James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room

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James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room

James Baldwin’s novel Giovanni’s Room is titled such for the purpose of accentuating the symbolism of Giovanni’s room. Within the novel Giovanni’s room is portrayed with such characteristics as being Giovanni’s prison, symbolic of Giovanni’s life, holding the relationship between Giovanni and David, being a metaphor of homosexuality for David and being a tomb underwater. These different portrayals of Giovanni’s room are combined within the novel to create an overall negative metaphor of homosexuality as perpetuated by society. These different portrayals of Giovanni’s room are dirty, suffocating and restricting; Baldwin is showing the reader that homosexuality can be understood as all of these things, detrimental as they are. The novel is a reflection upon the common belief in society that homosexuality is unnatural and wrong, causing homosexual men to turn societal negativity into self hatred.

One of the metaphors for Giovanni’s room is the parallel created linking his room to his jail cell. When Giovanni is in jail, David wonders about the jail cell he is in and says, “I wonder about the size of Giovanni’s cell. I wonder if it is bigger than his room” (113). In David’s thought he creates the definition of Giovanni’s room being a cell. The prison cell is close in size to his room, and it is also much like the room in that he is stuck there as a prisoner. Giovanni’s permanence in his room, as in the jail cell, is further exemplified when David is talking about the room; “I’m talking about that room, that hideous room. Why have you buried yourself there so long?” (117). David is directly comparing Giovanni’s room to a tomb, which, like a cell, is an imprisonment. David is say...

... middle of paper ...

...rget it. This negative view of homosexuality is enforced by society, which David absorbs into himself.

Through David and his perception of the many metaphors contained within Giovanni’s room, James Baldwin is showing a negative interpretation of homosexuality as identified in society. The metaphors within Giovanni’s room are Giovanni’s prison, symbolic of Giovanni’s life, holding the relationship between Giovanni and David, being a metaphor of homosexuality for David and being a tomb underwater. These metaphors are negative and exist to demonstrate to the reader that homosexuality is restricting, punishing, dirty and suffocating. These negative connotations of homosexuality are brought from society and internalized by the characters and builds into self hate.

Works Cited:

Baldwin, James, and Caryl Phillips. Giovanni's Room. London: Penguin, 2001. Print.

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