In Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, David abandoned his lover, Giovanni, for his fiancee, Hella. David faced pressure from society and himself to be with a woman, any woman. Queer theory can be clearly seen as David’s morals drive him away from Giovanni and other men.
To begin with, David discovers that he may be interested in men when he spends time with a boy named Joey. They kiss and spend a night together and the next morning David leaves. “Above all, I was suddenly afraid. It was borne in on me: but Joey is a boy” (9). All his life David had learned that boys have relationships with girls. Kids are rarely taught that you can have a relationship with a person of the same sex. The ideal relationship in society is a virgin female marrying …show more content…
“I wished nevertheless, standing there at the bar, that I had been able to find in myself the force to turn and walk out- to have gone over to Montparnasse perhaps and picked up a girl. Any girl. I could not do it” (42). Even far away from his friends and family, David does not want to start a queer relationship. It would be so much easier on his conscious to pick up a woman. When he begins talking with Giovanni he feels afraid.“Now I was in the zoo, and they were watching” (38). He became slightly paranoid and worried that whenever someone looked at him just talking to another man, they were judging him for being queer.“People have very dirty words for- for this situation” (81). In America at this time, people were not accepting of the LGBTQ comminity. People called each other gay or queer as a degrading taunt. However, in Europe people were much more accepting of the LGBTQ community. David doesn’t want to stand out as Giovanni does, he wants to blend into the safety net that is being straight. Giovanni and David argue back and forth “we have not committed any crime … It is a crime- in my country and, after all, I didn’t grow up here, I grew up there… If your countrymen think that privacy is a crime, so much the worse for your country” (81). David is resists his true feelings even in a country where it is accepted because he has learned that it is wrong. To him it is just as bad as a …show more content…
He is under so much stress that he sleeps with a somewhat random woman to try to find comfort. “I tried not to think. But I was thinking that what I did with Giovanni could not possibly be more immoral than what I was about to do with Sue” (99). It is not uncommon for a man to sleep around with many woman, but sleeping with one man is judged entirely differently. He slept with Sue hoping that she would bring him a sense of normality and peace but instead she causes him to feel guilty. David chooses Hella because he thinks she too is the safe choice. “I wanted children. I wanted to be inside again, with the light and safety, with my manhood unquestioned, watchung my woman put my children to bed. I wanted the same bed at night and the same arms and I wanted to rise in the morning, knowing where I was” (104). Being with a woman is normal to him. A wife symbolizes safety and comfort to David. Giovanni attempts to tell David that he is in denial of his true feelings. “You want to leave Giovanni because he makes you stink. You want to despise Giovanni because he is not afraid of the stink of love. You want to kill him in the name of all your lying little moralities” (141). Giovanni is saying that David’s morals are causing him to make immoral decisions. He is hurting those he loves only because his gut it telling him what he is doing is wrong. One could argue that David’s
To begin with, David discovers that he may be interested in men when he spends time with a boy named Joey. They kiss and spend a night together and the next morning David leaves. “Above all, I was suddenly afraid. It was borne in on me: but Joey is a boy” (9). All his life David had learned that boys have relationships with girls. Kids are rarely taught that you can have a relationship with a person of the same sex. The ideal relationship in society is a virgin female marrying …show more content…
“I wished nevertheless, standing there at the bar, that I had been able to find in myself the force to turn and walk out- to have gone over to Montparnasse perhaps and picked up a girl. Any girl. I could not do it” (42). Even far away from his friends and family, David does not want to start a queer relationship. It would be so much easier on his conscious to pick up a woman. When he begins talking with Giovanni he feels afraid.“Now I was in the zoo, and they were watching” (38). He became slightly paranoid and worried that whenever someone looked at him just talking to another man, they were judging him for being queer.“People have very dirty words for- for this situation” (81). In America at this time, people were not accepting of the LGBTQ comminity. People called each other gay or queer as a degrading taunt. However, in Europe people were much more accepting of the LGBTQ community. David doesn’t want to stand out as Giovanni does, he wants to blend into the safety net that is being straight. Giovanni and David argue back and forth “we have not committed any crime … It is a crime- in my country and, after all, I didn’t grow up here, I grew up there… If your countrymen think that privacy is a crime, so much the worse for your country” (81). David is resists his true feelings even in a country where it is accepted because he has learned that it is wrong. To him it is just as bad as a …show more content…
He is under so much stress that he sleeps with a somewhat random woman to try to find comfort. “I tried not to think. But I was thinking that what I did with Giovanni could not possibly be more immoral than what I was about to do with Sue” (99). It is not uncommon for a man to sleep around with many woman, but sleeping with one man is judged entirely differently. He slept with Sue hoping that she would bring him a sense of normality and peace but instead she causes him to feel guilty. David chooses Hella because he thinks she too is the safe choice. “I wanted children. I wanted to be inside again, with the light and safety, with my manhood unquestioned, watchung my woman put my children to bed. I wanted the same bed at night and the same arms and I wanted to rise in the morning, knowing where I was” (104). Being with a woman is normal to him. A wife symbolizes safety and comfort to David. Giovanni attempts to tell David that he is in denial of his true feelings. “You want to leave Giovanni because he makes you stink. You want to despise Giovanni because he is not afraid of the stink of love. You want to kill him in the name of all your lying little moralities” (141). Giovanni is saying that David’s morals are causing him to make immoral decisions. He is hurting those he loves only because his gut it telling him what he is doing is wrong. One could argue that David’s