Illustration of the final scene in "A Mother"
In “A Mother,” the reader is
invariably influenced by the other characters in the story when forming his
opinion of Mrs. Kearney. The trajectory
of the story’s plot is such that, by the close of the narrative, “Mrs. Kearney’s
conduct [is] condemned on all hands; everyone approved of what the committee had
done.” (124) Therefore, it is only reasonable at first to consider Mrs. Kearney
in a disparaging light, judging her as superficial and preoccupied solely with her
own social ascent. While Justin is right
to some degree in his assertion that her decisions are directed to raising her
standing on the proverbial social ladder, we must examine Joyce’s
characterization of the other figures in the story if we want to arrive at a
more complete judgment of Mrs. Kearney’s actions.
“A Mother” is somewhat different
than the other installments of Dubliners
in its treatment of the supporting characters.
Except for Mrs. Kearney, none of the other figures in the narrative is
described in detail. On the whole, they
are dismissively characterized with brief, cruel descriptions. For example, when first introducing Mr.
Holohan, Joyce writes: “He had a game leg and for this his friends called him
Hoppy Holohan. He walked up and down
constantly, stood by the hour at street corners arguing the point and made
notes.” (113) Mr. Holohan, the man with whom Mrs. Kearney’s heated altercation
occurs, is reduced to a perpetually jumpy and nervous man with a limp. Mr. Fitzpatrick, the other man with whom Mrs.
Kearney argues, is described as “a little man, with a white vacant face. She noticed that he wore his soft brown hat
carelessly on the top of his head, and that his accent was flat. He held a programme in his hand, and while he
was talking to her, he chewed one end of it into a moist pulp.” (116)
Fitzpatrick, like Holohan, is characterized in the most unflattering manner, described
with words such as “little, vacant, and flat” and likened to an infant chewing
on paper. Lastly, Mr. O’Madden Burke,
also an outspoken critic of Mrs. Kearney’s actions, is said to “balance his
imposing body, when at rest, upon a large silk umbrella. His magniloquent western name was the moral
umbrella upon which he balanced the fine problem of his finances.” (121) Again,
Joyce mocks Burke by utilizing a pathetic-sounding metaphor (“moral umbrella”)
and employing a rarely-used, grandiose adjective to highlight the ridiculous
nature of his name.
When the reader keeps these most disparaging
characterizations in mind, it is difficult not to view Mrs. Kearney in a more
positive light. She refuses to be duped
by a group of dishonest men and puts her social standing on the line to fight
for justice. Furthermore, her worries
about her daughter’s not being paid are completely legitimate. Both Holohan and Fitzpatrick refuse to give
her a definite answer and try to appease her by mentioning some mysterious
committee whose existence is questionable at best. Also, the fact that all of the figures in the
story so unreasonably turn against her would also indicate that Mrs. Kearney is
indeed admirable, as she has the courage to stand up to the idiocy and incompetence
of Dublin. Lastly, Joyce too felt that
he was unduly attacked by Dublin, so this biographical information also
suggests that we are to condemn not Mrs. Kearney but the other Dubliners and to
admire Mrs. Kearney for not compromising her sense of justice in order to
maintain her standing in society.
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