The Boarding House (James Joyce)
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Mrs. Mooney, the protagonist in James Joyce's short story "The Boarding House," represents women who appear to be kept in their submissive and dependent places while under the thumb of the men in their lives, but emerge as strong, independent and manipulative once that thumb is removed. In fact, as Joyce makes clear, Mrs. Mooney is a "determined woman" even while controlled by her abusive, alcoholic husband, and it is his pushing her to the limits which forces her to take steps which liberate her. She is not a weak woman who suddenly becomes strong, but instead a strong woman waiting, even if unconsciously, for the opportunity to break free. That freedom, however, involves the control of others' lives. She is a victim who becomes a victimizer. The narration and its focus allow these facts to become clear to the reader, and to guide the reader from character to character. The attentive reader will not be particularly surprised by the process or outcome of the story, but will nevertheless enjoy the story precisely because he or she knows more than any of the other characters, and can see the transformation of The story is told by an omniscient narrator. This approach allows the reader to know what is occurring within the character, which means the reader comes to know each of three characters well---their thoughts, their motivations, their strategy, their intentions. The narration is mobile, moving from outside the characters to inside the consciousness of Mrs. Mooney, th
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ade aware that Mrs. Mooney is a strong woman, and that she "kept her own counsel" (180). We are told "she counted all her cards" (180) before making the move which would force Mr. Doran to marry her daughter. These phrases and words indicate she sees life as a game of control and manipulation, and she is determined to win at that game. These phrases and words point to the theme by making the reader aware, again and again, that she is, indeed, a woman who appears at first to be under a man's thumb, but is in actuality an individual who, sooner or later, would take steps to control her own and others' lives.
Bibliography
Joyce, James. "The Boarding House." N.P., N.D. 179-183.
The main character in James Joyce's short story "Araby" is the boy who is under the spell of the sister of his friend Mangan. The boy is a romantic who is about to be initiated into a more harsh and realistic perspective on life and love. Joyce wants to show this initiation as an inevitable part of the boy's bitter awakening, for his romanticism is constructed on such a fragile ground that it was bound to collapse at the first sign of a harsher reality, which it, in fact, did.
We learn immediately of the boy's innocent, romantic outlook on life, love,
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Approximate Word count = 1688
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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