AN EXPLORATION OF QUEER IDENTITIES IN

GIOVANNI’S ROOM
A project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature of Kannur University

NASILA M K

REG NO: SE20AEGR003

2020-2023

UNDER THE SUPERVISION AND GUIDANCE OF

SHALAKHA T K

(DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH)

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

S.E.S. COLLEGE

SREEKANDAPURAM
 KANNUR UNIVERSITY
Bonafide Certificate

This is to certify that this project report AN EXPLORATION OF QUEER

IDENTITIES IN GIOVANNI’S ROOM is a bonafide work of NASILA M K who carried
out the project work under my supervision.

Head of the Department Project Supervisor

Remya K P Shalakha T K
 DECLARATION

I, NASILA M K hereby declare that the project work entitled, AN EXPLORATION

OF QUEER IDENTITIES IN GIOVANNI’S ROOM has been prepared by me and
submitted to Kannur University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of
Bachelor of Arts in English is a record of original work done by me under the supervision of
Ms. SHALAKHA T K, Department of English, SES College (unaided), Sreekandapuram.

I also declare that this project has not been submitted by me fully or partly for the
award of my degree, or recognition before any authority.

SREEKANDAPURAM. NASILA M K

SE20AEGR003
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I sincerely express my deep sense of gratitude to all who have been of great help to
me during the course of my dissertation. I express my thanks to Mr Bineesh K Baby, the
Academic Director , for his timely help and support in the completion of this project. I
express my gratitude to Ms. Shalakha T K, my project supervisor, for her constant
encouragement, valuable guidance and timely corrections, which made the work a success.

I am grateful to my classmates and friends for supporting throughout the study. I

would like to express my thanks to my parents and dear ones for their constant
encouragement and support which helped me sail through the difficulties in the complication
of this dissertation. I also thank all, who helped me directly and indirectly completing this
project.

Nasila M K
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page no

Introduction 01

Chapter one

Queer Theory : An Overview 06

Chapter Two

Baldwin And Giovanni’s Room 12

Chapter Three

Queer Space In Giovanni’s Room 19

Conclusion 27

Works Cited 30
 1

INTRODUCTION

Literature broadly is any collection of written work, but it is also used more

narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction,

drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral

literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording,

preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social,

psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literature, as an art form, can also include

works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoir, letters, and the

essay. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other

printed information on a particular subject. Literature was first produced by some of the

world's earliest civilizations those of Ancient Egypt and Sumeria-as early as the 4

millennium BC: taken to include spoken or sung texts, it originated even earlier, and

some of the first written works may have been based on a pre-existing oral tradition.

American literature is the literature predominantly written or produced in English

in the United States of America and its preceding colonies. Before the founding of the

United States, the thirteen Colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States

were heavily influenced by British literature. The American literary tradition thus is part

of the broader tradition of English-language literature. A small amount of literature exists

in other immigrant languages. Furthermore a rich tradition of oral storytelling exists

amongst Native American tribes. This history of American literature begins with the
 2

arrival of English-speaking Europeans in what would become the United States. At first

American literature was naturally a colonial literature, by authors who were Englishmen

and who thought and wrote as such. John Smith soldier of fortune, is credited with

initiating American literature. The history of American literature stretches across more

than 400 years. It can be divided înto five major periods, each of which has unique

characteristics, notable authors. and representative works.

There is a great and proud tradition of American writers, including some of the

world's most famous authors. Novels, plays, and poems pour out of the United States,

with increasing numbers of women, African American. Native American and Hispanic

writers making a strong contribution. There have been twelve literature Nobel Prize

laureates, beginning with Sinclair Lewis in 1930 to Bob Dylan in 2016. Become a

preacher Of those ten years, Baldwin recalled, "those three years in the Pulpit. Other

American writers who were laureates include such household names as T.S. Eliot. Ernest

Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. American writers" contribution to English literature is

incalculable James Baldwin is also one of the American author. The American literary

tradition began when some of the early English colonists recounted their adventures in

the New World for the benefit of readers in their mother country. Some of those early

writings were quite accomplished, such as the account of his adventures by Captain John

Smith in Virginia and the journalistic histories of John Winthrop and William Bradford in

New England.

James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and

activist. One of 20th century's greatest writers Baldwin broke new literary ground with

the exploration of racial and social issues in his many works. He was especially known
 3

for his essays on the black experience in America. He spent a great deal of his life

abroad. James Baldwin always remained a quintessentially American writer. Whether he

was working in Paris or Istanbul, he never ceased to reflect on his experience as a black

man in white America. In numerous essays, novels, plays and public speeches, the

eloquent voice of Baldwin spoke of the pain and the struggle of black Americans and the

saving power of brotherhood. The oldest of nine children, he grew up in poverty,

developing a trouble relationship with his strict, religions step father. As a child, he cast

about for a way to escape his circumstances. As he recalls, "I knew I was black. of

course, but I also knew I was smart. I didn't know how I would use my mind, or even if I

could but that was the only thing I had to use". By the time he was fourteen, Baldwin was

spending much of his time in libraries and had found his passion for writing. Baldwin's

works helped to raise public awareness of racial and sexual oppression. His honest

portrayal of his personal experiences in a national context challenged America to uphold

the values it promised on equality and justice. Baldwin's work fictionalizes fundamental

personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures.

