Giovanni’s Room: Exposing Racism and Homophobia.
James Baldwin was an African American author; he wrote literature in the form of novels, short stories, essays, and literary criticism. Baldwin was born in 1924, in New York City, and grew up in Harlem, during the Harlem Renaissance. Much of the literary influences from that decade were sparks of inspiration for the author. While growing up, the young author was aware of the importance of education; he knew it was a path to freedom, leaving behind the oppression system. James Baldwin gained his education at Frederick Douglas Junior High and DeWitt Clinton High School. He wrote his first book in 1953, and published his second novel three years later in 1956. Giovanni’s Room was the tip of the …show more content…
David, the character of focus, becomes intimately enmeshed with a boy named Joey. Their commencing relationship was plutonic; however, during an arbitrary night, the two boys kissed and shared a love that was “the act of love.” (Baldwin 7). The morning to follow was filled with jubilance and unforeseen peril. David had participated in an act that was deemed grisly and obscene. Conversant anxiety and societal reverence sank in: “That body suddenly seemed the black opening of a cavern in which I would be tortured till madness came, in which I would lose my manhood…The sweat on my back grew cold. I was ashamed.” (Baldwin 8). The degradation that the protagonist feels is the reaction of someone who has grown up in an antiquated nation. According to Harry Thomas’ evaluation, “David…is a straight-acting gay man… This pattern – attraction to other men, sex with them, shame, fear, and denial of same-sex attraction…repeats itself throughout David’s adult life.” (606). Furthermore, the controversy surrounding homosexuality is simply only one side of the coin: masculinity and heterosexuality are being challenged in the novel as well. David is fixated on masculinity and heterosexuality because of his fear regarding the American sentiment of what makes a man unmarred, righteous, and pristine (Joseph M. Armengol 683). While …show more content…
While David is living abroad in France, he meets Giovanni, a young Italian barista at Guillaume's gay bar. Critics found the racial difference significant and some equated it with the nationalist theory that “black homosexual desire is ultimately desire for whiteness…” (Armengol 672.) During this time, homosexuality was controversial, illegal, and lethal. Moreover, it was Baldwin’s purpose to draw a bridge between the sexuality and race issue by defining his main character as a white man which would mitigate the social abhorrence towards homosexuality. David C. Jones expressed the crucial necessity of James Baldwin’s writing: “he evokes an America – or, more accurately, a white America – whose power hinges on concealing difficult truths concerning its history of racial and sexual oppression.” (47). This statement reveals the paradox of American freedom. In 1953, the year Baldwin’s first novel was published, Go Tell It on the Mountain gave the author a debut prominence; however, with the release of Giovanni’s Room, in 1956, that initial acclaim was challenged due to the contentious subject matter (Abur-Rahman 478). Not only were critics conveying their scorn, but they reamed Baldwin, as an African American, for writing about a white, homosexual man. Segregation is deeper than just the color of skin;
James Baldwin was an African American author; he wrote literature in the form of novels, short stories, essays, and literary criticism. Baldwin was born in 1924, in New York City, and grew up in Harlem, during the Harlem Renaissance. Much of the literary influences from that decade were sparks of inspiration for the author. While growing up, the young author was aware of the importance of education; he knew it was a path to freedom, leaving behind the oppression system. James Baldwin gained his education at Frederick Douglas Junior High and DeWitt Clinton High School. He wrote his first book in 1953, and published his second novel three years later in 1956. Giovanni’s Room was the tip of the …show more content…
David, the character of focus, becomes intimately enmeshed with a boy named Joey. Their commencing relationship was plutonic; however, during an arbitrary night, the two boys kissed and shared a love that was “the act of love.” (Baldwin 7). The morning to follow was filled with jubilance and unforeseen peril. David had participated in an act that was deemed grisly and obscene. Conversant anxiety and societal reverence sank in: “That body suddenly seemed the black opening of a cavern in which I would be tortured till madness came, in which I would lose my manhood…The sweat on my back grew cold. I was ashamed.” (Baldwin 8). The degradation that the protagonist feels is the reaction of someone who has grown up in an antiquated nation. According to Harry Thomas’ evaluation, “David…is a straight-acting gay man… This pattern – attraction to other men, sex with them, shame, fear, and denial of same-sex attraction…repeats itself throughout David’s adult life.” (606). Furthermore, the controversy surrounding homosexuality is simply only one side of the coin: masculinity and heterosexuality are being challenged in the novel as well. David is fixated on masculinity and heterosexuality because of his fear regarding the American sentiment of what makes a man unmarred, righteous, and pristine (Joseph M. Armengol 683). While …show more content…
While David is living abroad in France, he meets Giovanni, a young Italian barista at Guillaume's gay bar. Critics found the racial difference significant and some equated it with the nationalist theory that “black homosexual desire is ultimately desire for whiteness…” (Armengol 672.) During this time, homosexuality was controversial, illegal, and lethal. Moreover, it was Baldwin’s purpose to draw a bridge between the sexuality and race issue by defining his main character as a white man which would mitigate the social abhorrence towards homosexuality. David C. Jones expressed the crucial necessity of James Baldwin’s writing: “he evokes an America – or, more accurately, a white America – whose power hinges on concealing difficult truths concerning its history of racial and sexual oppression.” (47). This statement reveals the paradox of American freedom. In 1953, the year Baldwin’s first novel was published, Go Tell It on the Mountain gave the author a debut prominence; however, with the release of Giovanni’s Room, in 1956, that initial acclaim was challenged due to the contentious subject matter (Abur-Rahman 478). Not only were critics conveying their scorn, but they reamed Baldwin, as an African American, for writing about a white, homosexual man. Segregation is deeper than just the color of skin;