The Struggle In David's Life

yet aimlessly, included him” (Baldwin, 7). This flashback to the past shows that even as a young boy, David was uncertain of his feelings and helps represent how long his struggle with finding himself has actually been going on. Jumping from the past to present also provides the reader with an idea as to why David is struggling to find his true identity. When the narrator speaks in the past tense he shares stories of David’s childhood. Hearing about David’s past allows the reader to see that the type of father figure David had, influenced the struggle David is going through in present time. In one of the flashbacks, David shares an argument he overheard where his father said, “all I want for David is that he grow up to be a man. And when I say a man, Ellen, I don’t mean a Sunday school teacher” (Baldwin, 15). From a young age, David learned that to be considered a man, one must not act or hold any position that is considered feminine. Allowing the reader to look into David’s past better equips them to understand how long David has been struggling to truly find himself and what has caused him to not be able to be himself. …show more content…
This belief that society holds that black homosexuals hold a desire to be white females is part of David’s struggle to find who he truly is. While trying to find his identity, David struggles with learning how to be himself and still have his masculinity because, society has created the idea that being homosexual takes away one’s masculinity. David’s obsession with being masculine ties in with his search for identity because he is struggling to understand what makes somebody masculine, and how to make that a part of who he is and how he is identified. It is apparent to the reader that from a young age David believes being with another man makes somebody less