Baldwin was open about his homosexuality and relationships with both men and women.

Yet he believed that the focus on rigid categories was just a way of limiting freedom and

that human sexuality is more fluid and less binary than often expressed in the U.S.

His notable works are ,two essays Notes of a Native Son (1955) and Nobody

Knows My Name (1961), as well as two novels, Giovanni's Room (1956) and Another

Country (1962). The essays explored racial tension with eloquence and unprecedented

honesty: the novel dealt with taboo themes (homosexuality and interracial relationships).

Being abroad gave Baldwin a perspective on the life he had left behind and a solitary
 4

freedom to pursue his craft. In a sense. Baldwin's travels brought him even closer to the

social concerns of contemporary America. In the early 1960's overwhelmed by the sense

of responsibility of the times Baldwin returned to take part in the civil rights movement.

Travelling throughout the south, he began an explosive work about black Identity and the

state of racial struggle.

Baldwin had become one of the most important and vocal advocates for equality.

From Go tell it on the mountain to the Evidence of things Not Seen (1985) Baldwin

created works of literary beauty and dept. that will remain essential part of the American

canon. Homosexuality was one of the major themes in Baldwin's novels. It appeared

Openly in his oeuvres. In his novel, Baldwin explained homophobia and racism on

ground of heterosexual and white panic. He celebrated homosexuality as a tool of social

change and criticized his contemporaries sexism. Baldwin resisted the labels of gay and

homosexual in America. His agenda for liberation gave him a leading role in debated and

analyses over the meaning of American citizenship and democracy. It was in the 20th

century Baldwin broke new literary ground with the exploration and his first novel, Go

tell it on the Mountain published in 1953. In this novel Baldwin tries to provide insight

into adolescent gay sexuality. It also weaves the characters motivating into the sexual,

social and racial context of America.

"Giovanni's Room" is a novel by James Baldwin published in 1956. The story

takes place in Paris and follows the character David, a young American man who is

struggling with his sexuality and identity. David is engaged to a woman named Hella, but

he begins an affair with a bartender named Giovanni. As David's feelings for Giovanni

deepen, he becomes increasingly conflicted about his sexuality and fears rejection from
 5

both society and himself. The novel explores themes of love, desire, sexuality and the

struggles of coming to terms with one's identity in a society that does.

The project is divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with the queer

theory. Second chapter presents the author and discusses the novel: Giovanni’s Room ,

and the third chapter deals with the application of queer theory in the novel.
 6

CHAPTER ONE

QUEER THEORY:AN OVERVIEW

Queer theory is a field of post structuralist critical theory out of the field of queer

studies and women studies. The body of abstract theory and applied reading that came to

known Queer „theory‟ during the 1990 dautingly complex and diverse , one key point is

that our understanding of sex,gender, identity are contextual. That means that they have

all been understood and practiced in very different ways over time and culture because it

combines cultural and literary history. Gender remains one of the most controversial term

in contemporary academic debate. Queer is often used as an umbrella term by and for

persons who identify gay , lesbian , bisexual , intersex or transgenders or by an attractive

to LGBT labels .Some find the term derogatory depending upon their race, class ,

personal experience and also their generations . Recently heterosexuals whose gender or

sexuality does not conform to popular expectations have used the term "queer" to define

themselves. Thus queer theory is a framework of ideas that suggests identities are not

stable or deterministic, particularly in regard to an individuals gender, sex and or

sexuality.

Queer theory is committed to critiquing and problematizing previous ways of

theorizing identity. While heteronormativity assumes that heterosexuality and the

relations of the binary masculine and feminine genders expected within it are secure and

constant, Queer theory is a discourse that distabilize the assumptions and privileges of

heteronormative models of study and everyday life and politicizes and acknowledge the
 7

fluidity and in stability of identities. Queer theory is part of the field of queer studies

whose roots can be found in women's studies, feminist theory, and gay and lesbian

studies as well as postmodern and post structuralist theories. Queer theory emphasizes the

field and humanly performed nature of sexuality . It questions socially established norms

and dualistic categories with a special focus on challenging sexual, gender class, racial

classification. Queer Theory rejects conventional or mainstream behaviour including

sexual identity, but also a range of identities. Judith Butler‟s queer theory states that

people should not necessarily define themselves according to binary norms since gender

is not fixed same goes for sexuality or sex. It can be multiplied instead of demanding the

abolition of gender, queer people advocate for the multiplication of gender. Queer people

see their reflection on screen in a largely positive light: stable, employed, charming,

attractive , well liked and successful.

