The mood of “A Mother” changes over the course of the story from relatively relaxed to rather chaotic. The following passage—which appears as Mrs. Kearney is helping plan the concert series that features her daughter Kathleen—captures the story's initially lighthearted mood:
Everything went on smoothly. Mrs Kearney bought some lovely blush-pink charmeuse in Brown Thomas’s to let into the front of Kathleen’s dress. It cost a pretty penny; but there are occasions when a little expense is justifiable. She took a dozen of two-shilling tickets for the final concert and sent them to those friends who could not be trusted to come otherwise. She forgot nothing and, thanks to her, everything that was to be done was done.
Joyce’s language here—“Everything went on smoothly,” “a little expense is justifiable,” “everything that was to be done was done”—communicates that, at this point in the story, Mrs. Kearney is not at all stressed, and readers therefore also feel a sense of ease and contentment.
The mood becomes more chaotic and distressing near the end of the story, as Mrs. Kearney realizes that all of the investment she put into this concert series has been for nothing. She notices that the concert series has been poorly attended (meaning low ticket sales) and, therefore, she may not be getting the eight guineas she was promised for her daughter’s performance. When the Nationalist committee members (who are responsible for the concerts) confirm this to her, the mood shifts into a frustrated and frenzied register, as seen in the following passage:
[S]he would show them their mistake. They wouldn’t have dared to have treated her like that if she had been a man. But she would see that her daughter got her rights: she wouldn’t be fooled. If they didn’t pay her to the last farthing she would make Dublin and ring.
The inflamed language here (“she would show them,” “she wouldn’t be fooled,” “she would make Dublin ring”) captures the distraught and chaotic mood at the end of the story. Whereas Mrs. Kearney started the story proud of her planning and satisfied that she would get what she wanted from this series (an unusually high payment for her daughter), she ends it with no money, full of rage over how the male-dominated Committee has treated her.
