"The Boarding House" is set in Dublin around the turn of the 20th century. The story was included as part of Joyce's Dubliners anthology, which he published in 1914—though many of the short stories within were written earlier, including "The Boarding House."
The events of this particular story are in large part set in its titular location—the boarding house which, though begun as a reputable business, has garnered somewhat of a reputation for impropriety. The unsavory reputation of this primary setting elicits a wide range of character motivations and reactions; for instance, when presented with the demand that he wed Polly Mooney, Mr. Doran presents the boarding house's reputation as one of his main objections to the match. He feels, in a way, that he is being conned by the young lady's parents:
First of all there was her disreputable father and then her mother’s boarding house was beginning to get a certain fame. [Mr. Doran] had a notion that he was being had.
Polly's feminine "purity" has been tainted by this setting, ironically in the eyes of the very man who took advantage of her in an extramarital affair. Joyce uses this corrupting setting to demonstrate just how dependent social perceptions of morality are on environmental context. While individual actions do contribute to the perception of moral or immoral action, many people are written off as immoral simply for being impoverished, or living in a "rough" area. The family and the location that Polly finds herself within have trapped her in this negative perception.