Broadly speaking, queer describes those gestures or analytical models which

dramatize, in coherences in the allegedly stable relations between chromosomal sex,

gender and sexual desire. Resisting that model of stability which claims heterosexuality

as it's origin, when it is more properly it's effects- queer focuses on mismatches between

sex, gender, and desire. Ten years ago "queer' was a term of abuse; now it is routinely

although contreversialy used as self description.

Gender is very difficult to define but it can refer to the role of a male or female.

Society or an individual concept of themselves or gender identity. Gender and sex..

Gender identity refers to a person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of

gender, which may or may not correspond to the persons physiology or designated sex at

birth. According to the sixteenth edition of Dr Samuel Johnsons A Dictionary of the

 8

English Language (1785) “Gender” could refer either to the grammatical practice of

classifying noun as masculine, feminine or neuter, or it could mean a 'sex'. Feminity and

masculinity are rooted in the social gender rather than biological, social members decide,

what being male or female means and males will generally respond by defining

themselves as masculine While females sees himself as feminine.

The word queer has many different meanings in different places. It originally

referred to strangers or differences and became a term of abuse . It since has reclaimed a

positive word. Queer quickly became a derogatory term for same sex, or for people with

same sex attractions particularly „effiminate‟ or „camp‟ gay men. In the 1980"s people in

LGBT communities began to reclaim the word "queer" as either a neutral words to

describe themselves as a positive form of self identity. "Queer theory" burst on to the

scene of English and cultural studies departments. In the 1990's it was only describing,

analysing, and giving a certain depth to an already existing phenomenon. Queer

theoreticians worked only to make sense of an already deeply entrenched set of

questioning and abrasions of normality. Just as Queer theories as they are multiply

manifested today can't be appreciated without the specifically gay and lesbian relevant

histories.

Looking backward „Gay‟as a term signals an assertion of self awareness and self

respect. Sexual identity one best left referring the 20th century and today, is more

accurately used for men alone. „Lesbian „as a identifying distinct from gay identity is also

important. „Homosexual‟ and 'Heterosexual' too are present identifiers, dating from late

19th century medical terminology. The existence of homosexuality has put the social

rigid norms to a challenge.

 9

Homosexuality is the sexual attraction between members of the same sex:it was

regarded as an abnormality earlier. Homosexuality exists in all types of society.Through

history, among people in every social class, The term queer theory originated as part of

de Lauretis. Queer theory is conceptual framework that conveys a double emphasis on the

conceptual and speculative work involved in discourse production on the necessary

critical work of deconstructing our own discourses and their constructed silence. Queer

theory attempts to break down the continual use of categories and labels that stereotype

and harm those who are in marginalized positions , and transgender people. Queer theory

represents a more fluid concept of gender and sexuality to enhance understanding of

human diversity.

In the beginning of 19th century, sexuality gradually assumed a new status as an

object of scientific and popular knowledge. The word became common currency in late

19 century Europe and America when through anthropologically, scientific usage,

sexuality defined the meanings of human eroticism. The queer theory is not only dealing

with the micro level the identify of the individual person but identity is also defined by

the individual in their group such as family, friends or at work as well as the macro level.

in the social groups and regulations have an influence on humans. Accordingly, the queer

theory not only examines he communities surrounding the people, but also the

communities they form. The standard work of Andreas Frank committed sensations

highlights comprehensively the life situation of coming out homosexuality and sume sex

communities to the millennium Queer theory is the lens used to explore and challenge

how scholars, activists, artistic texts, and the media perpetrate gender-and send based

binaries, and it's goal is to under hierarchies and fight against social inequalities. Due to
 10

controversy about the definitions of queer, including whether the word should even be

defined at all or should be left deliberately open-ended there are many disagreements and

often contradictions within queer theory. In fact, some queer theorist like Berlant and

Warner and Butler have warned that defining it or conceptualizing it as an academic filed

might only lead to it's inevitable misinterpretation or destruction, since it's entire purpose

is to critique academic rather than become a formal academic domain itself. In recent

years, queer theory has become one of the most popular fields for graduate students in

English literature.

Germany Magnus Hirschfeld founded the institute for sexology in 1919. That was

specifically devoted to furthering rights for women and homosexuals; His Institute was

destroyed by the Nazis in 1933. Hirschfeld's work was internationally Known and planted

the seeds of other activist organizations in Europe and America. The lesbian and gay

political movements only developed in Britain and America During the middle and later

decades of twentieth century. The first political "action Groups" date from the 1950's

with the creation of the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis on the west coast

of the US. The former began as a small Movement of men led by Harry Italy in Los

Angeles, with ideological ties to the anti Korean war movement and communist party and

the latter as a small group of women, led by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in San

Francesco seeking to create a Alternative to the covert bar scene of the day. Both groups

generated publications One And The Ladder (respectively) that began to circulate and

that helped inaugurate a national gay and lesbian rights consciousness.

