Clay

Maria is a catholic maid in a protestant charity. At first she felt uncomfortable being among
Protestants but then they grew to accept them and they loved her. She had been invited to go Joe
(a man to whom she took care of when he was a child, along with his brother) so on Halloweens
eve she got out of work and get downtown to buy some treats for the kids of the house and a
plum cake for Joe and his wife. She didnt have much money so she had to think very carefully
what to buy before choosing the plum cake. On the tram, a good looking man, who looked like a
colonel made room for her to sit Maria felt awkward and blush. When she got to Joes house she
realized that she had forgot the cake on the tram.
At Joes house she talked about Alphy, Joes brother. The brother had fought and they were not in
speaking terms. In order to divert the matter Joes wife starts a Halloween game. The kids
blindfolded Maria and made her choose from saucers different objects. There are four objects.
Water means life, clay death, prayer book religious life, and ring marriage. Maria grabbed clay on
his first attempt, so they kids made her choose once more. This second time she picked the prayer
book.
The night visit was going well until Joe asked Maria to sing for the family. Maria started to sing I
dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls. Maria sings the first stanza twince, but no one points out her
mistake. Joe is visible moved to tears and to cover up his reaction asked his wife to look for the
corkscrew.
Analysis
Epiphany: the epiphany of this story is for Joe rather than for Maria. Joe realizes that Maria will die
soon and without off springs.
Maria illustrates the quite life of single maid, whose spotless reputations as a veritable peace
maker attest to her placid life styles. She is equally loved outside job. She has a strongly
established routine. She focuses on the small details of daily life because her life is conflict-free
and with little new experiences. She is very organized and precise ( she counts the minutes of her
journey) This rigidness cause her frustration and out of proportion reactions (like crying for
forgetting the cake in the tram). Worrying about trivial matters helps to repress the more difficult
aspects of life.
Maria represents Ireland; she is poor, old and ignorant as Ireland. Like most Irish people she works
for Protestants, who control the finance of Ireland. Joyces ide of Ireland is that Ireland is dying
and also that Ireland is pious.
Her children, Joe and Alphy, represent the kids of Ireland who are always fighting with each other.
And Maria as a peacemaker seems inefficient.
Clay: casts Marias detail oriented life as a metaphorical early death. Maria hovers in a state
between living and dying where engagement with her surroundings cannot move beyond a

superficial, material level. Maria does not actively shape her experience in significant ways but
instead she allows it to shape her. Maria is moldable and soft like clay. Symbol of Maria life in
death, the fact that she is so focused on little detail is a kind of metaphorical death.
Theme: Death in life: the story shows that people can live an incomplete life in which their
concentration on small trivial details prevents them from seeing the bleak reality of their existence
and makes them see dead. They live in a state between life and death
Corkscrew: people avoid facing painful reality by focusing on small trivial objects.
The Boarding House
Modern short story that begins and ends in media rest. It has poetic devices, understatements and
deals with guilt.
Marriage offers promise and profit on the one hand and entrapment and loss on the other. Polly
and Mr. Doran have an affair that then became a tactical game of obligation and reparation. Mrs.
Mooneys and Mr. Dorans proposition and hesitation suggest that marriage is more about social
standards public perception and formal sanctions than about mere feelings.
Mrs. Mooney illustrates the challenges that a single mother of a daughter faces. She kind of
prostitutes her daughter. She lets her daughters relationship to continue unnoticed until the
perfect moment when she knows that Mr. Doran will have to propose to Polly out of social
propriety. She is not concern about her daughter honor but about getting her into a beneficial
marriage.
Mr. Doran suffers the limitations and loss of respect that marrying beneath him will bring, but he
ultimately does it out of fear of social critique and losing his job. While Mr. Dorans victimization
by Mrs. Mooney evokes pity, his self-concern and harsh complaints about Pollys unpolished
background and manner of speaking make him equal counterpart to Mrs. Mooney. He doesnt
worry about Pollys integrity of feelings and instead considers his years of hard work and good
reputation now at risk. He is paralyzed and falls into the trap of social conventions
The boarding house represents Dublin. A place where everyone knows everyones business. Class
lines are constantly negotiated and social standing override emotions like love. There are rules for
the inhabitants to follow like in the city.
Theme of Powerless: Mr. Doran is left out of choice thanks to social preassure. Polly knows well
that her mother will take care of everything for her, she is sneaky
Daffodils
This simple poem, one of the loveliest and most famous in the Wordsworth canon, revisits the
familiar subjects of nature and memory, this time with a particularly (simple) spare, musical
eloquence. The plot is extremely simple, depicting the poets wandering and his discovery of a
field of daffodils by a lake, the memory of which pleases him and comforts him when he is lonely,

