Her deficiency in these departments exposes her as a naive girl living in an environment that seems too sophisticated for her to handle. Her "nice tidy little body- is a cynical reference to her nice simple tidy life which seems to revolve around the endless clichés that she thinks and talks in. This thinking in platitudes perhaps induces sympathy towards her but more likely liquefies any respect that she might have provoked. She secludes any ideas quickly and fails to explore her thoughts in more detail, often refusing to pursue the reasons for various occurrences: "such was life,"" she says ignorantly. .
It is hard, however, not to feel a certain amount of sympathy for this sad and unfortunately unattractive woman. The episode on the bus where the young men refuse to look at her is a perfect example of the lack of interest she pervades into the opposite sex. It is only a drunk "colonel-looking gentleman- who interacts with her; the power of alcohol is the only medium that can persuade men to communicate with her. Joe, who is "very nice with her-, parallels this later in the story. It is hard to believe that Maria herself fails to notice peoples' attitudes towards her, although she is so inebriated by good thoughts that it is not entirely out of the question. This intoxication of her mind has been the feature by which people associate her; nice, modest, kind - her character doesn't extend across these boundaries.
It is perhaps then with gleeful justification that Maria fails to choose the ring in the game that they play. Joyce delightfully portrays her timidity and general vulnerability here. She is the object of a practical joke from the next-door girls when instead of marriage, long life or religious piety she picks death. Even when she chooses for the second time, she receives the prayer book. It seems that Maria is never destined for an exciting and stimulating life but for one of total chastity.