Queer theory is a critical framework that examines and challenges normative

assumptions about gender and sexuality in society. It emerged in literature as a response

 11

to the limitations of traditional feminist and gay and lesbian studies. In literature, queer

theory is concerned with the representation of gender and sexuality in texts and how these

representations shape cultural attitudes towards these identities. One of the central tenets

of queer theory is the idea that gender and sexuality are not fixed, natural, or essential

categories. but rather are socially constructed and subject to change over time and across

cultures. This means that representations of gender and sexuality in literature are not

fixed or objective but rather reflect the values and ideologies of the cultures that produce

them. Queer theorists argue that texts often reinforce normative assumptions about

gender and sexuality, which can lead to the marginalization of those who do not conform

to these norms. By examining these assumptions, queer theorists seek to challenge them

and create more inclusive and diverse representations of gender and sexuality in

literature. Queer theory has had a significant impact on literary studies, and many

scholars now use it to analyse a wide range of texts, from classic works of literature to

contemporary popular culture. Queer theory offers a powerful tool for challenging

traditional binary categories of gender and sexuality. It encourages readers to question

their assumptions about these concepts, and to embrace a more fluid and inclusive

understanding of them.
 12

CHAPTER TWO

BALDWIN AND GIOVANNI’S ROOM

James Baldwin was a writer and civil rights activist. That who is best known

semi autobiographical novels and plays that centre on race, politics, and sexuality. James

Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York the 20th century's greatest writers .Baldwin

broke new literary ground with the exploration of racial and social issues in his many

works .He was especially known for the essay on the black experience in America. He

spent. great deal of his life Abroad, James Baldwin always remined a quintessentially

American writer whether he was working in Paris or Istanbul, he never ceased to reflect

on his experience as a black man in White America. In numerous essays, novels, plays

and public speeches. The eloquent voice of Baldwin spoke of the pain and the struggle of

Black Americans and the Saving power of brotherhood. The oldest of nine children, he

grew up in poverty, developing a trouble relationship with Step father. As a child he cast

for a way to escape his circumstances by the time he was fourteen ,Baldwin was spending

much time in libraries and had found his passion for writing Baldwin’s works help to

raise public awareness of racial and sexual oppression . His honest portrayal of his

personal experiences in national context challenged America to uphold the values it

promised on equality and justice.

Baldwin’s work fictionalizes fundamental personal questions and complex social

and psychological pressures. Baldwin was opened about his homosexuality and

relationships with both men and women .Yet he believed that the focus on rigid
 13

categories was just a war of limiting freedom and human sexuality is more fluid and less

binary than often expressed in the US.

In 1948 at age twenty four Baldwin left for Paris were he hoped to find enough

distance from the American Society. over the next 10 years Baldwin moved from Paris

New York to Istanbul, writing to books of essays “ Nobody knows my name”(1961) and

“Notes of a Native Son”(1956) , as well as two novels “ Giovanni’s Room”(1956) and

“Another Country”(1962) .this essay explores racial tension with eloquence and

unprecedented honesty ;The novel dealt with taboo themes(Homosexuality and

interracial relationship).By 1987, when he died of stomach cancer at age 63, Baldwin

had become one of the most important and vocal advocates for equality.

James Baldwin's novel Another Country becomes a study of the male homosocial

continuum, repressed queerness, and defense mechanisms. The character Rufus Scott

encapsulates repressed male homosexual desire, especially with aspect to his closest

friend, Vivaldo. This paper will explore how the male homosocial continuum is disrupted

and the psychological consequences of this disruption on queer men through Rufus's

actions particularly when they are considered in the context of his relationship with

Vivaldo. Due to the aforementioned disruption, Rufus idealizes heterosexuality

consequently, he represses his queerness, resulting ir reaction formation - causing him to

act as if he is straight - and displacement - causing him to place his sexual feelings and

anger towards Vivaldo on his girlfriend, Leona. These defense mechanisms manifest in

an erotic triangle between the three through which the two men communicate their desire

for each other Although Rufus is dead for a substantial portion of the novel, his influence
 14

lives on through the characters who survive him, so his emotions and behaviours during

his life are of critical importance.

David, a white American expatriate living in the South of France, reminisces

about his life. he begins thinking about his ex fiancee Hella's return trip to the United

states while his ex lover, an Italian immigrant named Giovanni, is set to be executed in

the morning . as David drinks alone and reflects on his experiences, he recalls his first

sexual encounter with another man, a boy from Brooklyn named Joey . Though David

enjoys the experience his insecurity and struggle with masculinity lead him to discard

Joey and try to forget the experience altogether. David recollect his upbringing, the death

of his mother when he was five , and subsequently his life with his alcoholic father and

over bearing aunt Ellen . David eventually recalls how he too began drinking and acting

out. At one point in his youth, David’s involved in a drug driving accident. Worried about

his son’s safety and future, David’s father has a heartfelt conversation with David. David

placates his fathers worries an joins the army, where he has a sexual encounter with a

fellow soldier, and once again struggles with his sexuality. After David returns home,

from his military service David decides to move to Paris in order to find himself.

