Setting

“The Boarding House” by James Joyce is set in Dublin and was probably meant to be set at the beginning of the twentieth century as most of the stories in the collection “Dubliners”.

Physical setting

The main physical setting is the boarding house owned by Mrs Mooney and the main action happens either in Mrs Mooney’s parlour or Bob Doran’s room. However, the author does not describe this places in much detail: “Her house had a floating population made up of tourists from Liverpool and the Isle of Man and, occasionally, artistes from the music halls.

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Social setting

In this short story, the social setting is more important. Firstly, it presents life in Dublin in a boarding house. The house is open to tourists, clerks, and artists, which produces an interesting combination which does not bring a good reputation to its owner, Mrs Mooney. In fact, many aspects of the social setting in the short story point out to the importance of reputation in Dublin. Mrs Mooney takes her daughter from the factory because her drunkard father used to visit her. Also, she is sure that Mr Doran will marry her daughter because he has a reputation to keep. Mr Doran himself worries about the way his reputation will be affected in either case: if he does not marry her he will lose his honour, if he marries her his family will look down on the girl and his friends will laugh at him.

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