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Death in Life
The intersection of life and death is a running theme throughout Dubliners. Many of the short stories center around literal death. Others, like “Clay,” focus on figurative death. Maria is not dead but she lives a monotonous, dull life with no higher purpose to give her existence any meaning. She is, essentially, a walking corpse masquerading as a fully realized person. Her character underscores Joyce’s interest in life cycles and the repetition thereof, which contributes to their blank state. Maria is a perfect example of one of a “living dead” character because she moves through life with little excitement or emotion except in reaction to everyday snags and delays. Through characters like Maria, Joyce argues that the monotony of Dublin life leads Dubliners to live in a suspended state between life and death, in which each person has a pulse but is incapable of profound, life-sustaining action.
Loneliness and Isolation
Maria is an inherently lonely person. She is a middle-aged, unmarried woman who struggles to connect with the people around her. For example, at the start of the text, the women tease Maria about her unmarried state. Maria laughs along with them, claiming that she does not want a ring or a husband. However, Joyce writes that her eyes gleam with “disappointed shyness” at the teasing. This phrasing guides the reader to the conclusion that Maria’s laughter is forced and that she is saddened that she never found love. Furthermore, the reader also learns that Joe has often asked Maria to move in with him and his family but that Maria always refuses because she does not want to be “in the way.” Both of these examples characterize Maria as a tragic figure because much of her isolation and loneliness is self-inflicted as she holds herself back from more intimate relationships. Although she spends the majority of the text interacting with people, from strangers to colleagues to family friends, her engagement with her surroundings cannot move beyond the superficial. She does not allow herself to be known, and, as a result, nobody seems to really understand her at a more complex level. Through Maria’s sad and lonely life, Joyce cautions his readers against self-isolation and urges them to foster meaningful relationships.
Suppression and Self-Deception
Like many Dubliners protagonists, Maria is unhappy. But, unlike many Dubliners protagonists, she never directly addresses her unhappiness. Many characters wallow in their own dejected states and dream of a better future, one in which they can be liberated from their anguish. Maria, while equally unhappy, never reflects on her own pain and never formulates a plan to alleviate said pain—not even as a hypothetical. As a result, “Clay” becomes a story of self-deception as Maria repeatedly suppresses her own suffering. For example, Maria merely “blushes and smiles” at the woman in the bakery who coldly asks if she is shopping for a wedding cake. Maria’s flushed appearance is the only indication that Maria was embarrassed by the woman’s jibe because she swiftly suppresses the interaction and moves on so as not to dwell on her own loneliness. This particular theme is best exemplified by the moment at the end of the text when Maria dons a blindfold to play the Hallow Eve game. For the other characters, the blindfold is simply a component of the festivities. However, for Maria, the blindfold represents her tendency to metaphorically block out the unpleasant things in life.