After 2 years of living in Paris, David proposes to Hella, another American who

travels to Spain to think about her decision. without Hella around to help him pay for his

hotel room and because his father is withholding Funds from him, David seeks out the

help of Jacques, an older gay man he has met in Paris. Jacques gives David some money

n to have dinner before proceeding to spend the evening at a local bar with a gay

.Minder David and Jacques notice a new bartender, Giovanni, a handsome Italian

immigrant , the petron of the bar, Guillaume joins David and Jacques, and David
 15

eventually spokes up a conversation with Giovanni. David anxiously loosens up to

Giovanni money hoping that he doesn't give Giovanni the impression that he sexually

attracted to him. the firm men eventually close the bar in the morning and he decided to

have breakfast. after eating oysters and drinking wine, Giovanni money invites David

back to his apartment , were the two have sex in the present David’s recollection of

meeting Giovanni is interrupted by the caretaker of the house in which his staying. After

taking inventory of the house, main caretaker advises David return to home to America

and to get married and start a family while tidying the house before His departure in the

morning, David begins to acknowledge his role in Giovanni’s fat and the imagines what

Giovanni will be facing in the morning.

David remembers life in Giovanni’s room and the early stages of their

relationship. he then describes the room and his growing contempt and disillusionment

with Giovanni. one day receives a letter from his father requesting David to return home

as well as a letter from Hella informing David of her decision to marry him, along with

information about her return to Paris. In an attempt to assert and reclaim his

,heterosexuality ,David has an affair with an acquaintance named Sue , but leaves her

apartment feeling more confused and disgusted with himself. When David returns to

Giovanni's room that evening, he finds Giovanni in disarray and learns that Giovanni was

fired by Guillaume after Guillaume accused Giovanni of being an ungrateful opportunist

and a thief. Their relationship becomes more and more tumultuous following Giovanni's

termination from Guillaume's bar. David does his best to calm Giovanni during this time,

but anxiously anticipates Hella's return to Paris, so that he can leave Giovanni and

Giovanni's room.
 16

When Hella finally returns to Paris, David decides to abandon Giovanni in the

hopes of living a normative heterosexual life with Hella. Three days after her return,

Hella and David bump into Jacques and Giovanni. Jacques informs David that Giovanni

was in squalor David left him, and Giovanni says that it was nasty thing to leave without

any notice. David does not divulge his sexual relationship with Giovanni to Hella,

Instead, David tells Hella that they were roommates, and that David had to go away from

Giovanni as Giovanni was becoming too co-dependent on David. The following evening,

David visits Giovanni’s room to tell him that it is impossible for them to be together.

Giovanni tells David about his past, and the two have one final night together. As David

and Hella prepare for their future, David sees less and less of Giovanni, though he

expresses concern over Giovanni’s relationship with Jacques. Curious about Giovanni's

situation David has a drink with Giovanni's friend and learns that Giovanni is no longer

with Jacques and that Giovanni might be able to get his job back at Guillaume's bar.

Less than a week later, David learns that Guillaume has been murdered and that

Giovanni is the prime suspect, David learns from the media that Giovanni hid for about a

week before being caught by the police. As David reads the headlines, he complains ta

Hella about Giovanni’s portrayal as a depraved and dirty immigrant while Guillaume is

made out to look like the model citizen. David cannot help but think about Giovanni's

encounter with Guillaume, and his suspicion that Giovanni killed Guillaume after

rejecting Guillaume's proposition for sex.

By the time Giovanni is tried for the murder, David and Hella have moved to the

south of France. Overcome by guilt and unable to suppress his same-sex desire, David

leaves Hella and goes to Nice where he meets a sailor While at a gay bar with the man,
 17

David is surprised to find Hella standing behind him .Upon learning of David's same-sex

desires. Hella makes the decision to leave David and return to the United States. Back in

the present David has finished cleaning the house and packing his bags. While staring

into a mirror. David reconstructs Giovanni's final moments and accepts his culpability in

Giovanni’s demise.

The novel surrounds itself in the main characters confusion. The main character

named David doesn’t know what he wants in life and this he makes many mistakes.

David has emotionally hurt other people and himself. The book is about David wanting to

love a woman, but he is sexually attracted to men and he wanted to have it both ways

realising later that he can't. the main team seen jio chat room are self acceptance ,love and

guilt. David struggles with his feelings towards other men after David Giovanni, he

begins to himself experiencing feelings of joy and shame at the same time.

