In Dubliners, the two mothers that
played the protagonists in their stories, Mrs. Mooney in “The Boarding House”
and Mrs. Kearney in “A Mother”, both try to play a significant role in
controlling the fates of their daughters’ futures. Both women at first appear to be decisive and influential to
others since Mrs. Mooney runs a boarding house while Mrs. Kearney helps Mr.
Holohan make the program and run the logistics of his show.
Another
similarity between the two mothers is that they are both care about social
norms when they go about their work in powers of position, but these two women
differ though on how they try to use the social norms. Mrs. Mooney notes that she cornered Mr.
Doran into marrying Polly because “She had all the weight of social opinion on
her side” (50). She knows that the
social pressure put on Mr. Doran by the situation will force him into marrying
Polly and thus securing a better financial and social foothold for the
future. On the other side, while
Mrs. Kearney persists to get the money her daughter is owed, she was going to
ask Mr. Fitzpatrick a question, but she resists because “She knew that it would
not be ladylike to do that” (117).
While Mrs. Kearney tries to fulfill the terms of her daughter’s
contracts, she is more concerned with keeping of the appearances of being a
lady and conforming to that social role.
But Mrs. Kearney struggles with reconciling her wishes of fulfilling her
daughter’s contracts and seeming ladylike, and then she finally decides to
leave when Mr. Holohan says, “I thought you were a lady” (124). It seems that her desire to uphold to
social norms wins out over her desire to help her daughter.
The
immediate results between the two mothers’ work may suggest one mother did
better work than the other, the long-term results may appear less clear. While Mrs. Mooney gets her daughter to
marry someone who is above her social standing, Mrs. Kearney essentially
destroys any chances that her daughter has in a career on stage. But Mrs. Mooney has set up her daughter
for a marriage to a man Polly has probably not known for too long, which could
result in a loveless marriage or a potentially violent relationship. So even though both the mothers set up
a form of paralysis for their children, can we discern which one provides best
for her daughter? Also is there
any significance that Mrs. Mooney leaves her abusive husband while Mrs. Kearney
is the dominant figure in her relationship?
I think it never crosses Mrs. Kearney's mind that she might be in a position to help her daughter. Instead, as you point out, she sticks entirely to her agenda of self-interested social ascent. The reason Mrs. Kearney ultimately might stand as the more dangerous figure, however, is that her attitude undercuts any sort of legitimate social interaction. She is tied in a social knot, basically. She needs to be ladylike to ensure that she is not shunned, but also masculine to assert herself and get things done. These two roles are irreconcilable and, in the end, allow for people like O'Madden Burke to rise to a position "widely respected" (121) on their name and (presumed) masculinity. This is dangerous insofar as it preserves the status quo in Dublin, which Joyce obviously criticizes.
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