Nothing in black and white
Nothing in black and white
In Brief
During Bloom's brief absence from the pub in Lestrygonians,
Nosey Flynn says "there's one thing he'll never do," and he
mimes the action by pretending to write his signature on the
table beside him. Davy Byrne says, "I know." "Nothing in black
and white," Flynn affirms. This attribution sounds
suspiciously like an antisemitic slur casting Jews as
financially cunning, but Flynn has just been talking at length
about Freemasonry, and
there is more evidence to suggest that he is thinking of that
order's obsession with secrecy—in particular, a Masonic oath
that Bloom recalls in Circe.
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Gifford notes an "assumption that all Jews were averse to
swearing an oath on signing a contract" (presumably because
such oaths would have drawn on Christian religious language),
and Sam Slote echoes him, remarking that Bloom's refusal to
sign his name "Follows from the (erroneous) superstition that
Jews are forbidden from signing legal contracts." But Gifford
also supposes that Flynn is expressing "the suspicion of
Bloom's secretiveness as a Mason." (Thornton and Johnson do
not attempt to gloss the passage, and Kiberd rather
unhelpfully remarks that it concerns Bloom's reluctance to
"sign a cheque.")
In a personal communication, Des Gunning puts his money on
the Masonic interpretation, citing an oath sworn by new
members of the fraternal order to keep its mysteries secret.
Malcolm C. Duncan's Ritual and Monitor of Freemasonry
(1866) records a version of this oath, in which the candidate
had to "sincerely promise and swear, that I will always
hail, ever conceal, and never reveal, any of the arts,
parts, or points of the hidden mysteries of Ancient Free
Masonry" to anyone not known to be a fellow Mason. "I
furthermore promise and swear that I will not print,
paint, stamp, stain, cut, carve, mark, or engrave them, or
cause the same to be done, on any thing movable or
immovable, capable of receiving the least impression of a
word, syllable, letter, or character, whereby the same may
become legible or intelligible to any person under the
canopy of heaven, and the secrets of Masonry thereby
unlawfully obtained through my unworthiness."
To be sure, the oath does not obligate one never to sign
one's name or commit mundane transactions to writing, but
given Flynn's lurid preoccupation with the secrecy of Masons
it is entirely reasonable to suppose that he might attribute
such reluctance to a man whom he supposes to be a Mason. And
much later in the novel it becomes clear that Bloom has in
fact taken the oath. At the end of Circe, in language
nearly identical to that recorded in Duncan's work, he mumbles
his commitment to conceal the sacred mysteries: "swear that
I will always hail, ever conceal, never reveal, any part or
parts, art or arts . . ."
For what it's worth, Davy Byrne for one did not subscribe to
the doctrine of "Nothing in black and white." Senan Moloney
reports that on a wall of his pub, next to the women's
restroom, hangs a postcard which he apparently mailed back
home in September 1912 telling his employees and friends that
he was having a good time in America, had "Enjoyed the
parade," and hoped that they all were well. He signed it "DB."
