This book tells the story of Maria, who works in a laundry which is also a sanctuary for prostitutes. Throughout the story
there is no actual mention of clay, so it appears there is no connection between the title and the story. However, there is a similarity between the material – clay and the main character, Maria. Like clay, Maria is unformed, dependent and passive. She had not formed her own privet life. She has no family, no friends other than the boys she had nursed, and her life revolves mostly around her work. Maria does not initiate activities herself, but rather responses to others requests. When she does initiate actions, it is for the benefit of others, not for herself.
Maria is a middle-aged woman. According to the text, she was never involved in any romantic relationship, nor is she now. Maria always lives were she works - when she worked as a caretaker she lived in the home of the family that hired her and when the children she nursed grow up and she started working in the laundry – she moved there. She does not separate her privet life from her work. When she thinks of the work she does in the laundry, she is very satisfied. She is proud of the way she cleans the kitchen, cuts the barmbrack, and makes-up between the women. Maria’s life consists not only of her current job, but of her old one as well. The children she had nursed, Joe and Alphy, are still involved in her life, and it appears that they are the closest thing to friends that she has. Other than her work in the laundry and the few visits to Joe’s, Maria’s life comes across as quite empty, yet she has creates herself a fantasy world, in which she is an independent bourgeois lady, and she denies her actual state. She thinks that the fact that she lives alone and works for a living shows that she has privet, independent life, however, that is not the case, and it is this way of thinking that prevents Maria from forming such a life in reality. Maria is not as independent as she thinks. She has dependent on others for almost anything in her life, if not everything. From the day she finished nursing Joe and Alphy, she had not initiated anything for herself. Her job in the laundry was arranged for her by Joe and Alphy, and with it came her dwelling, thus she did not need to bother herself. In all her life, Maria did no attempt to make a family or friends. Alphy and Joe had turned from her source of income to her source of company. As to the women in the laundry, according to the text, although she finds them nice to live with, there is a sense that they are not quite friends. The relationship between Maria and the laundry women appears to be no more than work related and nothing deeper. Therefore, it is clear that Maria had not formed herself a real privet life, but rather formed an imaginary world, in which she has such a life.
What keeps Maria in her fantasy world, and keeps her from having a privet life is her tendency to dependence and passivity. As mentioned before, Maria had little part in making her current life as it is. She let others make the first move for her, as she did when she needed a new job. She did not look for a job herself, but let the brothers did it for her. Another time Maria behaves like this is at the shops she goes to. Instead of trying to approach the sellers, she waits until the sellers come to her. Even at the tram, when she sees no one would get up for her, she does not ask someone to make room for her, and she is ready to stand all through the ride. Of course she does not stay standing, since an old man offers her a sit, and she does not have to initiate anything yet again.
The routine of passivity remains at Joe’s house as well. Maria simply sits there and lets Joe make the first move in making conversation. Throughout the evening Maria only speaks back to people and does not offer any conversation ideas of her own. It is at Joe’s that Maria’s passivity is presented most clearly. She agrees to whatever is asked of her, even if she does not really want to. She agrees to have a drink with Joe and his wife, even though she says she does not want them to bother with her. When she is asked to play the Hallow Eve game, and sing a song she also agrees, but the text implies that Maria does not really want to do so. She plays the game because the other guests insisted on her playing, and she sang the song only after Joe’s wife pleaded with her.Consequently, the connection between the title and the story is now clear. Maria and the clay are like one. They share similar qualities that prevent them from having a real life. The difference is that Maria, as a human-being, has the power to form herself a life and break out of the clay. However, she chooses to stay unformed, and live her life like clay.