The thirteenth of fifteen stories in James Joyce's Dubliners collection, “A Mother,” can be seen as a sort of break from the heavy, serious vignettes that found nearby. This can be seen as a story to laugh about; after all, the main character is an authoritarian "stage mother" who demands that her daughter be paid top dollar for participating in a series of concerts in which she accompanies him on the piano. Everyone, possibly including her family, feels like she's not only overreacting, but ruining the show for everyone. It is possible to read this story and conclude that it is simply a case of a screaming, tense woman trying to live vicariously through her child. However, upon reading “A Mother” more closely, it is evident that there is more than meets the eye. Joyce includes finely placed symbols and metaphors alluding to Irish tradition and references Irish history several times. In the following essay, I will demonstrate that Joyce constructs a social commentary in “A Mother,” calling for a progressive mindset in Ireland. To do this, Joyce addresses three main themes: death, Irish nationalism and feminism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First of all, death is represented symbolically throughout the story, with Mrs. Kearney symbolizing life. This argument requires more than a superficial reading of his character. Regarding Mrs. Kearney's marriage, Joyce writes that she married "out of spite" (91) and that she jumped at the chance to marry her husband to silence gossip from her friends. His marriage is decent, but moribund. Mr. Kearney was very serious and pious and had a "great brown beard" (91), brown being a universal color of decadence and death. He lacked romantic inclinations while his wife still nurtured them. Mr. Kearney was a good father in that regard, but the bond between the two was emotionally lifeless. After opening the story with the description of the mother and her marriage, Joyce proceeds to set up the plot. We learn that Mrs Kearney signs a contract for her daughter to perform in four concerts – she will receive eight guineas at the end. Kathleen, the daughter, is not present when the deal is made, but is encouraged by her mother. Mrs. Kearney even goes out and buys expensive charmeuse fabric for Kathleen's dress in preparation for the performances. Mother and daughter enter the concert hall with high hopes and find the room dead and lifeless – almost no one is present. Ms Kearney was dismayed by the lack of participation and was told they had scheduled too many shows. She regards Mr. Fitzpatrick, the Society's secretary, as having a "vacant" smile (93) in response to this obvious failure of planning. The next day, on the evening of the second show, the audience is noisy and behaves rudely. . That evening, Mrs. Kearney discovered that the shows were so poorly attended that they canceled the third evening. This puts her in panic mode, because she signed a contract to get paid for four nights. The cacophony at this point sets a heartbreaking tone. Mrs. Kearney, “beginning to be alarmed” (93), found no one to answer her question. It rains on the evening of the concert, and everyone hopes that the “melancholy of the wet street” (93) will not spoil things. Later, in order to get away from everyone, Mr. Holohan leads the man from the diary "through winding passages and a dark staircase...to a secluded room..." (97). This description of where themen go drinking has a double meaning, because in one scene they enter a place with a description close to death, and on the other hand, the darkness is a metaphor for the role of men in this story, which I I will come back to that later. The room is a gathering place for the men, who prove to be ineffective spectators throughout the story, never really doing anything. Finally, death is referenced by the description of soprano Madame Glynn's performance. She is described as being "bodiless" and "breathless", "with all the old-fashioned mannerisms of intonation and pronunciation which she said gave elegance to her singing... She seemed to have been resurrected from a wardrobe of yesteryear. " (98). These allusions to old age and decadence are in direct opposition to Mrs. Kearney, who can be seen with her daughter passing judgment on Mrs. Glynn before the performance. In this section I will examine the references that Joyce does to the Irish culture of the time At the very beginning, before observing the meeting of Mrs. Kearney and Mr. Hollohan, Joyce mentions that this takes place during the Irish Revival Nationalism and classical Irish culture. very important to the characters The children send Irish postcards and learn from Irish teachers The whole playhouse is a tribute to the Irish revival, as Ireland saw so many new theaters and performance halls. in Dublin gaining popularity due to the renewed love of all things quintessentially Irish. I found Ms. Kearney to be quintessentially Irish. She struck me as not being a person who goes with the flow, but rather charting her own course. path – even if it upsets others, she perseveres, because she seeks truth and justice. Her detractors try to derail her, but she has her eye on what she wants and remains steadfast in her belief that she is right. This pride was a huge part of Irish nationalism at that time, and I can't help but think of Mrs Kearney as the embodiment of this budding zeal. For my final point, I felt that the scene in the dressing room at the end was significant in terms of Joyce's references to Ireland. The room is divided in two: Mr. and Mrs. Kearney, Mr. Bell, Miss Healy, and another young woman are standing together, and everyone is on the other side of the room. The two groups are at odds at this point, and although Joyce does not mention it directly, the reader can infer that tensions are high and a few nasty looks are thrown. To me it was directly symbolic of the struggle between Irish Catholics and Protestants. Catholics are oppressed and told they will be excluded if they do not conform to the new “way.” Yet it is their faith, and although it is not binding like a legal document, it is more or less set in stone. It’s a nice microcosm of religious struggles; both parties think they are right. In this sense, I believe that Mrs. Kearney is a vague representation of Mother Ireland; she is considered crazy and overly emotional and, like Joyce's Ireland in "Ireland at the Bar", she seeks validation from those around her. Finally, there is a feminist dimension to the story. Most critics agree that Joyce demonizes his main character, advising at the end of the story that women must be "put in their place." Suzette Henke states: "Ms. Kearney... is so obsessively motivated by greed and financial ambition that she compromises her daughter's musical career to bolster her own ego and maintain a principle of self-righteousness." »1 However, I believe it accomplishes something quite different. First of all, Mrs. Kearney is portrayed as early as.