Giovanni's Room

The character of David, in Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, is torn between his desire to practice homosexuality and his guilt and anxiety because of conventionality. In his struggle to fulfill his identity, David experiences physical relationships with Joey and Giovanni, two males, and Sue and Hella, two females. The novel is basically structured around these four relationships. David's relationship with Joey is brief, but it is his first homosexual encounter and it unleashes both joy and dread in him. After the first time they make love, David admits "Bout out of this astonishing, intolerable pain came joy; we gave each other joy that night. It seemed, then, that a lifetime would not be long enough for me to act with Joey the act of love,""(Baldwin, 11). However, the morning after the nighttime that could never be long enough, David begins to feel the guilt and remorse of being himself in this action due to the pressures of social conformity and attitudes "But, above all, I was suddenly afraid. It was borne in on me: But Joey is a boy" (Baldwin 12).

After Joey leaves town, David determines he can never reveal his secret or share

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Category: Literature - G