Fresh Meat

            Dubliners frequently shows women submissive to their male counterparts. However, in “The Boarding House,” the character of Mrs. Mooney appears to defy this concept. Mrs. Mooney manipulates both her daughter Polly and Mr. Doran, arranging for the two to get married in an attempt to gain financially and socially.

            Mrs. Mooney’s seems to be one of the more masculine characters in Dubliners, showing it not only through her personality, but also through her appearance, being a “big imposing woman” (47). At that time in Ireland, men were to be big, brawny creatures who attempt to force and showcase their masculinity to others. Furthermore, Mrs. Mooney is the owner of the boarding house, a position that women typically did not hold. Men were the dominant ones in the society, and a woman holding a position of ownership was something virtually unheard of. Her title of “the Madam” shows all the respect she evokes from her guests because of her forcefulness and intimidating character (47). Her title of Madam, which is also used for the owner of a brothel, foreshadows her plan to marry her daughter to a man of a higher social class.

            The character of Jack also shows Mrs. Mooney’s masculinity. Typically, children act based on how they are raised, and being a single mother, it can be implied that she raised him rather roughly. Furthermore, it can be implied that Jack knows of the scheme, as he has previously fought an artiste, appearing to protect his sister. Polly seems to be barely affected as she was sent to work in a corn-factor’s office. Mrs. Mooney’s cunning can be seen through her use of Polly, “[giving] her the run of the young men” (48). She plans to find the right man who can help raise their social standing.

Mrs. Mooney appears to be very headstrong, as “[she] dealt with moral problems as a cleaver deals with meat” (49). Stubbornness is usually considered to be a male characteristic, and comparing her thinking process to that of a butcher, Joyce places the image of manliness within Mrs. Mooney’s character. She does not care that she is creating a marriage based on trickery and blackmail. In a way, Mrs. Mooney is priming up Polly to sell to a man in order to earn money, similarly to how a butcher prepares meat for sale. Mrs. Mooney also butchers Mr. Doran’s freedom by binding him to her daughter through blackmail. Throughout this story, Joyce appears to use a metaphor likening Mrs. Mooney to a butcher, also stating that she was a butcher’s daughter.