Patriarchal Ideology in “the Boarding House�?: the Characterization of Mrs. Mooney Essay Example
Patriarchal Ideology in “The Boarding House”: The Characterization of Mrs. Mooney
James Joyce’s “The Boarding House” is one of the short stories in his collection of The Dubliners. In this story, Mrs. Mooney, after separating from her abusive and alcoholic husband, runs a boarding house for working men. Her daughter Polly entertains the boarders by singing and flirts with them. Mrs. Mooney learns that Polly is dating 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, which indicates that she is deliberately trying to trap Mr. Doran. On a warm Sunday morning, she intends to talk to Mr. Doran and demands that he marry Polly or else he will risk open disclosure. The narration then shifts to Doran’s point of view as he nervously contemplates losing his job due to his sexual relationship with Polly 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. The story closes with Mrs. Mooney calling Polly down so that Mr. Doran can speak to her, indicating that he agrees to the marriage.
Mrs. Mooney, the protagonist, is characterized to be a “determined” and “imposing” woman, character traits completely different from social convention, which usually expects women to be gentle, fragile, dependent and submissive (Tyson 83-4). On the contrary, Mrs. Mooney seems to have an air of masculinity rather than femininity. It is she who “married her father’s foreman and opened a butcher’s shop”; it is she who manages to get a separation when her husband threatens her with a meat cleaver. In the exclusively male world of butchering she is able to stand on her own feet. And she successfully supports her family alone by running a boarding house. Feminists could almost set Mrs. Mooney as a perfect example to illustrate that women are not weaker than
James Joyce’s “The Boarding House” is one of the short stories in his collection of The Dubliners. In this story, Mrs. Mooney, after separating from her abusive and alcoholic husband, runs a boarding house for working men. Her daughter Polly entertains the boarders by singing and flirts with them. Mrs. Mooney learns that Polly is dating 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, which indicates that she is deliberately trying to trap Mr. Doran. On a warm Sunday morning, she intends to talk to Mr. Doran and demands that he marry Polly or else he will risk open disclosure. The narration then shifts to Doran’s point of view as he nervously contemplates losing his job due to his sexual relationship with Polly 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. The story closes with Mrs. Mooney calling Polly down so that Mr. Doran can speak to her, indicating that he agrees to the marriage.
Mrs. Mooney, the protagonist, is characterized to be a “determined” and “imposing” woman, character traits completely different from social convention, which usually expects women to be gentle, fragile, dependent and submissive (Tyson 83-4). On the contrary, Mrs. Mooney seems to have an air of masculinity rather than femininity. It is she who “married her father’s foreman and opened a butcher’s shop”; it is she who manages to get a separation when her husband threatens her with a meat cleaver. In the exclusively male world of butchering she is able to stand on her own feet. And she successfully supports her family alone by running a boarding house. Feminists could almost set Mrs. Mooney as a perfect example to illustrate that women are not weaker than