In James Joyce’s Dubliners we find “Clay.” A smilingly simple short story about a woman, how makes preparations for Hallow eve. Maria the protagonist, an unmarried (older) woman who makes her living by working in a laundry which inhabits fallen women. “Clay” is narrated by an unnamed third person narrator. Fundamentally the plot is straight forward since Joyce depicts Maria’s daily unchanging routine. That is, we learn for example that the women of the laundry “would have their tea at six o’clock,” and Maria “superintended” this daily event (Joyce 95, 97). Thus, her only responsibility in life is to be a service to her fellow troubled women and accommodate their needs. For instance, Maria is very much so devoted to her job, and can be reflected
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Then, presumably she made a mistake and sang the first verse again, omitting the second verse. Thus, providing a sense of emptiness and disconnection from the real world. Joyce leads quite a few factors of the story in explanation of Maria’s ‘mistake’. For example, the laundry women chuckle and joke about the ring in the brambrack which they honestly hope Maria to have. Maria apparently views the joke as lightly as the laundry women do. Literally she has to make an effort to satisfy herself “how much better it was to be independent and have your own money in your pocket,” while she is not willing to leave the laundry to live with Joe’s family, because “such was life” (Joyce 98). The clerk’s sarcastic inquiry at the cake shop “was it wedding cake she wanted to buy,” made Maria feel embarrassed (Joyce 98). In addition, the children bullied her in presenting her a saucer full with damp clay from the garden is as far as one can see not certified buy Maris, only because the clarification is all within. The clay which represents death underlines the notion that Maria is already dead, more precisely the child within her is dead. The narrator reveals to the reader “how she used to dress for mass on Sunday morning” when she was young — but when she played the game blindfolded she felt uncomfortable rather then the children, who believed she is ugly (Joyce 97). This ‘game’ boosts Maria’s understanding that the dream of finding a husband or a family of her own is loosing its
Then, presumably she made a mistake and sang the first verse again, omitting the second verse. Thus, providing a sense of emptiness and disconnection from the real world. Joyce leads quite a few factors of the story in explanation of Maria’s ‘mistake’. For example, the laundry women chuckle and joke about the ring in the brambrack which they honestly hope Maria to have. Maria apparently views the joke as lightly as the laundry women do. Literally she has to make an effort to satisfy herself “how much better it was to be independent and have your own money in your pocket,” while she is not willing to leave the laundry to live with Joe’s family, because “such was life” (Joyce 98). The clerk’s sarcastic inquiry at the cake shop “was it wedding cake she wanted to buy,” made Maria feel embarrassed (Joyce 98). In addition, the children bullied her in presenting her a saucer full with damp clay from the garden is as far as one can see not certified buy Maris, only because the clarification is all within. The clay which represents death underlines the notion that Maria is already dead, more precisely the child within her is dead. The narrator reveals to the reader “how she used to dress for mass on Sunday morning” when she was young — but when she played the game blindfolded she felt uncomfortable rather then the children, who believed she is ugly (Joyce 97). This ‘game’ boosts Maria’s understanding that the dream of finding a husband or a family of her own is loosing its