ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Maria is fully aware of how much money she has and how much money she will have left by the time she travels to Joe’s house. It is also evident later in the story that Maria is upset about the loss of the plum cake.

Detailed explanation-2: -On a tram, Maria has a bashful encounter with an elderly and drunken man who chats with her. She is welcomed warmly at the house by Joe’s family, but she is saddened and ashamed to realize that she has left the plumcake she bought for Joe and his wife on the tram, probably due to “flirting” with the elderly man.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

Detailed explanation-4: -However, Maria makes a mistake and ends up singing the first verse of the song twice, omitting the second verse. Significantly, this second verse is about a woman being wooed by suitors (’I dreamt that suitors sought my hand’). The story ends with none of the family pointing out Maria’s error to her.

Detailed explanation-5: -Maria, the protagonist of “Clay, ” is an unmarried middle-aged woman working at a laundry in Dublin. While she is well-liked at work and known as a “peace-maker, ” her interactions with others are superficial and even painful, as she is often mocked for being unmarried.