This short story 'The Boarding House' has been written by James Joyce, an Irish writer and the most important writer of the modernist movement. This short story was first published in the book called 'Dubliners' in the year 1914. This is 'a story of adolescence' and based on the writer's experience of growing up in Dublin, Ireland. This story has presented hard struggles done by a mother for the sake of her children's future. This story is mainly about the life of a lady whose name is Mrs. Mooney. Here in this story, she has played a very vital role in the settlement of her young daughter's relationship with a rich man Mr. Doran.
SUMMARY
James Joyce’s “The Boarding House” is the suspense story which ends with the strategic techniques of Mrs Mooney, the central character in the story. She plays a significant role to settle the love affair of her young daughter and Mr Doren with whom she had an affair and special relationship. The story is all about the character sketch of a strong determined woman named Mrs Mooney and her persuasive strategies to settle her daughter’s affair with Mr Doran.
Mrs Mooney is the daughter of a butcher. She marries a man who works for her father. After the death of her father, her husband starts drinking and taking money from the shop. He fights with her in front of the customers. After a short time, he finishes almost all the property and falls into heavy debt. One night, he runs after her with a knife to kill her. She escapes and saves her life spending the night in the neighbouring house. Then, they can’t live together any more. Mrs Mooney takes her children and the remaining money of the shop and starts a Boarding House in Hardwick Street.
Many tourists, musicians and visitors from the city come to stay in the boarding house. The young men live and eat in the house. They talk about horses and sing songs on Sunday nights. Polly Mooney, the daughter of Mrs Mooney also sings with them. Polly is a beautiful girl of nineteen with light soft hair and grey eyes. Her mother gives her housework to do so that she comes in contact with the young men. The intention of Mrs Money is to trap a young man for her daughter. She watches her daughter and the young men carefully but none of them looks serious in the beginning. When Mrs Mooney notices something between Polly and one young man named Mr Doran, she watches them carefully. Though people begin to talk about them, Mrs Mooney keeps silent as she is waiting for the right time to talk about the affair openly. Finally, Mrs Mooney makes a decision. She thinks that Mr Doran must pa for his enjoyment. The money is not enough, he must marry her daughter.
One evening, she calls her daughter about the affair. Though Polly seems uncomfortable, she tells every detail of their relationship. The mother calls Mr Doran in her drawing-room to talk about the affair. Mr Doran is helpless and confused. Though he accepts his relationship with Polly, he does like to marry her. He knows that Polly is not educated and her family background is not good. People talk badly about her drunkard father and the bad reputation of the boarding house. His family will not accept her and his friends will laugh at him. He also knows that if he refuses to marry, he will lose his job. He remembers the hard face of his boss. Though he tries to be free by paying a lot of money as compensation, Mrs Mooney makes him in a trap by saying that she doesn’t want to sell her daughter’s virtues. She uses strong reasons and persuasive strategies and reminds Mr Doran of his happy moment with Polly. In this way, Mrs Mooney very c1everly compels Mr Doran to marry her daughter.
At last, Mrs Mooney called Mr Doran to her house. She started to pressurize him to marry Poly in any case. But he refused at first. She even threatened him. But she reminded him all those happiest moments that he had spent with her daughter Polly. After remembering all the moments, he agreed to marry Polly. This is a type of strategy and technique from which Mrs Mooney settled her daughter’s affair with Mr Doren.
Important Questions and Answers :
1. Sketch the character of Mrs Mooney.
Ans: Mrs Mooney, the main character in the James Joyce story “The Boarding House” is described as “a woman who deals with moral problems as a cleaver deals with meat”. She 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.
2. How is Mrs Mooney succeed in her mission at the end? Explain.
OR
How do you think Mrs Mooney settled with Mr Doran about Polly? Did Mr Doran marry Polly or payout compensation?
OR
How did Mrs Mooney solve the problem of Miss Polly and Mr Doran?
Ans: When Mrs Mooney was sure that Mr Doran had a love affair with Polly, she planned to change that affair into marriage. She called him in her room to talk openly about the affair. At first, Doran thought not to marry Polly thinking that she was an ignorant uneducated girl who didn’t know even simple grammar. He wanted to pay compensation instead of marrying her. But Mrs Mooney refused to sell her daughter’s virtues. She reminded Mr Doran of his happy moment with Polly. She used persuasive strategies to trap him into her net. She blamed him for taking advantage of her daughter’s age. She gave a very strong reason for Mr Doran. Finally, Mr Doran agreed to marry Polly. In this way, Mrs Mooney solved the problem of Miss Polly and Mr Doran and Doran married her instead of paying compensation
3. How did Miss Polly help her mother in the Boarding House? Did her mother solve her problem positively? Explain. (2071 Long)
Answer: Boarding House reflects the story of Mrs. Mooney's struggles and her acts of making settlement in the relationship of her daughter Polly and a rich man Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney runs a boarding house in Hardwick Street. She has two kids named Jack and Polly. She lives in her boarding house without any interference from her husband. Her life is related to the service of guests in her Boarding House. Her daughter Polly is nineteen years old young girl. She is a quite beautiful girl with a white complexion and black blonde hair. She has left her studies. She stays in this Boarding House serving the guests and tourists. She helps her mother much in the Boarding House. She has been a centre of attraction for all the guests in the Boarding House. Her charm attracts the guests much. Guests pay keen attention to her. She uses to entertain the guests in the Boarding House. She serves the guests in a very frank manner. She has a secret love affair with a man called Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney including most of the guests knows about their relationship. Mrs. Mooney doesn't want to make a fuss. She remains silent in the initial phase. Later on, she chooses the way of villain in a very negative way. She blackmails Mr. Doran to marry her daughter Polly. She uses this way quite cleverly. She makes Mr. Doran emotionally blackmail. She does the role of negative character for her beloved daughter and her better future.
