The Boarding House

I. 7 elements of the story

1. Setting:
The story takes place in Dublin, mostly in Mrs Mooney’s boarding house.
In the early 20th century ( The boarding house is a short story originally published in 1914 as a
part of literary classic, “Dubliners”)
2. Character:
1.Mrs Mooney:
- A daughter of a butcher and mother of Jack and Polly.
- She is separated from her violent husband and is the owner of the Boarding House.
- A manipulative woman.
- 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.
2.Jack
- Polly’s tough brother, fond of drinking and fighting
- 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
3.Polly
- A slim girl of nineteen
- Stay at home to do housework and help her mother out
- She gets sexually involved with Mr.Doran, an older man, she has a little say in what will
happen in the future as she lets her mother takes care of the rest
- During the story she has an epiphany that she cannot do anything about the situation
she is
- She is obliged to marry mr.Doran
⇒ She is a round and dynamic character as she is central to the conflict and she self evolves.
4.Bob Doran
- A man in his thirties and the lover of Polly Mooney
- He is a successful clerk, and fear 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
⇒ ​Round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to
surprise the reader.
*small characters: Mary, Mr.Sheridan, Mr. Meade, Mr. Leonard, Bantam Lyons

3. Point of view:​ The story is written in third person’s point of view. It’s third person
omniscient. This allows the author to move from the outside to the inside of every
characters so that readers can understand the characters deeper. ​Particularly, it is
 structured through three different ​points of view​: firstly Mrs Mooney's one, secondly Mr
Doran's one, and finally the one of Polly
4. Plot:
 5. Symbol:
I. The madam​ (All the resident young men spoke of her as The Madam)
It shows the strength of Mrs. Mooney. She is the owner of the boarding house so
everyone called her "Madam". As we see in the point of the story, Mr. Doran can't do
anything except to accept it when Mrs. Mooney asked him to marry Polly
II. George Church/Priest​ : This symbol highlighting the involvement of catholic church in
Ireland at the time James Joyce wrote this story. Church or Priest would have been the
first port of call for a lot of people.
III. Grey with a shade of green​ - symbolize decay, paralysis and bad - this symbol is
shown by Polly who has bad manners as a woman. She always flirted with the young
men and very lively the intention was to give her intention to run of the young men.
IV. Yellows and browns​ indicate decay and Joyce has used color symbolism to depict this.
The yellows appear in “yellow streaks of eggs,” “butter safe under lock and key,” “the
little gilt clock,” and it is a “corn-factor for whom Polly works”. Examples of browns are
the “beer or stout,” “bacon-fat,” “pieces of broken bread,” and Jack Mooney’s bottles of
Bass ale.

erous—and so his wife leaves him. Jack Mooney is a "hard case" who cusses,
fights, and bets. His sister, Polly, sings songs about Theme:
a. Social Manipulation vs. Social Paralysis
- In the story, individuals often suffer from a feeling of paralysis—some
feeling of being stuck—as a result of social expectations.​ Mr. Doran, certainly,
feels hemmed in by his job and the expectations of his employer, the admonitions
of his priest, the social impropriety of marrying someone beneath him, Jack's
threats to anyone who dishonors his sister, and Mrs. Mooney's coercion and
demands for reparation for her daughter's honor. He clearly does not want to
marry Polly, and yet he feels obligated to do so. He is paralyzed by all these
forces outside himself and almost feels as though he has no choice.
- Mrs. Mooney, meanwhile, takes advantage of this socially induced
“paralysis” (to use Joyce’s word from the first paragraph of Dubliners), by turning
a blind eye on the flirtation until she’s satisfied that it’s gone too far for Mr. Doran
to respectably back out. In this way, she uses rigid social rules to entrap Mr.
Doran and marry off her daughter, who turns out to be a willing participant in the
ruse.

- Polly, meanwhile, says that she will "put an end to herself" as a result of
her pregnancy out of wedlock, due to social expectations and the like.

​ => People are not often free to choose without regard for their place in society.
b. The Universality of Immorality
This short story conveys the idea that everyone is unethical, even sinful.​ Mr.
Mooney waits until his father-in-law dies before revealing himself to be dishonest
and irresponsible, even murdbeing a "naughty girl" and manipulates a young
 man, Mr. Doran, into sleeping with and marrying her. Mrs. Mooney intends "to
give her [daughter] the run of the young men" in the hopes that she will land a
husband as well. Mr. Doran, a young man who sowed his oats in his youth and
has been embracing celibacy of late, falls for Polly's manipulations and sleeps
with her several times. ​No one is blameless here; all are guilty of some unethical,
even sinful, behavior.
c. Religion is a dangerous thing: an oppressively powerful governing force with no
true morality.
- Religion is ever-present in “The Boarding House” as a controlling force,
though empty of any healing, redemptive, or holy qualities. The story offers a
scathing critique of religion in Dublin, presenting it as, by turns, a prison (its
machinery of guilt and sin trapping Mr. Doran in marriage) and a charade (as
demonstrated by the worshippers in the “little circus” in front of the church outside
the boarding house).
- In the case of Mr. Doran, religion is actively harmful, promoting a
profound guilt about sin that causes him emotional and physical suffering and
forces him into a life he doesn’t want.
6. Style:

- The irony:

II. Link tham khảo:

- https://www.slideshare.net/WindahPasaribu/the-boarding-house-by-james-joyce-analysis
-63083152
- https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-boarding-house/themes/religion-guilt-and-sin​ (Link này
cho theme, rất hay nha)
 - https://www.enotes.com/topics/boarding-house-james-joyce/themes
III. Questions on the story

Araby and The Boarding house​ are stories with the theme off of frustration and escape from the
harsh realities that character are joining in. "Araby" details a boy's first crush portraying youth
and childhood. Besides, Both of the stories also share a setting in the Dublin, Joyce’s
hometown. Moreover, ​Both stories illustrate the frustrations and social pressures in Dublin at the
time in which James was writing. Whether it is poverty, social pressures, family situations or
other characters, something is entrapping Joyce's characters.
1. The title:
- Dark aspect
- Not

2. Chú thích:
•Polly’s appearance( para 4) : small mouth, soft hair... -> attractive, appealing
Polly looks upward when speaking: chủ ý gợi tình
=> she wants to emphasize that she is a nice girl, and she is “available”
Para 6:
* summer >< fresh breeze blowing : not comfortable at all
* Sunday morning: ( why does the author mention Sunday instead of another day?):
it relates religious ( God) because people go to the church every Sunday morning
* Bữa breakfast: it reflects the society at that time( English make use of everything
they have in the fridge- yellow streaks of egg, bacon,...)
* Para 7: “Had all the weight of social opinion on her side” : she can get support from
society ( because if Mr Doran does any wrong thing, society will criticize him)
* The name “Mooney” somehow pronounces like “ money” —> she always want
force her daughter to have a better lìe( sống thoải mái, không quá lo nghĩ về vấn đề
tiền bạc)
* Cuối giờ cô chốt lại về cái writing style của James Joyce: ngôn ngữ phức tạp khó
hiểu, cách đặt tên nhân vật hay...