Memory and Identity
Da delves into the profound themes of memory and identity, exploring how memories intricately weave into the tapestry of one's self-perception. Through a collection of poignant memory scenes, Charlie reminisces about his father, whose influence echoes throughout his life. Some memories vividly feature Young Charlie stepping into the spotlight, while the present-day Charlie, now in his forties, observes from the sidelines. In other moments, the current Charlie embodies his younger self, reflecting on past events. The interplay between middle-aged Charlie and Young Charlie highlights how recollections from the past linger, shaping one's identity in the present. Sometimes, Charlie at forty mirrors the child he once was, acting out childhood memories. However, there are instances where he is so transformed from his youthful self that he debates with Young Charlie.
Glimpses of Young Charlie offer profound revelations to middle-aged Charlie, illuminating the path of who he has become. At one juncture, Young Charlie accuses him of losing his once-vibrant zeal for life. These exchanges compel Charlie to wrestle with his self-concept, striving to reconcile his humble, uneducated Irish roots with his current identity as a thriving, intellectual Londoner. Throughout his journey, Charlie is determined to carve his own identity, distancing himself from his father. He is particularly driven by a desire to shed any association with his father's perceived ignorance and coarseness. Now a successful London author, he attempts to sever ties with his father's shadow. Yet, Da's presence persistently "haunts" Charlie, illustrating how deeply intertwined his identity is with his father's legacy.
Charlie attempts to purge his life of Da's influence by discarding his father's belongings, in a symbolic gesture to cleanse himself of those memories. However, Da's influence remains, suggesting that parts of his identity are irrevocably linked with his father. Throughout the play, as Charlie navigates these memory-laden scenes, he begins to reconcile his current self with the past. Even as he returns to London, Da's ghostly presence lingers, symbolizing an everlasting connection to his father's memory and, by extension, to himself. Thus, memory emerges as a pivotal, inescapable force in shaping identity within the narrative of Da.
Family
Da unfolds as a poignant exploration of familial ties. Charlie's recollections linger on his intricate bond with his father and mother, as well as the nuanced dance of their own relationship. As he grapples with understanding the essence of his parents' connection, he also seeks clarity on how it shaped his own existence. This journey is ignited by the memories stirred by his father's passing.
Central to the dynamic between Charlie and his parents is the revelation of his adoption. His mother often recounts the tale of how his biological mother unsuccessfully attempted to terminate her pregnancy and how she herself took him from the hospital, bringing Charlie into her world. This narrative shrouds his childhood in a mix of intrigue and fear concerning his birth mother. Overwhelmed by a tapestry of falsehoods woven by his parents about her identity and whereabouts, Charlie lives in dread sparked by his aunt's terrifying stories of a nocturnal haunting by his birth mother.
Moreover, Charlie's mother wields her act of taking him in as a tool to keep him tethered by guilt. As Charlie grows into adulthood, he uncovers the reality hidden beneath the surface of his parents' marriage. He learns that his mother once loved another man, but it was Da who beseeched her father to persuade her hand in marriage. His mother concedes that marrying Da was a decision born out of filial duty. By the play's conclusion, Charlie emerges with a sharper perspective on the tangled web of relationships that...
(This entire section contains 261 words.)
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shaped his formative years and molded the man he has become.
Love Turned Upside Down
Shortly before the end of act 1, Charlie says that “love turned upside down for all that.” This statement might be taken as the motto of the play; it is not a sentimental play. The love here is truly turned upside down: petty, vexing, and often harmful. In the end, however, the play is generous to its characters. It is Charlie’s wisdom that, without forgetting his resentment and frustration, he can see this love for what it is.
Influence of James Joyce
Leonard achieved his early successes with adaptations of James Joyce’s early works, Dublin One (pr. 1963), from Dubliners (1914), and Stephen D (pr., pb. 1962), from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Stephen Hero (1944). Joyce’s works certainly had an influence on Leonard’s. As much as Dubliners, this play seems content with its own details, concerned first with the lives of its characters and the events that illuminate them. There is much description and little editorial opinion here. As with Joyce, there often seem to be clues to insights and meanings behind the events shown, but the emphasis is always on accurate depiction and on description. Joyce’s ever-present concerns, the character of Irish life and the narrowness that it forces on Irish men and women, are here too. Speculation on the themes and unifying meanings behind the work must be made cautiously, keeping in mind the character of the play.
Old vs. New Ireland
Themes of the old and the new are constant. Oliver, superficial and materialistic, represents the new Ireland in his way, as Charlie, in his sophistication, does in his. Just as much, Da and his wife represent the old Ireland. Charlie spells out the problem when he describes how Da’s ghost once visited him, acting as always the urban peasant, while Charlie was in the thick of an erudite evening of London sophistication. Charlie asks himself, thinking of his new life and his old, “So how could I belong there if I belonged here?” Try as he might, Charlie cannot leave this old Ireland behind: The whole play is testament to that. However, he thinks of his old life as something confining, something from which he must break free. This theme, the tyranny of the past and its constriction of one’s character and conduct, is also one of Joyce’s main concerns.
Debt and Restitution
Dovetailing with this theme are thoughts of debt and restitution. They color every scene and organize all the action. The characters are constantly claiming to be owed debts of gratitude, yet not one of these debts is ever recouped in the course of the play. The grand example is Charlie’s adoption. Charlie’s “mother” uses her claim of being owed unpaid debts to maintain her status as an aggrieved woman and—to young Charlie’s horror—speaks of it to every adult who will listen. Although Charlie comes to realize that he will never do anything to pay his debt (who, after all, can repay a parent?), he still feels the burden of it. Da makes Charlie feel his debt in another way by giving selflessly to Charlie again and again and refusing to take anything back. All Charlie’s gifts to him he returns unused, until Charlie gives up in frustration. This is Charlie’s dilemma: He lives under the bonds of family, which are very real bonds. They act on him just as worldly bonds do, as worldly debts do. Unlike worldly bonds, however, family bonds can never be broken.
Struggle with the Past
Da begins with a view of Charlie Tynan as a successful Irish expatriate, a man who has moved on. It ends with Charlie in a comic fit of temper, futilely trying to free himself from Da. In between, the play shows how difficult, perhaps impossible, it is to be free of one’s past. It also shows that one might be, with clear vision and a warmth of human understanding, uneasily at peace with it.
