"Dear Dark-Haired Love"

This poem was disturbing. The poem exemplifies a gay relationship. In the line, “our love’s on the wrong side of the gospel” suggests that the narrator is aware that having this relationship is wrong. According to the Bible, it says that having a gay relationship is forbidden. I am also aware that there are other things that are forbidden as well, yet people still sin because we are sinful by nature. However, I do not like that the narrator blatantly says that “our kisses open Christ’s wounds up.” I understand that sinning is not a good thing; however, what Christ did on the cross was the most important thing in human history. All of our sins are forgiven because of what Christ did. When the narrator mentions that he is now opening Christ’s wounds, it sounds a little too harsh. Also, when the narrator said “don’t tell a soul,” it emphasizes that what they are doing is wrong. However, God knows exactly what you are doing so get over trying to hide anything. Through certain images of Jesus Christ, we have this idea that Jesus had dark hair. I thought it was funny that the narrator mentioned “dear dark-haired love” because Jesus had the same hair. So what is the author trying to say here? You obviously do not care about your actions and you could care less about what Christ did for you, so why mention something so specific? God intended for love between man and woman for obvious reasons. That reason is to not only get married but to reproduce and raise children. You cannot reproduce through men. I am perfectly fine with gay people, but that 2nd line in the poem was quite harsh.

A Strange Admittance

Within Dear Dark-Haired Love and A Fresh Dimension Cathal O Searcaigh diplays strong sexual theme, both heterosexual and homosexual. Beginning with Dear Dark-Haired Love Cathal uses a homosexual theme twisted with a sense of irony. In what appears to be a monologue to his dark-haired love, he states "don't tell a soul-our love's on the wrong side of the gospel." This line works as both a command, but also as a declaration of awareness. He is acknowledging that his love is misplaced, at least in the eyes of the surrounding culture, likely deeply influenced by Christian philosophy. Though some would debate this, it is commonly acknowledged that homosexuality is restricted by the Christian God; therefore it seems strange that Cathal would essentially acknowledge openly his, per faith, error.

Then in A Fresh Dimension we are exposed to a truly fresh dimension in the sexuality of Cathal. Though love is a driving theme throughout the poem, it is never definitively stated who it is towards (though clues to the object of desire being female). However, in the closing lines Cathal states, "Shelter me here between the bright causeway of your legs, add a fresh dimension to my poem." As we were presented with Dear Dark-Haired Lover before this, we are able to bring in the knowledge of Cathal's homosexual love. This knowledge, combined with the desire to be between the legs of his loves and gaining that female love, allows us to understand the meaning presented.

Public Poetry

Cathal O Searcaigh's poetry acts as a form of fulfillment and rebellion to the heteronormative status quo around him. I liken his work to the public homosexual kiss because the act in itself (enacting the passion of lips or words) is a perfectly normal expression of “normal” emotion. The act is ordinary, but the homosexual twist projects it into the public sphere as an irregularity. It thus pushes and simultaneously redefines the boundaries of society. This is queer poetry, and it is linked to the political world.

Poetry is a widely accepted and emotional practice that only humans can perform. It is a unique and passionate form of communication and reflects society. By turning this human art form into homosexual passion in his poem “Dear Dark-Haired Love” O Searcaigh directly challenges homophobic members of the public by asserting his own passion as human. Queer poetry becomes human poetry, and the barriers of societal norms take a heavy blow.

Homosexuality Within a Larger Forum

The collection of poems that was the alternate option for today’s blog were written by Cathal O Searcaigh. The poems are titled “Dear Dark-Haired Love,” “A Fresh Dimension,” and “Sanctuary.” All three poems are indeed about a love and no doubt elicit images of some long lost crush, that same person that everyone inevitably loves and loses in their young lives. The first poem, “Dear Dark-Haired Love” is probably the one most indicative of a homosexual relationship, or at least a relationship that is “on the wrong side of the gospel.” This is an interesting line in the poem not only because it indicates that there is an obvious cultural dislike for homosexuality, but that there is a strong religious grounding within the narrator’s community, and finally, a knowledge of that religious background that the narrator is applying to their predicament – their pariah status within society, not their homosexuality. The second poem, “A Fresh Dimension” expresses the idea of homosexual love quite differently, however. The author simply alludes to a “fresh dimension” that he (she) seeks. This fresh dimension, he adds, is in the shelter between the subjects legs. This idea of shelter obviously evokes imagery of a feminine anatomy, but the fresh dimension indicates a break from that very assumption of the feminine, looking for a new dimension that subverts traditional connotations. Finally, the third poem, “Sanctuary,” immediately evokes the image of shelter. The author continues this idea when he says that he is in the “hollow of the mountains.” I dare you to imagine a better cloister. Within this cloister, the narrator talks of the altar-boy as being the object of his affection. This imagery makes the closeted gay affection all the more poignant, the man is within the sanctuary of his own body, not truly protected in the house of God. Altogether these were very interesting poems that could lead to better analysis in a larger forum.

Joyce and the Heterosexual Norm

“Joyce must assert his heterosexual identity through ignorance of its opposite” (331).

Joyce, James. Dubliners. Ed. Margot Norris. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. Print.