One theme of Giovanni's Room is social alienation. In this novel David faces a

choice between his American fiancé and his European boy friend, but ultimately, like

Baldwin, he must grapple with "being alienated by the culture that produced him". In

keeping with the theme of social alienation, this novel also explores the topics of origin

and identity. The next one is masculanity, David grapples with insecurities pertain to his

masculanity throughout the novel. For David, masculanity is intertwined with sexual

identity and thus he believes that his some sex desires act against his masculinity. David

craves an authority figure and blames his father's lack of authority and responsibility for

many of his struggles throughout the novel.

Giovanni's Room is, finally, a book about an American stripped of the myths of

America, most of all the story we love to tell ourselves about the possibility of new
 18

beginnings and clean starts- that is to say, the impossibility of anything irrevocable ever

happening to us.
 19

CHAPTER THREE
QUEER SPACE IN GIOVANNI'S ROOM

Queer theory, being influenced by the work of Judith Butler. Lee Edel Man David

Halperin and Eve Sedgwick, builds upon gay/lesbian studies close examination of the

socially constructed nature of sexual acts and identities whereas gay/lesbian studies

focussed its enquiries into natural and unnatural behaviour. Queer theory expands its

focus to encompass any kind of sexual activity or identity that falls into normative and

deviant categories. This can be applied to one of the key novels of popular gay writer

James Baldwin. This novel can be examined as a positive homosexual novel.

By the 1940s queer had ceased to be a relatively neutral term. Queer also had

another meaning in 1950s. In modern day queer culture there is a movement to create

safe space for LGBTQ. These spaces are designed to be places where gender can be

expresses out side of the binary and love or attraction is expressed outside

heteronormativity. Giovanni's Room takes place in the 1950s when men and women were

largely expected to follow very specific gender roles. Men were the providers and

protectors and women where the nurtures and homemakers. In James Baldwin's tragic

novel, Giovanni's Room, David and Giovanni create such a safe space in Giovanni's small

room where the two carry out their love affair. This room serves to provide a back drop

for their affair and "life in that room seemed to be occurring beneath the sea, time flowed

past indifferently above us, hours and days had no meaning" (Baldwin 67).The room

itself signifies the hidden and shame-ridden nature of their affair.

 20

Giovanni's Room portrays the homosexual relationship between David and

Giovanni. Giovanni is Italian, a handsome boy. David explores his sexuality while His

fiancé Hella is in Spain. The entire story is narrated by David. Baldwin tackles social

isolation, gender and the sexual identity crisis, as well as conflicts of masculanity within

the story of a young bisexual man navigating the public sphere in a society that rejects a

core aspect of his sexuality. In Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin suggests that societal

gender norms often interfere with a person's sense of self. This happens when David

internalizes conventional notions of what it means to be a man, making it hard for him to

accurately understand his own masculinity. One of the key themes of Giovanni's Room is

the construction and performance of gender and sexuality. David's struggle to come to

terms with his homosexuality is shaped by his cultural and social context, where same-

sex desire is seen as abnormal and deviant. David's internalized homophobia is evident in

his attempts to deny and suppress his feelings for Giovanni, his lover, His fear of being

seen as "queer" and his desire to conform to normative masculine ideals prevent him

from accepting his sexuality fully.

"I was not really prepared for what I would see. Giovanni was beautiful. He was

dark yet he was not Negro, he had a beautiful body, a very beautiful body, and a great

sweetness came from him” (13).This reflects David’s initial attraction to Giovanni,

despite his own reservations and societal pressure to conform to heterosexual norms. The

beauty of Giovanni's body and his sweet nature draw the narrator to him, even as he

struggles with his own desires .“I was in him as he was in me, and the extent of my rage

and the depth of my agony only served to measure the extent of our intimacy." (96) This

reflects the emotional intensity and entanglement of David and Giovanni's relationship,
 21

as well as the potential for intense emotions like rage and agony to be intertwined with

feelings of love and intimacy. David is reflecting on his feelings toward Giovanni after

their relationship has ended, and he is struggling to come to terms with the loss and

betrayal he feels. This quote speaks to the power of same-sex relationships to create deep

emotional connections, as well as the challenges that come with navigating societal

stigma and discrimination.

The second part of the book focusses on the encounter between David and

Giovanni. David moves into Giovanni's small room they broach the subject of Hella

about whom Giovanni is not worried, but who reveals the Italian's misogynistic

prejudices about women and the need for men to dominate them. David then briefly

describes Giovanni's room, which is always in the dark because there are no curtains and

they need their own privacy. He goes on to read a letter from his father asking him to go

for America. A subsequent letter from Hella announces that she is returning in a few

days, and David realizes he has to part with Giovanni. Setting off to prove to himself that

he is not gay, David searches for a woman with whom he can have Sex, he meets a slight

acquaintance, in a bar and they go back to her place and have sex. He does not want to

see her again and has only just had her to feel better about himself. David thinks that they

cannot have life together and feels that he would be sacrificing his manhood if he stays

with Giovanni. After Giovanni is caught for murdering Guillaume, Hella and David

begin travelling, Hella eventually uncovers David's secret, and just what Giovanni's room

meant to the two men ."I only knew that I had to get out of Giovanni's room David tells

Hella (45).Hella leaves, Giovanni dies and David is left with no room and no love.

