İNGİLİZ/AMERİKAN EDEBİYATI I

James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1882. The correct answer is A.

James Joyce is known for his unique stream of consciousness style, which inspired William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf later on. The correct answer is B.

Mrs. Mooney is a butcher’s daughter. She is married to her father’s foreman and opened a butcher’s shop with her husband. The correct answer is C.

Jake Mooney is Mrs. Mooney’s son who works as a clerk. The correct answer is D.

On Sunday nights, the people in the boarding house unite. They listen to music, dance and talk. The correct answer is A.

He confesses to a priest and the priest told him that what he had done was a sin. Under this social pressure, Mr. Doran considers his family’s reaction to Polly since she has a disreputable father and the boarding house of her mother is beginning to get a certain fame. The correct answer is C.

Mr. Doran has more to lose: public respect and his job. He fears about the social critique of the priest although he used to declare that he did not believe in God. He is also afraid of his Boss and Jake Mooney. Mr. Doran cares about what others will think of him. Mr. Doran does not think about how Polly feels but he considers her background and manner of speaking. The correct answer is E.

In the story, the events are told from Mrs. Mooney’s, Mr. Doran’s and partly Polly’s viewpoint and the focus is on what and how they feel rather than the events. Three different points of view help to overcome the limitations of the first person narration. The use of this narration technique helps the story become more novel like. The correct answer is C.

Mr. Mooney is Mrs. Mooney’s husband whom she left after he behaved violently. He used to work as the foreman for her father and it is not clear whether she trapped him to marry her like she trapped Mr. Doran to marry her daughter.

She is called “The Madam” by the residents of the boarding house which shows that she holds the power and keeps a certain distance that makes others fear her. The correct answer is B.

James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1882. His father worked in many professions, which forced the Joyce family to move to a poorer estate. The family lived in the Northern Dublin soon after James Joyce’s birth. His mother was a pianist who devoted herself to the practices of the Catholic Church. Joyce started his education in a Jesuit school named Clongowes Wood College and then he continued his education at Belvedere College in Dublin. He started writing poetry and essays when he was at college. His first essay was on Henrik Ibsen’s play When We Dead Awaken which appeared in a review in 1900. James Joyce published his short story collection Dubliners in 1914. The characters and places in this collection look real and he criticized the Dubliners in many aspects. His well-known novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was published in 1916 and in 1918 he published a play called Exiles. He started writing his masterpiece The Ulysses in Zurich and the book was published in 1922

Mrs. Mooney is a butcher’s daughter. She is married to her father’s foreman and opened a butcher’s shop with her husband. After her father’s death, Mr. Mooney sinks into alcoholism and ruins the family business.

Mrs. Mooney soon finds out that Polly has an affair with one of the residents of the boarding house: Mr. Doran. Mrs. Mooney does not intervene with this relation and
simply watches the couple. She waits for the right moment to talk about the relation between Polly and Mr. Doran.

Mrs. Mooney thinks about the right moment to talk to Mr. Doran and she decides that she has to do the talk before the short twelve at church. According to Mrs. Mooney, Mr. Doran is a serious man of thirty-four or thirty-five. He is not like the other men in the boarding house. He has been employed for thirteen years at a respectable office and she thinks he would not want to risk his job by refusing to marry Polly. If things go public, it will be difficult for him to keep his job and reputation. Mrs. Mooney knows that Mr. Doran can afford marriage since she suspects that he has been saving money.

The boarding house is about a mother who plots to marry her daughter with a man whom the daughter has an affair with. This story is under the title “Parent and Child” and it mainly tells how and what a mother thinks and plans about her daughter. Mrs. Mooney is a determined woman and she aims to get a proper husband for her daughter. For this aim, she makes plans and it seems that her plans are working. In the story, in addition to the mother, we are introduced to what Mr. Doran and Polly think about the events as well. The story portrays what marriage promises one and what it takes way. Mr. Doran is not aware of the consequence of his actions and now he has to pay for it. The concept of marriage becomes more than a feeling and it includes social standards, moral obligations, and public perception. Mrs. Mooney seems to care about her daughter but at the same time, she plots about marrying her daughter with someone from a higher class. She does not intervene until the moment she is sure that Mr. Doran is ready for reparation. The following quotation shows that Mrs. Mooney has a plot about Polly and Mr. Doran.

As it is clear from the quotation above, Mr. Doran cares about what others will think of him. Mr. Doran does not think about how Polly feels but he considers her background and manner of speaking. After Mr. Doran leaves, Polly who threatens to kill herself becomes happy suddenly since she is sure that Mr. Doran will propose to her. In The Boarding House, the detailed description of characterization and insight into how they feel and act portray how social acceptance and strategies have power over people’s decisions.

The main setting of the story is the boarding house run by Mrs. Mooney. After she separated from her husband Mr. Mooney, she set up a boarding house and used the money left from the unsuccessful butcher’s business. She and her children now live in the boarding house. The setting is a place where people from various backgrounds meet and mingle. The residents are generally tourists from Liverpool and the Isle of Man. Artists from the music halls visit the place and the clerks from the business field live in the boarding house.

The story is not told from a single point of view and we are introduced to the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters. In this respect, the short story has an omniscient third person narration. The characters are depicted in detail and background information about them is given. In the story, the events are told from Mrs. Mooney’s, Mr. Doran’s and partly Polly’s viewpoint and the focus is on what and how they feel rather than the events.

She seems an innocent young lady who is manipulated by her mother and her wishes. When her mother asks her to quit her job at the office she accepts it and when her mother wants her to entertain the young men at the boarding house, she acts accordingly. However, at the end of the story while Polly is waiting for the news, she seems to be sure that her mother will take care of everything and Mr. Doran will propose to her. She is ready for accepting the social necessities. It is not clear what she really feels about Mr. Doran but she is sure that she has to marry him to save her reputation. She seems to act like her mother when she threatens Mr. Doran that she will kill herself because of the affair and then she feels comfortable and relaxed when Mr. Doran leaves to see her mother.

In The Boarding House, the tone of the story is ironic which gives the reader an idea about the values of the Dublin society and how characters contrast in their deeds and actions.