To tell the truth, I always considered Joel Cairo to be
Hammett's sly dig at another "fussy little European man of
slicked-back hair, impeccable grooming and round, pudgy
physique": Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Did that occur
to anyone else?
See you all at Bouchercon!
Brian Thornton
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc Seals" <
mseals@tampabay.rr.com> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, October 04,
2004 1:49 PM Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Homosexuality in The
Maltese Falcon
>
> A few thoughts on the subject, mostly from an
article that I wrote a few
years ago on constructions of masculine identity in early
Hammett novels:
>
> Hammett's clearest depiction of the presumably
homosexual male in The
Maltese Falcon is that of Joel Cairo. Cairo first appears in
Sam Spade's office, heralded by his engraved calling card.
Effie Perrine, Sam's secretary, simply says, "This guy is
queer." Although the Oxford English Dictionary dates the use
of the word "queer" to denote homosexuality to 1932, when W.
H. Auden described "an underground cottage frequented by the
queer," it seems a bit hard to believe that Hammett's use
here is mere coincidence. Through this type of stereotype,
Hammett may be playing to his mainstream readers' homophobia,
reassuring them that it is appropriate to ridicule and even
despise such distortions of "normal" masculinity. Regardless
of his purpose, Hammett's description of Cairo seems to be
almost a parody of the physical markers that make up the
cultural stereotypes of the thirties toward homosexuality:
"Mr. Joel Cairo was a small-boned dark man of medium height.
His hair was black and smooth and very glossy. His features
were Levantine. A square cut-ruby, its sides paralleled by
four baguette diamonds, gleamed against the deep green of his
cravat. His black coat, cut tight to narrow shoulders, flared
a little over slightly plump hips. His trousers fitted his
round legs more snugly than was the current fashion. The
uppers of his patent-leather shoes were hidden by fawn spats.
He held a black derby hat in a chamois-gloved hand and came
toward Spade with short, mincing, bobbing steps. The
fragrance of chypre came with him." Cairo is a parody of
effeminate masculinity. He speaks in a "high-pitched thin
voice." Just in case the reader has any doubt, Brigid
O'Shaughnessy explicitly refers to a boy that Cairo "had" in
Constantinople. Though enraged by the accusation, Cairo does
not deny it; he retorts: "The one you couldn't make?" They
proceed to slap each other, and Spade stops the fight by
choking Cairo. Hammett clearly contrasts the two men. While
Cairo seems more inclined to catfights, Spade fights in a
"manly" manner.
>
> Wilmer Cook is, at the very least, a male of
ambiguous sexuality. Wilmer
is described as a gunsel, a term that now denotes a "cheap
thief or criminal," but originally was a slang term used by
hoboes and prisoners to refer to young, inexperienced-and
probably homosexual-boys (who were often kept by an older
man). Wilmer is described as small, even undersized,
with
"very fair skin." Hammett clearly implies that it is
possible, if not likely, that Wilmer is homosexual. Wilmer is
rarely called by his name by anyone but Gutman; he is usually
just referred to as "the boy." He tries hard to be tough, but
the only time that he is not put in his place (as a
"boy") by Spade is when Spade has been drugged first. Wilmer
carries two large pistols, as if he is trying to assert his
masculinity, but this effort is in vain; when he draws the
weapons, Spade has little difficulty taking them from him in
what seems a symbolic castration. After being set up as
the
"fall guy" for the murders, Wilmer tries to rebuff the
sympathetic caresses of Joel Cairo, but Cairo's affection
hints at the possibility of a previous relationship. Wilmer
is impotent in his efforts to be a "man." He has the final
word, however, when he escapes Gutman's plan to turn him over
to the police and soon after shoots and kills Gutman, perhaps
claiming manhood as his birthright from his symbolic father
figure.
>
> If Wilmer is homosexual, then Gutman is perhaps
thrust into the role of
the aforementioned older man who "keeps" the gunsel. Thus, it
could be argued that the whole gang might be
homosexual.
>
> ~Marc
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