ogue and to relate any speech back to the reader only through the mouth of the narrator suggests the certain distancing there is here between Maria and her encompassing reality. It is as though she is living in a bubble, and to assert herself would be to break this bubble and face the terrifying possibilities an unbuffered world might hold. Joyce is able to make Maria's individual personality and perspective come about through a brand of narration that assumes the character's specific attention to detail. These details serve the story in creating the distinct sense that this is indeed a certain reality, wherein actions, decisions, and reactions have individuated and particular ways of manifesting themselves. Indeed, Maria herself is made vivid by details. Simply in mentioning it, Joyce makes us know that she is a woman who notices the "streets shining with rain," (Joyce, 97) and appreciates the familiarity and security of "her old brown raincloak." (Joyce, 97)We are moved, because of selfless and humble nature of Maria, to wish for her the life she sings of in I Dreamt that I Dwelt. We fear however, that the likelihood of her ever leading a life so full of freedoms is made slim by her tragic inability to assert herself. Joyce forces the attentive reader to consider her place in society, and to examine how the balance plays out between the inner forces of self and the outer forces of society. In the end, after Maria has omitted the second verse of her song, the narrator tells us that "no one tried to show her her mistake." We are left to wonder if this instance is to be understood as representative of what the future holds for her. Will Maria ever be shown her mistake? Will she come upon it herself in a moment of introspection? Joyce is only mute to these queries, leaving us gently where he picked each of us up, to our own imaginations. ...
