly to the economical needs of Mrs. Mooney. Mrs. Mooney also uses their society and religion as a tool to cause Mr. Doran marrying her daughter. She knows that her victim is a religious man, who lives in the religious culture of Dublin that obeys to the rules of the church. He is afraid of the church and he is afraid to lose his job in the Catholic wine merchant office. Thus Mr. Doran had no other option than marrying Polly. Mrs. Mooney is like a watchdog that watches that the prey will not run out of the trap, but will run into it.
Q. Write an interpretation of 'The Boarding House'. [060-3]
After a difficult marriage with a drunken husband that ends in separation, Mrs. Mooney opens a boarding house to make a living. Jack, her son and Polly, her daughter live with her in the house, which is occupied by clerks from the city, as well as occasional tourists and musicians. Mrs. Mooney runs a strict and tight business and is known by the lodgers as “The Madam.” Polly, who used to work in an office, now stays at home at her mother’s request, to amuse the lodgers and help with the cleaning. Surrounded by so many young men, Polly ultimately develops a relationship with a rich thirty five years old Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney knows about the relationship, but instead of sending Polly back to work in the city, she monitors its developments. Polly becomes increasingly uncomfortable with her mother’s lack of intervention, but Mrs. Mooney waits until “the right moment” to intercede. First she speaks awkwardly with Polly, then arranges to speak with Mr. Doran on a Sunday morning.
Mrs. Mooney looks forward to her argument which she intends to “win” by defending her daughter’s honor and convincing Mr. Doran to offer his hand in marriage. Waiting for the time to pass, Mrs. Mooney figures the odds are in her favor, considering that Mr. Doran, who has worked for a wine merchant for thirteen years and gained much respect, will choose the option that least harms his career.
Meanwhile, Mr. Doran is in distress. He knows he will be called by Mrs. Mooney. He reviews the difficult confession to his priest that he made on Saturday evening, in which he was harshly accused for his romantic affair. He knows he can either marry Polly or run away, the latter an option that would ruin his sound reputation. Convincing himself that he has been tricked, Mr. Doran bemoans Polly’s unimpressive family, her ill manners, and her poor grammar, and wonders how he can remain free and unmarried. In this vexed moment Polly enters the room and threatens to end her life out of unhappiness. In her presence, Mr. Doran begins to remember how he was trapped by Polly’s beauty and kindness, but he still hesitates about his decision. Uneasy, Mr. Doran comforts Polly and departs for the meeting, leaving her to wait in the room. She rests on the bed crying for a while, neatens her appearance, and then nestles back in the bed, dreaming of her possible future with Mr. Doran. Finally, Mrs. Mooney interrupts the daydream by calling to her daughter. Mr. Doran, according to Mrs. Mooney, wants to speak with Polly.
The story
Mrs. Mooney, separated from her husband, a butcher who descended into alcoholism, runs a boarding house for working men. Her daughter Polly entertains the boarders by singing and flirts with them. Mrs. Mooney learns that her daughter is having an affair with Mr. Doran, a man in his mid-thirties who has worked in a Catholic wine-merchant’s office for many years. Mrs. Mooney bides her time before she intervenes; strongly implying that she is deliberately trying to trap Mr. Doran. After much background, the climax of the story commences on a warm Sunday morning. Mrs. Mooney intends to talk to Mr. Doran and demand that he marry Polly or risk open disclosure. The narration then shifts to Doran’s point-of-view as he nervously contemplates losing his job due to the affair and bemoans the girl’s lower class background and vulgarities of speech. After Polly enters in an agitated state, we learn through Doran’s memories that she initiated the relationship. After Doran leaves the room, Polly seems content, suggesting that she was putting on a show of anguish for his sake. The story closes with Mrs. Mooney calling Polly down so that Mr. Doran can speak to her.
Q. Briefly narrate the story of "The Boarding House" [063-10]
"The Boarding House" by James Joyce is a story of Mrs. Mooney. She had married her father’s foreman. She later divorced him because he was a drunkard and aggressive. She was a very clever woman who knew how to handle matters. She trapped rich Mr. Doran and forced him to marry her daughter Polly.
After divorcing from her husband, she opened a boarding house. The house was full of clerks and tourists. Her daughter Polly used to amuse the lodgers. Polly developed a relationship with rich Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney knew the matters but did not intervene for some time. Later, she asked about the relationship with her daughter.
Mrs. Mooney was a determined and practical woman. So, she thought of possible ways of blackmailing Doran and forcing him to marry Polly. She was convinced that Mr. Doran could not escape the marriage because he was a clerk of one of the rich Catholic merchant. Mrs. Mooney called Mr. Doran so that she could blackmail him to marry her daughter. Mr. Doran wanted to escape from marriage but he could not do that. In the end, Mrs. Mooney called her daughter saying that Mr. Doran wanted to speak to her.
Q. Sketch the character of Mrs. Mooney. (The Boarding House)
Ans. Mrs. Mooney, the main character of the story The Boarding House possessed a civilized and conscious character or behaviour. She had a daughter called Polly once fell in love with a boy called Mr. Doran. Gradually, people came to know about their relationship and started to gossip. Finally, Mrs. Mooney came to know the fact. Due to her civilized manner, she didn’t get angry but planned to make a perfect inquiry to find out the fact. If Doran had no bad intention, she would allow them to get married. If not she would take action against him to pay as a compensation. Later on, it is understood that she settled the problems between them and allowed them to go ahead. Before this event, she had started a shop to sell meat. She had two children. She got separated from her husband after he became useless to business. She followed legal process to get separated. She started a business of boarding house where many people stayed from short to long time. From such kind of ideas and schemes of Mrs. Mooney, we can say that she was bold, decisive, responsible, civilized and a perfect woman. On the other hand, she gave responsibility to her daughter and son. Miss Polly had to be responsible to look after the boarding house. It means Mrs. Mooney was conscious to make them independent. So, regarding her character, Mrs. Mooney is courageous, business skilled, and deserving all types of qualities fit in modern time.
Q. How do you think Mrs Mooney settled with Mr. Doran about Polly? Did Mr. Doran marry Polly or pay out compensation? [059-3]
Mrs. Mooney was in search of a good husband for her daughter Polly. When she knew that Mr. Doran and Polly had developed a relationship, she thought of plan to blackmail him. In my view, she forced Mr. Doran to marry her daughter because Mr. Doran was rich man. Though he was 35 years old, he was soft-mouthed and above her social status.
I think that Mr. Doran married Polly because he was trapped by Mrs. Mooney. Mrs. Mooney was rich but her social status was not so good. So, Mrs. Mooney forced him to marry her daughter.
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Credential: Dr. Ramesh Adhikari
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