A 3 page essay that examines Joyce's short story "The Boarding House" from Dubliners in regards to the use of power. Mrs. Mooney and her adolescent daughter Polly, use the power at their disposal to obtain a desired objective--a husband for Polly. Throughout the story, Joyce builds a picture of both Mrs. Mooney and her daughter as being both manipulative and crafty in the use of power. Examination of this story shows how Joyce systematically redefines the assumptions of his era to define men as ineffectual and powerless and women as emasculating trappers of their sex. No additional sources cited.
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culture. Presumably, men held all social power. There were few options open for women in terms of employment and marriage was the primary vehicle, virtually the only vehicle, for ensuring
financial welfare and moving out of a parental home. James Joyces short story "The Boarding House" dramatizes how two women, Mrs. Mooney and her adolescent daughter Polly, manipulate this
system and use the power at their disposal to obtain a desired objective--a husband for Polly. Throughout the story, Joyce builds a picture of both Mrs. Mooney and her daughter
as being both manipulative and crafty in the use of power. Examination of this story shows how Joyce systematically redefines the assumptions of his era to define men as ineffectual
and powerless and women as emasculating trappers of their sex. First of all, Joyce introduces his reader to Mrs. Mooney, a butchers daughter who married her fathers foreman and
subsequently opened a butchers shop. As soon as his father-in-law died, "Mr. Mooney began to go to the devil" (Joyce 61). Joyce lists Mooneys many sins, which paint Mrs. Mooney
as the aggrieved party. Mr. Mooney holds the power in the relationship. This continues till he goes for his wife "with a cleaver," endangering her life (Joyce 61). At
this point, the determined Mrs. Mooney obtains a separation from her husband, gains control of her remaining inheritance, custody of her children and establishes herself as a boarding house proprietor.
The power in the relationship has clearly shifted. Mrs. Mooney has the power and would give Mr. Mooney "neither money nor food nor house-room," causing him to have to obtain
what Joyce conveys to be a highly unsatisfactory job as a "sheriffs man" (Joyce 61). Joyce describes Mrs. Mooney further and how she runs her boarding house "cunningly