4. Do you think Mr. Doran married Polly? Explain. (2070 Short)
Answer: I think Mr. Doran married Polly finally. They do have a deep love relationship but due to social criticism, Mr. Doran steps backwards in this love. Later on, when he realizes the value of his love for Polly he accepts her as his wife. While Polly cries in her room at the end of the story, Mr. Doran remembers all his remarkable moments which he passes with Polly and promises her to marry him.
5. How did Mrs. Mooney prove herself bold, determined and imposing in the story ‘The Boarding House’? (2072 Short)
Answer: Mrs. Mooney is the central character of this story. She is a lady of strong determination. Here in this story, she has played a vital role in the settlement of the relationship between her daughter Polly and a man called Mr. Doran.
Mooney married a foreman of her father. Her father was a butcher by his profession. Later on, her husband tortured her much. She left her home and husband. She started her own business with little money. She took care of Jack and Polly with her efforts.
Mrs. Mooney was so thoughtful woman. When she heard the news about her daughter Polly’s and Mr. Doran’s secret affair, she remained silent during that time. She waited for the right time to talk to Mr. Doran about that matter. Later on, when she found out Mr. Doran’s rude behaviour towards Polly, she blackmailed and convinced Mr. Doran about the value of love and Polly in his life. Eventually, Mr. Doran agreed and moved towards Polly’s room. In this way, Mrs. Mooney proved herself bold, determined and imposing in the story ‘The Boarding House’
6. Sketch the character of Mrs. Mooney in relation to her activities in framing the career of her children in the story “The Boarding House”. (2070 partial Long)
Answer: Mrs. Mooney is a determined woman. She is the central character in this story. She is a strong-minded, disciplined as well as modern woman. She plays a very significant role to settle the love affair of her young daughter Polly and the rich man Mr. Doran.
Mrs. Mooney is a daughter of a butcher. She marries a man who works for her father. After the death of her father, her husband started drinking and taking money from the shop. He fights with her in front of customers. After a short time, he finishes almost all the property and falls into heavy debt. One night, he tries to kill her with a knife. She escapes and saves her life spending the night in the neighbouring house. Then she lives separately with her children. With the remaining amount, she starts boarding house in Hardwick Street. Mrs. Mooney has two children named Jack and Polly. She does hard labour for her two kids. She handles them with a lot of care. Her son Jack engages in some kind of job whereas her daughter also gets a rich and fine husband. It’s only Mooney who plays a very vital role in the relationship between her daughter Polly and Mr. Doran.
7. How do you think Mrs. Mooney settled Mr. Doran about Polly? Did Mr. Doran marry Polly or payout compensation? (2059 Short)
Answer: 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 a planned to blackmail Mr. Doran. In my view, she forced Mr. Doran to marry her daughter because Mr. Doran was a 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.
8. Write an interpretation of the story, “The Boarding House” (2060 Short)
OR
Briefly narrate the story, ‘The Boarding House’ (2063 Long)
OR
Summarise the story ‘The Boarding House’ in your own words, avoiding repetition and other necessary words. (2075 Long)
OR
Summarise the story ‘The Boarding House’ in about 200 words. (The Boarding House)
Answer: (See the summary above)
9. Why did Mr. Doran not accept to marry Polly in the beginning and why did he accept her as his wife at last?
Answer: Mr. Doran was a rich man who used to live in the boarding house. He had a special relationship (sex) with Polly. Mr. Doran did not accept to marry Polly in the beginning because Polly’s family status was not good. She was uneducated as well as the daughter of a drunkard. But he accepted Polly as his wife at last because he remembered all those joyful moments which he had spent with Polly. He realized the value of his love and went to meet Polly finally.
10. What was the major problem in the relationship between Mr. Doran and Polly? (2069 Short)
Answer: Both Mr. Doran and Polly liked each other very much. They even had a special relationship. There was a rumour about their relationship in the boarding house. The major problem in their relationship was the family status of Polly. According to Mr. Doran, Polly’s family status was not so good. Polly was an uneducated drunkard’s daughter. Due to which Mr. Doran rejected her to marry. He did not want to face social criticism. He wanted to ignore Polly for his social status.
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