The Boarding House By James Joyce - 1095 Words

It was once said, by an unknown author, â€Å"A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the social ideology despite moral conflicts and common civility.† This is a very relevant statement that could be used to describe both, â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† by Kate Chopin and â€Å"The Boarding House† by James Joyce. â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† was a sad tale in which social opinion forced a young, naà ¯ve woman, Desiree, into a dark place of self-hatred thanks to her husband Armand and his imperious and estranged behavior. Weeks after giving birth to a beautiful son and what Desiree thought was a blessing, Armand began to become very distant and after numerous unexpected visitors his behavior seemed injudicious. Those unexpected visits brought more than a surprise to the new parents, but also side-glances, whispers and something much more sinister; discrimination. Likewise, â€Å"The Boarding House† by James Joyce, tells the tale o f an emotionally damaged mother who runs a boarding house for young men, where her young promiscuous daughter, Polly, works and begins having an affair with one of the house’s occupants. In this story the mother, Mrs. Mooney, doesn’t do the moral thing and handle the affair discreetly, and instead allows the social expectations of that time period add pressure to the affair. Once the right amount of pressure was applied, she pops the expanding bubble of suspicion by forcing a, usually love filled, decision of marriage on the involved young man, Mr. Doran, just to satisfyShow MoreRelatedA Similar Life Within A Story: Eveline by James Joyce1443 Words   |  6 PagesThe heartache of losing a loved one is indescribable. Many people live out their lives based off how that one person would want them to live. James Joyces short story, Eveline, is an example of how promises are hard to break. As James Joyce writes his stories, his characters and themes share similarities wit hin his own life, giving them more value and much more meaning behind the importance of the story. To begin with, Eveline is the story of a young teenager facing a dilemma where she hasRead More Longing to Escape Essay1084 Words   |  5 Pagesaway from it, or do they have the willpower to fight it head on? James Joyce, the author of Dubliners, at the young age of twenty-three, was able to take note of the struggles and hardships of the Irish people at a time when their once prosperous Dublin city was in retrograde. He took all the emotions and angers that his people had during this period in time, and summed it up into fifteen short stories. Throughout these stories Joyce places his characters into situations that leave them in constantRead MoreEssay on Feminism in Dubliners1321 Words   |  6 Pages| Feminism in Dubliners | Mrs. Atkins; English A3 Tuesday, May 25, 2010 James Joyce’s book of short stories entitled Dubliners examines feminism and the role of women in Irish society. The author is ahead of his time by bringing women to the forefront of his stories and using them to show major roles and flaws in Irish society, specifically in â€Å"Eveline† and â€Å"The Boarding House†. James Joyce portrays women as victims who are forced to assume a leading and somewhat patriarchal role in theirRead MoreFeminist Criticism of James Joyces the Boarding House1491 Words   |  6 PagesFeminist Criticism: The Boarding House Throughout James Joyce’s â€Å"The Boarding House†, women appear in stereotypical, subordinate roles. This may lead the reader to think that Joyce is an anti-feminist writer, however this is not the case. This work is an honest, insightful look at the role women played in turn of the century Ireland. Joyce carefully illustrates the plight of women in this setting and because he educates the audiences about the subservient role of women, he could be considered aRead MoreEssay on Characterization in â€Å"The Boarding House†891 Words   |  4 PagesIn Joyce Jones’s short story, â€Å"The Boarding House,† characterization is a key factor. Mrs. Mooney, a divorced wife, was considered to be a woman who was very determined by the author. As the protagonist of this short story, Mrs. Mooney firmly takes control of her own life, as well as her daughter Polly’s. She successfully planned to secure her daughter in a comfortable marriage in which shows her character is a bit ambiguous. It seems as though she demands equality between men and women but alsoRead MoreThe Mother Archetype Of James Joyce s Dubliners1202 Words   |  5 PagesThe Mother Archetype in James Joyce’s Dubliners An archetype is an instantly recognizable, fundamental theme, character, or symbol. According to Carl Jung, archetypes are part of the collective unconscious, an inherent, species-wide knowledge base that is embedded in our natural and cultural identity (Boeree, Webspace). One example of a Jungian archetype is the mother. In the stories â€Å"The Boarding House† and â€Å"A Mother† from Dubliners, James Joyce explores the two aspects of the mother archetypeRead MoreEssay on Dubliners: Literary Analysis1385 Words   |  6 PagesDubliners: Literary Analysis James Joyce wrote Dubliners to portray Dublin at the turn of the early 20th century. In Dubliners, faith and reason are represented using dark images and symbols. James Joyce uses these symbols to show the negative side of Dublin. In â€Å"The Sisters,† â€Å"The Boarding House,† and â€Å"The Dead† dark is expressed in many ways. James Joyce uses the light and dark form of symbolism in his imagination to make his stories come to life. The tale of â€Å"The Sisters† has dark imagesRead MoreThe Effects Of Alcoholism In The Dubliners By James Joyce2072 Words   |  9 PagesIreland in his stories is James Joyce. Joyce wrote a collection of short stories, The Dubliners. These short stories take place in Dublin, Ireland. One common theme in all of these stories is the suffering the characters go through. Another theme in all of the stories is alcoholism. Most of his stories feature a character who is an alcoholic. The alcoholic tends to create problems for the people around him. By using alcoholics to further the plots of his stories, James Joyce pins the blame for IrishRead MoreReligion in James Joyces Dubliners Essay1452 Words   |  6 PagesReligion in James Joyces Dubliners Religion was an integral part of Ireland during the modernist period, tightly woven into the social fabric of its citizens. The Catholic Church was a longstandingRead MoreAnalysis Of The Nameless Boy 3175 Words   |  13 Pagesgrab his books to walk behind her ,through their dull village, all the way to the point at which their paths diverge. Araby is about a young boy whom is not named who moves into a house in Dublin, Ireland. The previous tenant, an Irish priest, had died in the drawing room and left his belongings to his sister and the house had a quite musty smell as it had not been inhabited for quite some time. The family had moved in and as time went by, the boy made friends at his school, Christian Brother’s School