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Eight Guineas
In “A Mother,” Joyce uses the color brown to symbolize the dullness and decline of turn-of-the-20th-century Dublin, particularly the aspects of Dublin that have not changed in so long that they show signs of decay. The first time the color brown appears in “A Mother” is when Joyce describes Mr Kearney’s “great brown beard,” indicating that he is a part of the reason Dublin is so dull and stuck in time. Other textual details about Mr Kearney associate him with the things that Joyce felt kept Dublin suspended in time: he is wealthy, serious, pious, and a regular churchgoer, and he only gets involved in the Irish Nationalist movement when it becomes culturally fashionable for wealthy Dubliners to do so. By amassing wealth, strictly adhering to his religion, and only getting involved in political movements for personal gain, Mr Kearney displays the signs of Dublin’s decay that Joyce spoke out against.
The other character Joyce associates with brown is Mr Fitzpatrick, the secretary of the Eire Abu Society: he describes how Mr Fitzpatrick wears his “soft brown hat carelessly on the side of his head.” Like Mr Kearney, Mr Fitzpatrick is also self-serving. He doesn’t seem to care when the concerts go poorly, is difficult to get ahold of when things go wrong, and instead takes advantage of the concerts’ casual atmosphere to talk loudly with friends during the performance. The way he wears his brown hat reflects how careless he is in his dealings with other people, marking him as just another Dubliner who only looks out for himself, keeping the city stuck in its ways.
Brown Quotes in A Mother
The A Mother quotes below all refer to the symbol of Brown. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
A Mother
Quotes
Mr Holohan became very red and excited. He spoke volubly, but Mrs Kearney said curtly at intervals:
“She won't go on. She must get her eight guineas.”
Mr Holohan pointed desperately towards the hall where the audience was clapping and stamping. He appealed to Mr Kearney and to Kathleen. But Mr Kearney continued to stroke his beard and Kathleen looked down moving the point of her new shoe: it was not her fault. Mrs Kearney repeated:
“She won't go on without her money.”
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Mother LitChart as a printable PDF.
Brown Symbol Timeline in A Mother
The timeline below shows where the symbol Brown appears in A Mother. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Mother
...never completely abandoned her romantic ideals. Mr Kearney is “sober, thrifty, and pious,” has a brown beard, and takes Communion on the first Friday of every month with or without his...
(full context)
...the Eire Abu Society, Mr Fitzpatrick, a small man with a “white vacant face,” a brown hat perched “carelessly” on his head, and a “flat” Dublin accent. As he speaks to...
(full context)
