The Boarding House
Brief Summary:
This is an interesting story written by James Joyce that presents the life
story of strong, determined and responsible woman, Mrs Mooney. She is a butcher’s
daughter, but she gets married with her father’s foreman after her father’s
death. After their marriage, her husband starts beating and abusing her. He is
a drunkard and spends a lot of money on drinks. He quarrels and even beats her
inhumanely. One night, he tries to kill her by showing a big knife. She runs
away from there and saves her life spending the night in her neighbour’s house.
Then she leaves her husband and starts her own boarding house in Harwick Street,
where many tourists and workers come to stay. She has a son named Jack, a
vulgar type of man and a young daughter named Polly. She is 19 years-old slim
and beautiful. She also works there giving company to the tourists and serving
them. She is in love with Mr Doran. Mrs Mooney knows everything about them
but doesn’t try to stop that. She wants Doran to marry her daughter, but he
does not want to marry her. Finally, Mrs Mooney talks with her daughter about
their relationship and also calls Doran. Being helpless and confused, he tries
to escape from there. But he gets in Mrs Mooney’s trap. Later, in their
talking Doran says that though he accepts their relationship, he doesn’t want
to marry Polly because Polly’s family background is bad, her mother’s boarding
house does not have a good reputation, she can’t speak English correctly and she
is not good at household works. So, he is much very much afraid of his
prestige. He stands in between great problems because if he marries Polly,
everyone will make fun of him, and if does not marry her, he will be sacked
from his job because of this sin. So, he tries to leave Polly giving
compensation. But Mrs Mooney says that she does not want to sell her
daughter’s virtues. After some time, Polly comes to him crying and throws her
arms round his neck. She reminds him about all the good works that she has done
for him. At last, Doran remembers all the happy and romantic moments, which he
has spent with Polly and decides to marry her.
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