Summary/clay
Maria is an elderly unmarried woman who works in the kitchen of a laundry in Dublin. she got
the position with the help of Alphy and Joe, two boys whom she had taken care of and nursed
when they were young. In her workplace, people behave kindly towards her which has made
her enjoy her job and think of them as nice people to live with although it wasn’t her thought
before because she had a poor opinion of protestants. Maria is known for being a peacemaker,
someone whom everyone is fond of. She has a slim body with a very long nose and chin. She is
a woman who cares to go on with her daily life tasks, planned.
One day, after serving women in the laundry and getting done with her duties she goes to her
bedroom to get ready to attend a Halloween party at Joe’s house. She gets dressed and then
sets her clock to six for the holy day of obligation which is tomorrow morning.
On her way she thinks to herself how sad it is that Joe and Alphy are not on good terms as they
were before. She decides to buy some penny cakes for the children and a special plum cake for
Joe and his wife.
She continues her way by riding a tram .an older gentleman lets her have his seat and she finds
herself sitting next to him, they talk and Maria seems to admire him. The tram arrives at the
destination then they say goodbye to each other.
At joe's house, Maria is welcomed warmly. children thanked her for bringing the cakes. Maria
said she has brought something special for Joe and his wife too but then she realized that the
plum cake is not with her she asks the children to know whether they have taken it or not and
they say they haven’t. next, she figures out that she might have left it on the tram. she blames
herself for getting distracted by the older gentleman's presence and ruining the surprise gift
that she prepared for them and the price that was paid and now it was in vain, she nearly cries.
Joe comforts Maria by telling her stories about his office and offering nuts and wine and making
her sit down by the fire.
Maria tries to bring up the matter about Alphy but Joe refuses to listen and got angry and said
Alphy was no brother of his. They change the topic of converse by playing a traditional
Halloween night game. The game is played by putting a bandage on the player's eyes to
blindfold them and then there are saucers in front of them containing various objects. They
have to pick one and the chosen object predicts the future of their life.
It's Maria's turn, she moves her hands toward one of the choices and she feels something wet
and soft. She pauses and hears whispering. Mrs. Donnelly says crossly that the object is not
appropriate. She insists that it be thrown out. Maria chooses again and gets a prayer book.
The game ended and the children went to sleep. Joe and Mrs. Donnelly insisted Maria sing a song.
She sang, ‘I Dreamt that I Dwelt in Marble Halls’. However, Maria makes a mistake and ends up
leaving out the second verse and singing the first verse of the song twice. but no one corrects
her. it made Joe emotional so he cried.