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“Maria was a very, very small person indeed but she had a very long nose and a very long chin. She talked a little through her nose, always soothingly: ‘Yes, my dear,’ and ‘No, my dear.’”
This passage is located at the start of “Clay” when the narrator is giving the reader an account of Maria’s character. Here, Joyce dwells on Maria’s small and unassuming stature, giving her the air of someone who is easily overlooked. Joyce also writes that Maria can often be heard saying the phrases “Yes, my dear” and “No, my dear” in a soothing tone. The simple, repetitive phrases emphasize Maria’s dull, monotonous existence and showcase to the reader that Maria’s life is void of any real excitement or meaning.
“She moved her hand about here and there in the air and descended on one of the saucers. She felt a soft wet substance with her fingers and was surprised that nobody spoke or took off her bandage.”
At the climax of the short story, Maria draws a mound of clay from a saucer during a Hallow Eve game, which predicts an early death. This moment is meant to represent that Maria is already living a dead life. She may be physically alive, but her pitiful existence is void of any genuine vitality. Furthermore, Maria never realizes what the “soft wet substance” is which is meant to represent Maria’s unawareness because she does not appear to fully realize how miserable her life is.