"I did not know what I had done to him, but he was gone
 22

And I was alone, for years. I had never wanted him like

this. It was not a question of love, or desire, or even

longing. It was that in him which had cried out in me, that

which had smashed against his life and now was crying out

again. It was the girl who had gone forever, crying through me

again .I do not know if it is important, but I see Giovanni's face

and form as if he were before me now, and I hear his voice." ( 148 )

This reflects the depth and intensity of the connection between David and

Giovanni, as well as the lasting impact of their relationship on David's life. David is

reflecting on the loss of Giovanni, who he had loved deeply and who had shattered his

life in many ways. This reflects the emotional complexity and intensity of same-sex

relationships, as well as the potential for societal stigma and discrimination to impact

them. The imagery of Giovanni's face and voice also highlights the power of memory and

nostalgia in shaping our experiences of love and intimacy. Clearly, the novel concerns

two individuals David and Giovanni who are capable of maintaining a physical and

sexual relationship with both men and- women at different times in their lives and with

different degrees of emotional satisfaction. Yet the chief difference between the two is

how they process such diachronic variability. Its narrator David, longs for fixity and

socially sanctioned sexual identity. He refers repeatedly to a certain sense of "moored"

identity that he hopes to find with Women. "I supposed this was why I asked her to marry

me. But people can't Unhappily invent their mooring posts, their lovers, and their friends,
 23

anymore than they an invent their parents" ( 4). Mooring is an intriguing metaphor for

sexual relationship and identity building, for inspite to David's wishes it indicates only a

emporary fixity or anchorage in a general dynamic of movement and change.

Before discussing Giovanni, it is important to note that Hella too seems

desperately to search for such a mooring through traditional, socially sanctioned

Sexual/gender definitions. Through she is independent and unconventional in her

lifestyle, she finally demands a very traditional domestic relationship with a man to give

her life a fixed meaning; "I am talking about my life. I've got you to take care of and feed

and torment and trick and love -I've got you to put up with. From now on, I can have a

wonderful time complaining about being a women. But won't be terrified that I'm not

one"( 126) . Her fears are expressed more pointedly later in the women are supposed to

be led by men. and there aren't any men to lead them.

Neither she nor David seems willing or a able to accept changing and always

changeable social and sexual definitions, But Giovanni does David points this out upon

their first meeting when he repeats the common perception "that the Italians are too fluid,

too volatile, have no sense of measure" which elicits Giovanni's derision: "1 do not like to

offend your ears by saying all the things I am sure these people measure before they

permit themselves any act whatever' ( 32).While Giovanni is no paragon of progressive

beliefs, he is clearly comfortable with multiple, contingent, and mutable sexual

relationships. From the beginning, he assumes that the men in the gay bar where he

works have wives who "are waiting at home"(Baldwin 26).

He has had a wife, whom he sexually desired and loved, and furthered a child in

ltaly, yet falls in love with David without hesitation or epistemological anguish because
 24

he does not demand fixed sexual identity. He is therefore wholly untroubled that David is

involved with a women, even assumes that David's "other women" may also have a

husband or another lover, and admits that he too may have a mistress "again one day"(

70). When David begins to pull back from their affair because "people have very dirty

words for this situation....Besides it is a crime in my country". Giovanni is mystified at

the power David grants such words. If dirty words frighten you... I really do not know

how you have managed to live so long. People are full of dirty words and "If your

countrymen think that privacy is a crime, So much worse for your country"(72). It is very

powerful and thinkful question by the character, And that is one of the most powerful

themes running throughout the novel, that too often we give categories and words the

power to define and finally destroy us.

Much of the integral plot of Giovanni 's Room occurs within queer spaces with the

gay bar David frequents being the catalyst that not only drives the plot, but allows it to

occur. The bar acts as a mediator for David, Baldwin uses this setting to bring up much of

the conflict of the novel, however, it remains a place that David returns to, Baldwin's

novel is one of the most accurate portrayals of LGBTQ+ people navigating the public and

private sphere of its time.[citation needed] It negotiates the behaviour of publicly

LGBTO+ people alongside those who are still "closeted ", like David, and how these

differing perspectives have an effect on the individual as well as the community that they

navigate .

