'A Mother' is one of James Joyce's short stories in which middle-class Catholic life in Dublin is portrayed. It highlights several important themes which Joyce introduced in 'Dubliners', mainly paralysis, class distinction, culture and poverty. In all his stories, Joyce mentions where the events are taking place, primarily so readers are aware and feel acquainted with the characters.

Throughout the story, readers become familiar with a sense of sarcasm in Joyce's style of writing, where he mocks Dublin life. He continues to portray both the characters of the story, along with the city of Dublin negatively, the characters being detached and self defeated, and Dublin being a hopeless city. For example, when Joyce wrote about Mrs. Kearney, the main character of the story, hoping to take advantage of her daughter Kathleen's 'Irish' name, he was actually mocking both Mrs. Kearney's and the revival's limited view of life, having...