A Mother

"A Mother" is a short story by James Joyce published in his 1914 collection Dubliners. The story commences with a brief description of Mr. Holohan, who works for an Irish cultural society and has been arranging a series of concert. Holohan’s bad leg is a prominent feature. We are then introduced to Mrs. Kearney, who was very accomplished at a young age but found that the young men of her class were intimidated by her, which prompted her to marry the working class Mr. Kearney “out of spite.” Her daughter Kathleen goes to good schools and learns to play the piano. Mrs. Kearney decides to use the Irish Revival as a means of improving the family’s social position. She is successful enough that Kathleen gets the attention of Holohan, who hires the girl as an accompanist at four vocal concerts put on by his society. Holohan and Mrs. Kearney collaborate well on the planning of the performances. The first concert is sparsely attended. The second one has more patrons, but Mrs. Kearney is... full article at wikipedia