A Mother

by James Joyce

A Mother: Style 1 key example

Style
Explanation and Analysis:

Joyce’s writing style in “A Mother” is defined by his use of free indirect discourse, a writing technique that features a third-person narrator who remains so close to a specific character’s perspective that they almost seem to merge with them. In “A Mother,” the narrator primarily stays close to Mrs. Kearney’s perspective, sometimes describing her thinking in a more distanced manner but at other times channeling her thinking directly, as seen in the following passage (when Mrs. Kearney is deeply upset about the Committee refusing to pay her the eight guineas for her daughter Kathleen’s performance):

They thought they had only a girl to deal with and that, therefore, they could ride roughshod over her. But she would show them their mistake. They wouldn’t have dared to have treated her like that if she had been a man.