This quote, which is from Roberta Jackson’s “The Open Closet in Dubliners: James Duffy’s Painful Case” stuck out at me. When I first read Joyce’s “A Painful Case” (which the article critiques) the homosexual undertone somehow slipped past me. After reading Roberta Jackson’s article, however, my eyes became opened and I could not believe that I had missed this in Joyce’s story. In her article, I notice that she discusses the ideas of the heterosexual norm and homosexual panic and ties it into both Joyce and his story. At the end of her article she writes that Joyce had a case of homophobia. She shows this by writing that to Joyce his brother is, “…the person socially adjacent to him who could most easily be disowned” (329). By using his brother as the inspiration for the character Duffy, Joyce attempts to draw the readers from assuming that he is a closeted homosexual (a good example of his homophobia). Earlier in the last paragraph of Jackson’s article, she states that, “Joyce’s use of material drawn from his brother’s diaries and his own dreams allow him to embody his own experience of homosexual panic and subject it to analysis” (341). From the data that she provides in her article I do in fact see this.

In her article, Jackson talks about how homosexuality was not looked on in a positive manner at the time. Because of this, and the fact that she said Joyce liked controversy, I think that he wrote this short story in an attempt to address an important topic in Dublin (among other locations) at the time, homosexuality.

After reading over “A Painful Case” again, this time knowing that it had homosexual undertones, I would assume that Joyce is simply portraying what life is like for a closeted gay man (Duffy) in Dublin at the time. When Jackson writes in her article that, “Duffy’s daily habits have the numbed, wary regularity of someone always under surveillance…,” I get the feeling that he is forced to repress his sexual feelings because he fears what others may think (337). The fact that he feels like he is always under “surveillance” seems to me to be an accurate assessment of how a closeted homosexual would feel (which would probably be scared or nervous and wondering if anybody can tell). In Duffy’s case, he is shown to be different from other men, as he is represented through his daily routines (on page 91). Through his routines he comes off as being a loner and trying to remain isolated from the world around him. It can definitely be argued that this isolation represents his being in the closet. By portraying Duffy in this manner, it appears that Joyce is definitely trying to say something about this topic and this type of person.

Homosexuality vs. Religion

Dear Dark-Haired Love

My dark dear, dear dark-haired love,

our kisses open Christ’s wounds up;

don’t open your mouth, don’t tell a soul –

our love’s on the wrong side of the gospel.

-Cathal O’Searcaigh

This “dark” poem by Searcaigh shows the conflict that has always existed between homosexuality and religion. It shows how homosexuals have always been opposed to and persecuted by religious people. This opposition has caused homosexuals to stay in the closet throughout history. “Dark” is used to show the negative view on homosexuality in religion. It shows how being gay has been looked on as evil or immoral, causing the gay community and religious groups to constantly be opposed. The relationship between two people of the same sex seems to metaphorically “open Christ’s wounds up” because of the implication that homosexual people cannot be saved by God. Not only can they not be saved by God, these people will also then get shunned by most religious people who do not agree with their lifestyle. The character in this story, in an attempt to keep from getting persecuted by religious people, tells his lover “don’t tell a soul” because their kind of love is “on the wrong side of the gospel”. No matter how real their love is it cannot be accepted in a typical Christian society so they must keep it a secret. This has always been a problem in the gay community because they do not want their lifestyle to be discriminated against. Dear Dark Haired Love shows how homosexuals are discriminated against in a way which makes them stay in the closet in order to not get persecuted by religious groups. It shows how they are unfairly treated and it is a plea for more religious people to become more accepting of their lifestyle.

Duffy's Necessary Isolation

“Duffy is trapped. If he represses his desires, he becomes hopelessly isolated and neurotic, since he will not compromise his ideal of honesty and live with Mrs. Sinico openly, as if he were a heterosexual man... Duffy’s social isolation is not fundamentally due to his neuroticism (the standard critical reading), but rather his neuroticism arises from his necessary isolation and his need to distance himself from the homophobia of the patriarchy” (Jackson, 336).

Roberta Jackson’s “The Open Closet in Dubliners” focuses on this aspect of isolation present in James Joyce’s work “Painful Case.” I agree with John Dysktra’s claim that Mr. Duffy doesn’t “freely choose” to be isolated from society. It may not be plainly implied in the text that Mr. Duffy has desires of breaking from the secluded social mold that he currently adheres to, but his interactions with Mrs. Sinico indicate that he has an inability to break free from the “necessary isolation” to which he is bound. His homosexuality is what ultimately keeps him from continuing to maintain some form of interaction with Mrs. Sinico, as he feels compelled to repress any possibility of coming out of the closet to her. I first interpreted Mrs. Sinico’s gesture of pressing Mr. Duffy’s hand to her cheek as something out of compassion, but found it surprisingly to be more an act of sensuality. Mrs. Sinico becomes someone he can talk to, and this first puzzled me as to why he abruptly decides to break contact with her. There are many reasons as to why his regression back to social isolation is unnecessary, including his own sexuality and her marriage to Captain Sinico. However, her strengthening relationship with him leads to her intimate act, even if mistaken. He becomes trapped, as he must decide whether or not to stay true to his sexuality in the face of societal interpretation. Duffy gives in to social pressures in a different way, as he chooses to be “hopelessly isolated” from society.

A product of Duffy’s entrapment is Sinico’s death. He decides to uphold his beliefs through isolation, a likely factor in her suicide. This compels Jackson to define Duffy’s social seclusion as a “neurotic symptom” in which he remains in the closet despite behaviors indicating his desire for the contrary. She presents an interesting twist on Mr. Duffy’s alleged neuroticism, as she supports her claim by stating that he cannot give or receive love. Duffy’s “maladaptive response to normal situations” fuels his neurotic behavior.