clay presentation.pptx

7/28/2019 clay presentation.pptx

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ClayJames Joyce

Presenters: Niloufar FathiAida Atrzadeh


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James Joyce(1882-1942)


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Some Other Famous Irish Writers

Oscar Wild

George Bernard Shaw

W. B. Yeats

Jonathan Swift

Samuel Beckett


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Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914.


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The Republic of Ireland


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Dublin in the early 20th century


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Halloween31 October


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Halloween

Bumpkin lanternsBarmbracks

Turnip lanterns

Trick or treat


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Barmbracks


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Maria was a very, very small person indeed but

she had a very long nose and a very long chin.

witch


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Ballsbridge, Dublin, 1911From Ballsbridge to the Pillar ,

twenty minutes; from the Pillar toDrumcondra, twenty minutes; andtwenty minutes to buy the things.She would be there before eight.


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Tram(Dublin, 1904)

The tram wasfull and she had

to sit on thelittle stool atthe end of the

car, facing allthe people, withher toes barely

touching thefloor.


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Plumcake

for Joe

Plum


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Penny cakesFor the children


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Game of

divination


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She felt a soft wet substance with her fingers

and was surprised that nobody spoke or took off

her bandage. Why?


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Corkscrew

his eyes filled up so muchwith tears that he could

not find what he waslooking for and in the endhe had to ask his wife to

tell him where thecorkscrew was.

People tend to escape realityand avoid facing bleak facts byfocusing on trivial objects orinvolving themselves in petty

activities.


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ANALYSIS


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PLOTAlmost nothing happens in the story. The

main emphasis of the story is on character, ratherthan plot (cf. The Cask of Amontillado).

The early paragraphs that introduce the main

characters and the setting constitute theexposition.

The rising action follows, as we follow Maria inher trip in the streets of Dublin to Joes house.

The climax occurs when Maria chooses the clayin the parlour game. The rest of the story is thefalling action.


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SETTING The place is the city of Dublin. The story begins

in the Dublin by Lamplight laundry where Maria livesand works. Then, we follow Maria in her trip throughthe streets of Dublin, boarding the tram, to Joeshouse, where the last part of the story is set.

The time is the beginning of the twentiethcentury.


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CHARCTERSMARIA

Maria is the central character in the story. She is amiddle-aged woman who lives and works in a charitableinstitution for women. Maria seems almost willfullyunaware of the more brutal aspects of day-to-day life. She

tries to forget her difficult life by focusing on the smalldetails of daily living. The story abounds in examples ofMarias preoccupation with these trivial details.

Marias concentration on the positive aspects of life andthe cheerful sides of her existence are a means of

compensation for the emotional vacuum and theemptiness of her real life. In other words, Maria createsher own world that allows her to make for the deprivationand losses of her life.


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Marias reputation as a peacemaker attests to her abilityto evade the larger issues of life and to avoid conflicts inorder to make her life more acceptable and palatable. She

likes to please all people around her. Consequently, she isequally loved by the women in the laundry and by peopleoutside. She is warmly welcomed by Joe and his family andthe children.

For Maria, everything demands organization andprecision. She fastidiously supervises the distribution offood portions at the charity, she prides herself on her neatand tidy body, and she repeatedly divides up the minutesshe will schedule for traveling and shopping for the eveningat Joes. Maria intends for her attention to minute detailsto create order and clarity in her life, but such rigidity

actually results in frustration and emotional reactions thatare out of proportion to the situation at hand. When sherealizes that she has misplaced the plum cake, she is sofurious with herself and her carelessness that she almostcries.


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Maris choice of clay during the game signifies, nother impending death, but her emotional death. On

the other hand, her choice of the prayer book, whichstands for her entering a nunnery, symbolizes herfurther retreat from real life.


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POINT OF VIEW

limited third-person point-of-view. The narratorlets us see the world through the eyes and thinking ofMaria. The reader is permitted to go inside the mind

of Maria and no other character.


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THEMESDeath-in-life:

The story shows how people can live an incomplete life in whichtheir concentration on the small trivial details prevents them fromseeing the bleak reality of their existence and makes them seem dead.

Consequently, they live in a state between life and death.

Death:

Death is a prominent theme in the story. The title word of the

story is a symbol of death. Maria picks the saucer that contains clay, aportent of imminent death. Joe, aware of Marias old age, is moved totears.


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SYMBOLISM

Clay:Clay in the traditional game of divination is a

symbol of death. On the other hand, clay is also a symbolofMarias death-in-life state. Marias life that is focused

on small details, avoiding facing the reality of life, is akind of metaphorical death.

Corkscrew:

The corkscrew that Joe looks for when he is fullof tears upon hearing Marias song is a symbol of the

way people avoid facing painful reality by focusing onsmall trivial objects.

clay presentation.pptx

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