bored, or restless. The characterization of the sudden occurrence of a memorythe daffodils

flash upon the inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitudeis psychologically acute, but the
poems main brilliance lies in the reverse personification of its early stanzas. The speaker is
metaphorically compared to a natural object, a cloudI wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats
on high..., and the daffodils are continually personified as human beings, dancing and tossing
their heads in a crowd, a host. This technique implies an inherent unity between man and
nature, making it one of Wordsworths most basic and effective methods for instilling in the
reader the feeling the poet so often describes himself as experiencing.
Merchant of Venice
Act 1, Scene 1, 140; In my school days: The story of the two arrows. Basanio is telling Antonio
that he has lost the money that he has lent him and is asking him to lend him more money. He
promises Antonio that this time he will be more careful and that will give him this money back and
probably the other money that he owes him too. But he has to trust Basanio to get the first money
back. In the worst of the scenario, Basanio promises that he will still owe him the first sum of
money.
Act 1, Scene 1, 161; In Belmont is a lady richly left: there is a girls in Belmont who is very rich
and very pretty. Men from everywhere have come to try to marry her. I need the money to
conquer her. Apparently she likes me.
Act 2, Scene 1, 10; If to do were as easy as to know you think thats easy? If doing things were
as easy as to knowing how to do them, everyone would be better off. Chapels would be churches,
cottages would be palaces. It is easier to lecture people on how to be good than to be actually
good. Sometimes ones character or age plays against you. I am alive but governed by the wishes
of somebody who is dead. I cannot choose my own husband
Act 2, Scene 2,120 God bless your worship: worship= lordship, infection=affection, scare catercousins= not friends at all, fructify. All are malapropism (using words wrong). Stycomithia: short
line for each character
Act 1 Scene 3, 103 Signior Antonio, many a time and oft: Signor Antonio you have
rated=instulted my money and my business practices in the Rialto many times. I put up with it
because my people are good at tolerating mistreatments. You have called me dirty dog and spit on
my clothes. All because I use my own money to make profit. And now you are asking me for
money. You tell me We need money. What should I tell you now? Dogs dont have money, a
dog cant lend you ducats. Or should I tell you: Sir, last Wednesday you spit on me. You insulted
me on this day, and another time you called me a dog. And out of gratitude for these favors, Ill be
happy to lend you the money?
Act 2, Scene 1, 1: Dont judge me for the color of my skin. I have been in the sunshine for a long
time thats why my skin is so dark. But my blood is as red as any other mans blood born in the

north where the sun rarely shines. My skin color has made brave men fear and Moroccan girls love
me. I wouldnt change it except to make you think of me, my darling queen
Act 4, Scene 1, 179 The quality of mercy is not strained... no one show mercy out of duty. It is
something that just happens and it makes happy two people: the one who gives it and the one
who receives it. It is a more important attribute than power. Kings are better, more similar to God
when they show mercy. Justice and mercy is similar to Gods power. Thats what Shylock should
bear in mind.
Act 3, Scene 1, 47 Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take why do you want his flesh?
Shylock: to use as fish bait. I want to just for revenge. He has been bad with me without any
reason. He has insulted me and cost me half a million ducats, laugh at my losses, made fun of my
earnings, humiliated my race, put obstacles in my deals, turned my friends against me and riled
up my enemies. All just because I am a Jew. Doesnt a Jew have eyes, body organs, human shape,
five senses feelings and passions? ...if you poison us dont we die? And if you treat us badly dont
we try to get revenge? Jew are like you in everything else and we will resemble you in that aspect
too. I will treat you as you Christian taught me to and you will be lucky if I dont outdo my
teachers.
Act 4, Scene 1, 44 What if my house be troubled with a rat... bond= contract. I want a pound of
Antonios flesh just because I fell like it. People have varied tastes and there is no point in trying to
explain them. I want that and I will pursue this case against him.
Act 4, Scene 1, 89 What judgment shall I drear, doing no wrong? ... why should I be afraid of
your judgment when I havent done anything wrong? Many of you have slaves and you make them
do awful jobs just because you bought them. I could say you Set them free, let them have the
same soft beds you have and eat the same food and you would answer me no, they are slaves,
we paid for them I paid for that pound of flesh so its mine. And if you refused me that the laws of
Venice have no validity. Will I get what I deserve?
Act 5, Scene 1, 82:
Act 3, Scene 2, 63 tell me where is fancy bred (singing) Tell me where do our desires start, In the
heart or in the head? How are they created, how sustained? Desires start in the eyes, Sustained by
gazing, and desires die Very young. Lets all mourn our dead desires. Ill beginDing, dong, bell.
BASSANIO: You cant always judge a book by its cover. People are often tricked by false
appearances. In court, someone can deliver a false plea but hide its wickedness with a pretty
voice. In religion, dont serious men defend sins with Scripture, covering up evil with a show of
good. Every sin in the world manages to make itself look good somehow. How many people are
cowards at heart but wear beards like Hercules or Mars, the god of war? Take another example:
beauty. It can be bought by the ounce in makeup, which works miracles. Women who wear it the
most are respected the least. Its the same thing with hair. Curly golden hair moves so nicely in the
wind and makes a woman beautiful. But you can buy that kind of hair as a wig, and wigs are made
from dead peoples hair. Decorations nothing but a danger, meant to trick and trap the viewer. A

