The passage studied here is an excerpt from "Clay", one of the short stories of the book Dubliners, which was written by James Joyce in 1914. In this story, the main character Maria is invited to spend the Hallow Eve evening at Joe's, a man of whom she once was the nurse but who is now grown-up and has a family. This excerpt deals with the moment when Maria, while playing traditional Hallow Eve games with Joe's children, chooses by chance a piece of clay, which is a symbol of death. And whereas everyone around is dismayed, she does not seem to realize what this prediction means for her. As Maria has the most important place in this short story, it is necessary to first consider the duality of her character, because she seems to appear alternately as a saint and as a witch. Then there will be an analysis of the prediction itself, that is to say the significance of the clay but also the whole negativity which is present all along the narrative and which seems to have introduced the symbol of the clay.
[...] Indeed, she would try to hide her real malicious personality by trying to convince herself of her kindness and in this way, she would manage to convince the others of it as well. But that is not very successful as the disembodied voice her own subconscious manages to hint at her real personality, for instance, by repeating several times that "the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin" (l.9) and thus gives the reader clues to understand who Maria really is. [...]
[...] Because of this repulsive appearance, Joe's children seem to instinctively reject her, from her arrival into the house up to the moment when they try to play a trick on her with the Hallow Eve games. The fact that the two next door girls are preparing the game is important because, as they do not belong to the family, they do not know Maria and they probably see her as an old nasty spinster because of her appearance, that is why they decided to play a joke on her. [...]
[...] Indeed, in the extract we know that she has, in a certain way, turned the game into a small "tragedy" by picking the piece of clay, but before that, she has also put Joe in a bad mood when she tried to talk about Alphy, his brother with whom he has fallen out. Moreover, previously in the story, Maria has also created problems because, having lost the plumcakes she had bought in the tram, she first accuses the children of having eaten them "by mistake" and she is about to cry because of the money she has wasted, and this is the first element that brings a bad atmosphere in the evening. [...]
[...] The five children played the game just before Maria and three of them got the saucer of water, which can be considered as a symbol of life, as water is indispensable to live. This symbol is nearly obvious for children, because they have got their whole life ahead of them so it is not surprising that they got it. Then, one of the children got the prayer-book, and even if this is not a direct symbol of life, it means that he will have a devoted and religious life, which is also a good prospect. [...]
[...] And although she has no child, she has got Joe's family, and this can nearly be considered as her own family, as she goes and visits them for feasts as this is the case on this proper evening, and she tries to take care of them, by buying them cakes or even singing for the children before they go to sleep (l.25). She takes care of them and they take care of her in return, inviting her to take part in their family feasts on every occasion. [...]
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