(Arruebarrena) The Church Remains the Same

As Mrs. McCay brought our class towards the Boarding House, I was surprised to learn that the George's Church was literally on the same street corner.  This factoid has changed the way I read the story, and I now see the image of the church that Joyce was trying to portray.  The image is not very flattering to the church.  He subtly places the celibate building and pious worshipers into the story of a twisted boarding house where some questionably immoral lives cast a dark shadow on the block. 

On the morning that Mrs. Mooney decides to entrap Mr. Doran, the boarding house is mentioned:

"The belfry of George's Church send out constant peals and worshipers, singly or in groups, traversed the little circus before the church, revealing their purpose by their self-contained demeanour no less than the little volumes in their gloved hands."

The church is a character in the story, reminding the reader that it too is a part of the entrapment.

This is what it looks like...

 The church is what indicated that it was time for Mrs. Mooney to send Polly upstairs to tell Mr. Doran to come downstairs so she could settle their affair with marriage.  That morning,  Mr. Doran had gone to the church to confess his sins which included the affair with Polly.  The church is involved through circumstances.

Now, as I looked at this building I see just a quaint church.  There is no boarding house on the corner anymore, just apartments.  When I walked down Temple Street and left on Gardner's Place I noticed that it is a poor, run-down neighborhood now.  Church buildings are nothing but characters in the corrupt stories of our lives.  A sinner might have gone to the local church to confess his sins, then that afternoon committed the same sins.  The building is just "there."  I could not tell you what kind of people live on these corners, but the image Joyce has given seems to remain the same - just a church on the corner of the street where people live their lives.