Term
| Who is the author of The Boarding House? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which time period is The Boarding House from?
Extra step if player can name dates. |
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Definition
| The 20th century or The Modern/Post Modern Period of Literature.
1900-1980.
1 step.
2 steps if player named dates. |
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Term
| Who is Mrs. Mooney? Who are the members of her family? |
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Definition
| Mrs. Mooney is the owner of the boarding house. She is the mother of Polly and Jack and is separated from her husband.
2 steps. |
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Term
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Definition
| "Perverse madonna," flirtatious, improper, etc.
2 steps. |
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Term
| What is the history behind the birth of the boarding house? |
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Definition
| Mrs. Mooney and her husband used to run a butcher's shop. After her father died, though, Mr. Mooney began to drink, to go into debt, and to steal from the till (the cashier). He managed his business poorly.
One day, Mr. Mooney chased his wife with a cleaver. Mrs. Mooney got a separation and full custody of her children from the priest. She used money from the shop to open a boarding house.
3 steps. |
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Term
| What is Polly Mooney's work experience and her reason for leaving? |
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Definition
| Polly used to work as a typist in a corn-factor's office.
However, a "disreputable sheriff's man" began to visit her every other day at work, asking to speak with her. Mrs. Mooney took Polly out of the office and set her to housework.
3 steps. |
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Term
| Trivia: How did Polly participate on Sunday nights when the musicians of the house gathered to play? |
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Definition
| She would sing a song.
"I'm a...naughty girl
You needn't sham:
You know I am."
2 steps. |
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Term
| Who does Polly become interested in at the boarding house? |
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Definition
| Mr. Bob Doran, an employee of a successful wine-merchant's office for 13 years. He belongs to a family of higher class than the Mooneys.
2 steps. |
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Term
| What collection of short stories is The Boarding House found in? Why is it named so? |
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Definition
| The Dubliners -- it is named for the town of Dublin where the stories take place and where James Joyce grew up.
2 steps. |
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Term
| Identify and define the style of writing that James Joyce and other authors of the 20th century are known for employing. |
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Definition
| Stream of consciousness: a literary technique that strives to describe an individual experience by showing a character's thought process.
2 steps.
3 steps if player mentioned the individual experience. |
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Term
| How do Polly and Mr. Doran become involved? |
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Definition
| Polly flirted with him until one night she came to his room in her bathing clothes, asking for him to "light her candle."
2 steps. |
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Term
| Why didn't Mrs. Mooney interfere in Polly and Mr. Doran's affair until it was too late? |
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Definition
| Polly's only real shot at security in life was marriage, but Polly's song and Mr. Doran's thought process show us that Polly had a very small chance of getting married to a respectable family. She lived in a boarding house that was beginning to achieve a "certain fame."
Mrs. Mooney felt Polly's best shot was to trap a man into marriage, especially a man with a good reputation that he couldn't afford to lose.
4 steps. |
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Term
| How does Mrs. Mooney officially find out about the affair? |
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Definition
| She had suspected early on, but when she felt the time was right, she confronted Polly. Polly answered her frankly.
2 steps. |
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Term
| Trivia: How does Polly act in front of Mr. Doran after Mrs. Mooney officially knows? |
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Definition
| She goes to him crying and hysterical, wondering what she is going to do and declaring that she will "put an end to herself."
2 steps. |
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Term
| What are Mr. Doran's qualms about marrying Polly? |
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Definition
| Future success would be extremely hampered by having to support a family.
He is in a higher class than Polly, so his friends and family will disapprove and laugh at him. Polly's family has a bad reputation because of her father and her mother's boarding house.
He does not love her.
3 steps. |
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Term
| Trivia: How does the priest encourage Mr. Doran to marry Polly? |
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Definition
| Feeling immensely guilty, Mr. Doran went to the priest to confess the affair. The priest had asked about every minute detail and "magnified his sin that [Mr. Doran] was almost thankful at being afforded a loophole of reparation."
2 steps. |
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Term
| Why is to manipulative Mrs. Mooney's advantage that Mr. Doran is a respectable man? |
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Definition
| A disreputable man would have no qualms about having an affair with Polly without marrying her. Mr. Doran, however, needs to protect his good reputation in order to keep his job and place in society. He has more to lose by not marrying Polly.
3 steps. |
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Term
| On the way down the stairs to meet Mrs. Mooney, Mr. Doran sees Jack Mooney. How does this affirm Mr. Doran's decision to marry Polly? |
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Definition
| Mr. Doran is intimidated by Jack. Mr. Doran remembers how Jack got mad and violent when a boarder made a free allusion to Polly one day. Jack had threatened to beat up the man.
3 steps. |
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Term
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Definition
| She is a determined woman who is able to keep things to herself. She is a cunning, firm business woman and a shrewd judge. She is strange because she doesn't have the same kind of emotional attachments to Polly one expects from a mother.
2 steps. |
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Term
| Trivia: What is Mrs. Mooney's nickname? |
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Definition
| Her nickname is "The Madam." Women who run whorehouses have similar nicknames, "Madam," "The Mistress," etc.
1 step. |
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Term
| How does the end of the story evoke pity in the reader for Polly? |
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Definition
| We find Polly drying her tears and going off into a reverie of good memories, hopes, and dreams -- escaping from the present situation. She seems to have little to no control over her life and is constantly waiting, as demonstrated by the last sentence, "Then she remembered what she had been waiting for."
3 steps.
4 steps if player mentioned waiting. |
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Term
| James Joyce is said to have implemented his father into the majority or all of his stories. How is father Joyce seen in The Boarding House? |
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Definition
| Mr. Mooney represents James Joyce's father. Joyce's father was a negative force in his family, just as Mr. Mooney is a negative force for his.
4 steps. |
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Term
| Discuss moral lessons in terms of James Joyce's stories. |
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Definition
| The Dubliners were not written to impart a moral lesson on to the reader. Instead, the stories were meant to show the reader what life was like in Dublin, an experience as if the reader was a Dubliner and was watching everything happen.
4 steps. |
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Term
| Fill in the blank: Dublin was a ____ town. |
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Definition
| Poor, dirty, etc.
1 step. |
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Term
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Definition
| Jack has a reputation of being "a hard case." Jack swears and comes home late at night. He is also very strong. He can get violent.
2 steps. |
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