James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room Essay

isn’t fully aware that he is deceiving himself. He doesn’t fully realize what he is doing is wrong

is a fight just to survive for the next day . As a child David is taught a very harsh way of

James Baldwin’s novel, Giovanni’s Room, follows the protagonist, David, as he embarks on a self-journey to establish an identity, personal and sexual, for himself. David is trapped in an American ideal of masculinity and homosexuality that does not define who he truly is, a homosexual male. David tries to pull away from his true desires and constantly struggles to embrace the heteronormative American life instead of being honest and accepting his true self. Throughout the entire novel, David associates darkness, filth and containment with homosexuality, queerness and different spaces that represent sin. Towards the end of the novel, at the end of his self-journey, David, although not literally contained or confined to Giovanni’s room or other dark spaces, does not truly resolve his issues with his true identity and internally will never truly be free.

First, David’s mother gave him enough courage to keep hope his father would be all right after the Nazis arrested him. Because their own house was no longer safe from Nazi invasion, David’s family was staying with friends. However,

Being the archetypal youth, David performs justice to his role as an archetype. While living with his uncle, David kept getting the idea that his uncle was trying to take his inheritance away from him. David’s uncle, Ebenezer Balfour, starts to prove David’s suspicion, when he sends David to the side of the house. Due to the lightning, David discovers that there are hardly any steps and he could have fallen and died. Uncle Ebenezer brushes the idea off of David’s mind, but continues to try to kill David in order to obtain the inheritance. As a second attempt, Uncle Ebenezer takes David along to see Hoseason at the Queen’s Ferry. Hoseason, partnered up with Ebenezer, takes David on the ship to “look around”. As soon as David gets on the ship, he is knocked unconscious and taken away. David realizes his uncle’s truth when he is taken away, “Help! Help! Murder! -and my uncle turned round where he was sitting and showed me a face full of cruelty and terror” (Stevenson 36). Being the archetypal youth, David has already gone through external enemies such as Ebenezer and Hoseason. Ebenezer tried to kill David by tricking him into climbing a dangerous stairway. When that fails, Ebenezer gets his nephew kidnapped and tries to arrange for David’s death through a group of seamen. It is David’s first battle against his uncle as he finds out what his uncle really is and what his uncle wants. Throughout his journey, David meets Alan who becomes his best friend and together, they fight the men on the ship. David explains the outcome of the fight as,

David, the youngest was given away at the age of two. When his new family, the McDaniels took a look at him for the first time, he had a series amount of bed bug bites all over his body. Although he was raised in a very religious enviroment he still would visit his siblings ruth and milton and untie them from the barn everytime he would go back to his home. At the age of sixteen he ran away from his home and joined the military where he was able to move away from transforming into a rebellious teen. Many years after the return of David, he finally had the chance to reunite with his biological mother where he stated that when his mother saw him for a second time she did not show any sign of pitty nor regret she simply just stated “ you look just like your father.”

He has a hard time reasoning his actions and

This eventually changed David so that he no longer felt that he “didn’t fit his ideal of what he should be.” David’s knowledge of his Uncle Frank’s crimes, especially the murder of Little Marie Soldier, also permanently changed his life, as after that he could no loner think about Frank in the same way. Originally, David expressed great admiration for his uncle, “the war hero,” saying that compared to his father, who was impressive, was everything that his father was “and more.” Conversely, after the revelation of Frank’s crimes, David could no longer “continue thinking” of Uncle Frank “the way he always had,” saying that the “charming, affable Uncle Frank was gone for good.” While this change was dramatic, the greatest change that irretrievably changed David’s life was the death of his once beloved Uncle Frank.

David presents himself as a wayward lost soul caught in a shaky tower. Growing up, David never truly had a childhood. His parents argued to the point of physical fights, his dad would ridicule and beat him in drunken rage, and for the most part this was how life was. David lived in fear waking up the next morning to the next challenge or emotional trigger. Little did David know, the triggers of his dad yelling down the hall activated more than just a startle response and negative thoughts of worthlessness and feeling unloved and unwanted leading to “toughening up” while he was hit (Beck & Beck, 2011).

For example, his father is one of the only people he truly trusts and relies on to be there and relieve him from the torture. When David’s dad starting working more, he says, “I often shiver with fear as I sat in the garage hoping for some reason he might not leave. In spite of all that happened, I still felt Father was my protector.” (Pelzer 101)This is showing how he trusted Father to be there to protect him so that he didn't die because of his mother's anger. Another example of this trust is how he goes to school and talks to the school nurse about his marks/injuries.

One of the chapters in Giovanni’s Room reveals how David’s first meeting with Giovanni at a bar turns into a sexual relationship, when they end up sleeping together. During the night, David experiences an illusion about his internal conflict by saying that “with everything in me screaming No! … the sum of me sighed Yes” (Baldwin 64). David’s comment suggests his struggle in his decision to make love with Giovanni. A part of David denies the decision because having sex with Giovanni contradicts his stand on masculinity, but another part of him affirms the decision because he feels an attraction towards Giovanni. This “yes-and-no” comment puts David in a very uncomfortable situation where he feels conflicted between his masculinity and sexuality. Despite his discomfort, David still makes love with Giovanni because David wants to let Giovanni knows about how much he loves and want them to be

Respondent has realized he is gay and has met a male companion who doesn’t reside with him presently, but someday might. Chastity testified that she feels weird around Respondent’s male companion. Psychologist, Dr.

When controlling reality, everything is easier, such manipulation consistent of lies and deception. However, who in reality who is being deceived? The individuals believing the performance, or, believing the role you presume to have? Only for a moment will this version last causing reality to longer be contained. Rather now, reality is now confronting you, bringing into light the true enemy; the person you truly fear, yourself. Such internal struggle is seen within James Baldwin’s novel Giovanni’s Room, though Baldwin’s depiction of the protagonist David and his escape from America in hope to discover another identity that he associates with, even if the association goes against his internal desires. Baldwin’s use of self-deception and the internal struggle of the man within his novel demonstrates the resistance in accepting a homosexual lifestyle resulting in the manipulation of the self in order to transform such homosexual mentality into a heterosexual one. However, committing such change leads to a void within the self, creating pain and disappointment.

In Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, David ponders over his past relationships. At the beginning of the novel, David looks back at his past and recounts a childhood experience with his friend Joey. This was David’s first intimate encounter with a boy, and it was through this experience that David learns that he is gay. This passage, which describes David’s thoughts after his night with Joey, reveals that David will not accept his sexuality because he is afraid of the power that his sexuality holds over him and of the future that he as a gay man will have in his society.

role confusion stage. (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2009) It is a coping mechanism that probably stems from his childhood in some way. This is just one example of how I am seeing the world from a more psychological perspective. I now try and form some theory about abnormal behavior rather that just shrugging it off. While I have not really had any experience with anyone with any very serious psychological conditions I see now that there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to their behavior. There is typically some sort of explanation that can be found in psychology and I think if everyone had a basic understanding of psychology they would understand the abnormal behavior a little better.