They call Mrs. Mooney, rather ambiguously, “The Madam.” A term of respect for making something of her shambolic circumstances, but also a none-too-subtle allusion to the fact that she is essentially prostituting her daughter. Polly wants a new life through marriage but is likely actively choosing the same kind of stultifying, empty existence that Eveline chooses through inaction. Unless she is as vapid as Joyce hints at toward the end of story, whether naturally or through being the subject of her mother’s manipulation for so long that she just doesn’t know how to think for herself.
The kind of love at the heart of “Araby” is nowhere in evidence here. Mr. Doran doesn’t seem a bad person, just one who can’t rationalize an enduring affection for Polly, for whom even his physical desire is already waning.
What a bleak picture Joyce has so far painted of relationships of every kind…
I liked this story, for the construction of the characters and the clear motivation each of them had. I thought the telling was masterful. Also, I thought this less bleak than some of the other stories in the middle of the book, Counterparts in particular. In these stories the main character seems to be trapped in a limited universe. In the Boarding House each character seems willing to play the assigned role. In Counterparts, the protagonist flails at his bonds, only to make matters worse.