The Boarding House

The first words of “The Boarding House” are: “Mrs. Mooney was a butcher’s daughter” (Paragraph 1). This indicates that Mrs. Mooney’s socioeconomic background is an important aspect of her character and that class is a key theme in the story. In the context of Dublin, a butcher has social and class connotations, indicating that Mrs. Mooney comes from a working-class family. By her fixation later in the story on Mr. Doran’s job, Joyce further sets up a theme of class and social mobility for both men and women. Mrs. Mooney’s goal becomes to pressure Mr. Doran to propose, trying to improve Polly’s social status, and therefore her own. She is also offering Mr. Doran the chance to preserve his own status among Dubliners, who are in some ways as judgmental toward men as women. Her intentions establish the theme of Gender and Social Mobility in Early 20th-Century Ireland.

As the story moves through Mrs. Mooney’s thoughts, readers begin to see glimpses of Polly’s thoughts as well and, later, Mr. Doran’s. The plot is driven by this movement between the characters’ thoughts, subverting traditional expectations of short stories, which often focus on action. This is characteristic of Joyce’s Modernist approach, creating a tone of uncertainty and a mood of anxiety as readers wait along with the characters to see if Mr. Doran will propose to Polly. The time between Mrs. Mooney asking Mr. Doran to meet her and the Sunday of their meeting stretches out, making up a large portion of the story, while exposition fills the other part. Time no longer becomes the marker of the plot, and instead becomes very liminal, making room for Mr. Doran’s flashbacks to the past, detailing how he and Polly’s relationship developed. For example, Mr. Doran recalls how “[t]hey used to kiss. He remembered well her eyes, the touch of her hand and his delirium…But delirium passes” (Paragraphs 20-21). Thinking about his present dilemma, Mr. Doran is briefly immersed in a pleasurable memory before he returns to his current train of thought. The past and the present blend together, making each character’s past relevant to the present, with the boarding house providing the setting of it all.

The boarding house itself is a space where classes temporarily converge to lodge for the night, creating the opportunity for Mr. Doran and Polly’s meeting. Otherwise, Polly would have never had the opportunity to “marry up” by mixing with classes higher than her own. This is to the advantage of Mrs. Mooney, a woman who, by separating from Mr. Mooney, gained financial freedom and agency in a time when women had little of either. However, the irony of Mrs. Mooney’s story is that she is still pressured by the conventions of Dublin society to maneuver Polly into a position of dependency by attempting to marry her to Mr. Doran. Despite freeing herself from many of the limiting factors placed on women, she subjects her daughter to that very same fate.

Meanwhile, Mr. Doran’s uncertainty about whether he will propose to Polly is spelled out in his own point of view, transitioning from Mrs. Mooney’s after she decides that she is sure to “win” in getting him to propose. His thoughts cement the story’s religious undertones into the theme of Catholicism, Guilt, and Reparations:

The recollection of his confession of the night before was a cause of acute pain to him; the priest had drawn out every ridiculous detail of the affair and in the end had so magnified his sin that he was almost thankful at being afforded a loophole of reparation (Paragraph 12).

Here Mr. Doran alludes to him and Polly sleeping together, but Joyce chooses to leave the act unsaid, letting readers infer this information. Mr. Doran’s description of his confession to the priest also denotes which religion he lives by, reflecting the larger role of the church in Ireland, and particularly Dublin, at the time. This is also how Mrs. Mooney plans to get him to propose to Polly; the religious guilt that Mr. Doran feels pushes him toward atonement, and, as Mrs. Mooney thinks, “only one reparation could make up for the loss of her daughter’s honour: marriage” (Paragraph 9).

This section of Mr. Doran’s thoughts builds to his all-important decision on whether he will propose to Polly. His lack of certainty provides little in the way of foreshadowing his decision. He feels obligated to make reparations, yet does not want to give up his personal freedom, which he feels marriage would involve. Mr. Doran’s uncertainty about the future is symbolized when, “[g]oing down the stairs his glasses became so dimmed with moisture that he had to take them off and polish them” (Paragraph 24). The misting of his glasses indicates that he has not made a decision, even as he descends the stairs to meet with Mrs. Mooney. The reader cannot be sure what his decision will be.

The rising action continues with Polly’s thoughts about her future with Mr. Doran and climaxes with her mother calling her, saying Mr. Doran would like to speak to her. At this prompting, Polly “remembered what she had been waiting for” (Paragraph 33). She clearly believes he will propose, but the story ends with this last line at the climax of the story. Joyce does not supply readers with falling action or resolution, but instead chooses to end the story with a cliffhanger. No one will ever truly know if Mr. Doran proposes. The arc of the story is cut off purposefully, demonstrating the uncertainty of one’s future in Dublin society, despite the characters’ best efforts. Joyce’s choice to end the story here is yet another hallmark of his Modernist sensibilities and helps him depict Dublin as he sees it. The uncertainty of class issues and mobility along with religious oversight make Dublin a volatile place to inhabit. These unpredictable dynamics are depicted in the microcosm of the boarding house.