Summary and Analysis Clay
Summary
It is Halloween night. After work in the kitchen of an industrial laundry mainly staffed by recovering alcoholics and ex-prostitutes, an older unmarried woman named Maria attends a party at the home of a man named Joe. Maria served as his nurse when Joe was a baby. While playing traditional Irish Halloween games, a blindfolded Maria chooses clay rather than water, a ring, or a prayerbook, signifying (at least according to Irish superstition) that she will die soon.
Analysis
Some critics have interpreted Maria as a symbol of Ireland itself (which would link her, unpredictably, with the pervert from "An Encounter"). Maria is poor and relatively forsaken. She is in thrall to the Roman Catholic Church (setting her alarm an hour earlier than usual so that she can attend All Saints' Day Mass the next morning), and she loses her gift while distracted by a "colonel-looking gentleman" who might represent England.
Maria is ignorant, as well. (Joyce believed that education in Roman Catholic schools had made the Irish ignorant, exacerbating the country's paralysis.) She does not seem to realize the significance of her choice in the Hallow Eve game. Joyce writes that "She felt a soft wet substance with her fingers and was surprised that nobody spoke or took off her bandage," rather than writing something like "She felt a soft wet substance, obviously clay rather than a book, ring, or water, and gasped at the thought of death foretold."
With regard to Joyce's system of color symbolism, the color brown (meaning decay) looms largest in this story. Maria's raincloak is brown, as is the hard hat of the man on the tram. And of course, the story's central image, the clay itself that superstition says may mean death for Maria, is probably brown, or brownish, as well.
Like "A Little Cloud" and "Counterparts," "Clay" employs the limited third-person point-of-view strategy. That is, although Maria does not herself tell the story, the reader is privy to her thoughts and no other characters'. (The story's narrator never tells anything that Maria does not know, as a traditional omniscient narrator almost certainly would.) The technique demands much of a reader (for example, figuring out that the "soft wet substance" Maria touches during the Hallow Eve game is the clay of the title), but the story rewards just this sort of participation. It also rewards repeated readings.
Glossary
barmbracks cakes, traditionally served in Ireland on Halloween, in which symbolic objects (a ring, for example) have been baked.
Ballsbridge a suburb southeast of Dublin.
the Pillar Nelson's Pillar; a memorial in north-central Dublin to Horatio Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), an English admiral. A comical anecdote told by Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses takes place atop the Pillar.
Whit-Monday the Monday immediately following Whit-Sunday, or Pentecost.
the Dublin By Lamplight laundry a Protestant-run business, the mission of which was to rescue prostitutes and drunken women; Maria merely works there, in the kitchen.
tracts on the walls religious texts posted for the edification of readers.
sure to get the ring likely to come upon the ring baked into the barmbrack, signifying that she will marry within a year.
a mass morning a Holy Day of Obligation, on which all observant Catholics must attend Mass.
has a drop taken has drunk alcohol.
Hallow Eve games referring here to a game in which players are led blindfolded to a table where saucers have been arranged: One holds a prayerbook, one a ring, one some water, and the fourth some clay. If the blindfolded participant chooses the prayerbook, he or she is supposed to join the priesthood or become a nun within the year. If the ring is chosen, marriage is foretold. Water means a long life, while clay means death.
"I Dreamt That I Dwelt" a popular aria from the opera The Bohemian Girl, which is also mentioned in "Eveline." The song subtly connects this story with that one, perhaps implying that Eveline will likely end up like Maria.
her mistake Maria has sung the song's first verse twice in a row.
Balfe Michael William Balfe; composer of The Bohemian Girl.
FAQs
Clay comes from the ground, usually in areas where streams or rivers once flowed. It is made from minerals, plant life, and animals—all the ingredients of soil. Over time, water pressure breaks up the remains of flora, fauna, and minerals, pulverising them into fine particles.
Is clay a rock or dirt? ›
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, Al2Si2O5(OH)4).
What is clay material? ›
Clay is a very fine-grained geologic material that develops plasticity when wet, but becomes hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. It is a very common material, and is the oldest known ceramic. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery.
What is a simple definition of clay? ›
1. a. : an earthy material that is plastic when moist but hard when fired, that is composed mainly of fine particles of hydrous aluminum silicates and other minerals, and that is used for brick, tile, and pottery. specifically : soil composed chiefly of this material having particles less than a specified size.
What did God make out of clay? ›
The Book of Genesis 2:7 states, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" [King James Version translation].
What is the enemy of clay? ›
PLASTER IS THE ENEMY OF FIRING. It is most important that small pieces of plaster do not make their way into recycled clay because they will explode/spit out in the kiln once heated causing disastrous effects on pottery.
How is clay created? ›
Where does clay come from? Clay is a soft, loose, earthy material containing particles with a grain size of less than 4 micrometres (μm). It forms as a result of the weathering and erosion of rocks containing the mineral group feldspar (known as the 'mother of clay') over vast spans of time.
Is clay in all dirt? ›
Dirt is normally mixture of silt and clay which is transported/ carried in air when particles are dry. Soil is composed of sand, clay, air, water, and decaying organic material in varying amounts. Good loam is a mixture off all five. Clay and sand are both ground rock.
What is under clay? ›
i. A layer of fine-grained detrital material, usually clay, lying immediately beneath a coalbed or forming the floor of a coal seam. It represents the old soil in which the plants (from which the coal was formed) were rooted, and it commonly contains fossil roots (esp. of the genus Stigmaria).
Which color is not made by clay? ›
There are no colors that cannot be made, as all colors can be created by mixing different combinations of colors from the color spectrum.
For example, many soils contain a relatively low amount of clay in the surface layer, a higher amount between the depths of 25 to 75 centimeters (10 to 30 inches), and a decreased amount below a depth of 100 centimeters (40 inches).
How long does clay take to dry? ›
Crayola® Air-Dry clay generally takes 24 hours to dry to the touch; 72 hours to dry completely. Drying times can be altered by environmental conditions and the size of the piece. Thoroughly dry pieces may be painted with tempera, acrylic, or watercolor.
What does clay mean in the Bible? ›
We are all humans, a word that is akin to humus, meaning “earth” or “clay.” The apostle Paul referred to our bodies as “jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV). To say that we are clay in the hands of the Potter acknowledges God's handiwork as the Master Potter, or Creator, of our physical body.
Why is clay so important? ›
Clay is an important part of soil because it contains nutrients that are essential to plant growth. Another way to use clay is through sculpting. One property of clay is plasticity. This means that you can stretch out the clay without it breaking or tearing.
What did Native Americans make out of clay? ›
As artist Mike Daniel explains, pottery served the people of Native American tribes as much more than a tool. The clay was a canvas for the Native Americans to express themselves through symbols and designs or signify belonging to a specific tribe or family.
Was the first human made out of clay? ›
Researchers find a role for clay in formation of the first cells. While the research is a far cry from proving that humans sprang from clay, as some creation myths assert, it does provide a possible mechanism for explaining how life initially arose from nonliving molecules.
What did the Mayans make out of clay? ›
Modern Mayan ceramics are still made in this way, continuing this ancient method since it began over 2,000 years ago. The early ceramics mostly focused on the functional necessities for daily life, such as bowls, vases and plates for eating, drinking and storing food.
What was the first thing made out of clay? ›
The oldest known ceramic artifact is dated as early as 28,000 BCE (BCE = Before Common Era), during the late Paleolithic period. It is a statuette of a woman, named the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, from a small prehistoric settlement near Brno, in the Czech Republic.
