REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA

MINISTERIO DEL PODER POPULAR PARA LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR

UNIVERSIDAD PEDAGÓGICA EXPERIMENTAL LIBERTADOR

INSTITUTO “RAFAEL ALBERTO ESCOBAR LARA”

MARACAY - EDO. ARAGUA

CRITICAL COMMENT

The Boarding House by James Joyce

Literary Language Inglés como Lengua Extranjera

2017-II Sección 1

Maracay, October 2021

 The Boarding House tells story of the life of a divorce mother in the early 20 th
century. James Joyce wrote about Mrs. Mooney a butcher’s daughter that got married with
her father’s foreman, and together opened a butcher’s shop. Afterwards, Mrs. Mooney’s
father died, and her business with his husband went bankrupt because of the bad
administration. Mrs. Mooney’s husband became a drunkard, thief, and highly aggressive.

After all, Mrs. Mooney gets the divorce, and the custody their children, Jack and
Polly. Then, with the remained of money, she opens a boarding house where she received
tourists from Liverpool, artistes from music halls, and clerks from the city getting attention
quickly.

Polly has casual encounters with the young resident men in the boarding house, yet
her mother ––called the Madam by the young men–– did not make a drama about it.
Though, she realizes her daughter is having repeated encounters with Mr. Doran, a catholic
young working man in his middle thirties.

On a Sunday morning, Mr. Doran was having a hard time in his room. His mind was
a storm, thinking about all his options and what he has been living with Polly. While he
was afraid of society’s reaction to his love for Polly, she suddenly entered the room being a
crying mess.

The story is developed somewhere in the United Kingdom. The society was on its
way to the industrialization, the times previous the World War. The whole story shows us a
hardworking woman doing her best to raise her family. Confronting all the problems of
having an abusive husband, Mrs. Mooney finally leaves him and opens her own business.
Years after, her kids were adults. The younger one, Polly, is having a love affair with a man
that almost doubles her age. Mrs. Mooney's solution was to marry them.

By that time, it was the right thing to do. It was the early 20th century in Europe,
close to the war times, and women almost have an option for working, and Mrs. Mooney ––
as the dedicated mother that she was–– decided to ensure Polly’s future with a responsible
man that can take care of her. Polly hardly has some education, something usual in those
times. Her mother was providing her with the best she could give her at that time: a stable
future life with a working man.