The Role Of Masculinity In Giovanni's Room

James Baldwin’s novel, Giovanni’s Room, contains subtle yet powerful messages about society and its effects on people. The novel follows the narrator, David, as he internally battles with his emotions over love, lust, and trust. David restricts himself from displaying his emotions outwardly thus keeping others from knowing how he truly feels. David’s internalized homophobia plays a role in his mental reasoning for abstaining from outwardly presenting emotions. Throughout the novel, David does not ever intentionally give his emotions away to those close to him. The reader gains insight to why David acts as he does in “present time” through the flashbacks to his days as a teen and young adult. Society, with its constraining thoughts on what proper masculinity and femininity are influences David’s inherent thoughts and actions upon himself and others. David and …show more content…
David grows up in a society that idolizes the masculine ideal, and there is no room for any deviation from that norm society has presented. Baldwin’s commentary is similar to today’s understanding of toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity perpetuates norms such as degradation of women, extreme self-reliance, and suppression of emotions. David demonstrates the suppression of emotions clearly throughout the novel. He does not want to come off as overly feminine or feminine in general because he feels as though it is a marker of his gayness, so he suppresses all emotion to try to appear masculine. His internalized homophobia is perpetuated by toxic masculinity present in society. Though the term toxic masculinity is a relatively modern term, the ideas of toxic masculinity have been present in society for far longer. Baldwin uses David as a medium to express how society’s presentation of masculinity can negatively affect males in society and how they view not only themselves but