lovely, cunning shore can distract a man from the perils of a stormy sea, just as a pretty scarf can
hide a dangerous dark-skinned beauty. Nowadays, everyones fooled by appearances. So Ill have
nothing to do with that gaudy gold boxits like the gold that Midas couldnt eat. And Ill have
nothing to do with the pale silver either, the metal that common coins are made of. But this
humble lead one, though it looks too threatening to promise me anything good, moves me more
than I can say. So this is the one I choose. I hope Im happy with my choice!
Characters
Antonio: he borrows money from Shylock in order to help Basanio to look wealthy to conquer
Portia. He promises Shylock a pound of his own flesh if he fails to pay back the money. He
represents generosity. And he is the counterpart of Shylock, because he is extravagant and willing
to risk his money and life in opposition to Shylock who is greed.
Basanio: spendthrift friend of Antonio and suitor of Portia. He is indirectly responsible for the
situation in which Antonio finds himself. By winning Portia by choosing the correct casket he
demonstrates a 16th century ideal of romantic love. He chooses the lead casket because he
distrusts the rich appearance of the gold and silver caskets. Only a true love would value the
woman for herself rather than her outward shows. This is an indication of selfless love. He gives
what he has. That was clear when Gratiano asks him a favor and he accepts without knowing what
it is.
Some critics may say that Basanio was a heiress-hunting and an irresponsible man that risked his
friend life. However, mentioning Portias wealth when referring to the idea a marriage does not
necessarily mean that he is a gold-digger since in the 16th century one would not discuss courtship
without bringing up the subject of wealth. And he would never have accepted Antonios
commitment to Shylock contract if this last one did not have promised him that he will be able to
pay.
Gratiano: friend of Bassanio and lover of Nerissa. He is rude, frivolous and tactless. Bassanio is
worried that he might embarrass him in front of Portia. He insults Shylock during the trial.
Jessica: shylocks daughter and Lorenzos girlfriend. She is unhappy in her fathers home and so
decides to flee with Lorenzo not before stealing her fathers money and a ring of her late mother.
This behavior is classified by Gratiano as Christian action against Jews. By fleeing his fathers house
she states an example of the opposition between love and greed.
Lancelot Gobbo: a comical clownish figure who was first a servant of Shylock and then a servant of
Bassanio. Lanacelot carries messages and announces impending arrivals. He makes puns and
misuses words. He engages Lorenzo in a battle of puns and deliberate misunderstandings. Laucelo
provides evidence of Elizabethan anti-Semitism when he delivers a comic monologue in which he
recounts a dispute between his conscience and an evil spirit as to whether or not he should leave
Shylocks service.

Lorenzo: suitor and then husband of Jessica, friend of Antonio and Basanio. Represents love versus
greed.
Portia: at the beginning she is a passive young woman at the mercy of his dead father
matchmaking device, the lottery of caskets, she emerges as a touching lover with Bassanio and
achieves maturity when she defends Antonio. Portias strategy emphasizes the instructive
paradox that Shylocks rigid insistence on the letter of the law proves to be his own undoing. Her
final act, accepting her own ring from Bassanio, when dressing as a lawyer emphasizes that love
and forgiveness are superior to greed
Shylock: Jewish moneylender who is angry at his mistreatment at the hands of Venice Christians.
He wants to kill Antonio by claiming a pound of his flesh. He is a stereotypical Jew, shaped by the
anti-Semitic notion in Shakespeares England.