Briefly this narrative evokes the issue of a man struggling with his own sexual

identity with in the heteronormative construct. Giovanni's Room is a physical space in

which Baldwin depicts the struggle of homosexuality operates in and out of

 25

heteronormative construct. For David, there is no place outside of his gender or the

heteronormative construct that precedes his becoming David can also locate his identity

within his male hetero-image, yet that image creates his dichotomy, he want to hold the

position of the heteromale, but he enjoys having sex with men. To not occupy the subject

position for David is something he cannot accept, within the room and in the bed of his

male lovers, David for a time can relinquish his power to another man, but this is a

temporal space that is short lived as David can perform as a homosexual man outside of

the bedroom.

"I saw myself forever and ever as the ridiculous man, the lonely soul, the

wanderer, the restless frustrated artist, the Man in love with love, always in search of the

absolute always seeping the unattainable.” (147). Reflects David’s self-image as a

marginalized and misunderstood figure, as well as his constant search for meaning and

fulfilment. It suggests the tension between individual desire and societal norms, and

highlights the difficulty of living a fulfilling life in a society that often denies the

legitimacy of same-sex desire. David's self-image reflects the broader theme of identity

and self-discovery in the novel, as characters struggle to find their place in the world and

define themselves on their own terms.

David wishes to project out in the world; that of the hetero male, and for this

reason he cannot maintain the relationship with men outside of the bedroom. This is why

the bed and room contains these acts are very symbolic to the novel. David cannot accept

being outwardly homosexual in the public sphere as Baldwin demonstrate within the

narrative. The position of the penetrated and the powerless are the social theories of

homosexuality that Baldwin is writing about Giovanni's Room. The criticism about
 26

Giovanni 's Room published in 1959 discovered what it meant to be an American deals

with the fate of being an American as viewed from exile in Paris. At the beginning of the

1980s, criticism on Giovanni's Room started to consider the complexity of sexuality. The

development of gay studies whose main critical operation consisted in the use of

sexuality as a possible tool of analysis and investigating the mechanism of homophobia

as resistance to heteronormativity, coincided with a reading of Baldwin's work.

Baldwin reveals his poetic talent as a writer in Giovanni's Room but also his

power to use literature in 1956 to create a space in which to unpack the larger issues of

identity for homosexuals within the heteronormative construct within the narrative

Baldwin reveals the ideas that are later theorized into the academy. As Judith Butler

eloquently confirms in Bodies That Matter that "literary narrative" is a place where

theory takes place. Baldwin writes queer theory into Giovanni's Room as a social theorist

and political activist well ahead of his life.

The lingering possibility that individuals can resist by living and loving in excess

of pre-existing social categories does make this text a thoroughly queer one. It suggests

mutability in sexual relationships over time and also in ways that exceed a simple

hetero/homo binary. It evokes the possibility of a different set of sexual relationships and

definitions without prescribing exactly what the future might hold But clearly it reserves

its most pointed condemnation and contempt for those individuals who cling to received

notions of normality and propriety when their own desires are so manifestly improper and

abnormal.
 27

CONCLUSION

In the second half of the 1990's most studies on sexuality were influenced by the

evolution of queer theory is very much indebted to post structuralism and post

modernism. The impact of such theory in the readings of Baldwin unearths a deeper level

of understanding of the source of racial rage and sexual phobias that are left partly

unresolved in black liberation discourse.

Giovanni's Room is the story of a young white man's struggle with his desires as

he looks back at the devastating consequences his irresolution has had upon the other

people in his life. At first the narrator implies that it is the sheer complexity, the

disordered multiplicity of his passions that leads him to betray himself and the men and

women who have loved him. But more is at stake than a failure of commitment, for

David's self-interrogation takes place under the shadow of his lover Giovanni impending

execution for murder. James Baldwin depicts the main character, David as masculine,

even though he engages with same sex desires. Some have argued that the novel is an

African American novel that discusses racial issues they fail to recognize the bisexual

nature of the novel and label it as a gay novel. In doing this, the characters are restricted

to a binary that is limited to two sexualities , heterosexuality and homosexuality.

Giovanni's Room's depiction of bisexuality creates a duality of identity that allows David

to access masculanity, atleast perform Masculanity ind ascertain whiteness through

heteronormative behaviour creates a duality of identity that allows David to access

masculanity, atleast perfomm Masculanity and ascertain whiteness through

 28

heteronormative behaviour Giovanni’s Room has a deeper level of understanding of the

source of racial range and sexual phobias that are left party unresolved in black liberation

discourse.

Baldwin's religious crisis is not simple caw of tension. arising betwen Christianity

and sexuality, It is the phalanx of race, gender, sexuality and theology codified and

signified by puritanism, This is the hidden source informing the prsychological trap of

metaphorical blackness that he exposes. Baldwin examines the characters of David, who

spends most of his life prior to the current happening of the story trying to outrun and

reject his past and aspects of his identity, which he wishes to ignore. Through his inner

struggle one can see how his scxuality along with his defiance towards it negatively

affected his identity and self perception. From the beginning of the story, David labels

himself as heterosexual, introducing his girl friend, Hella who "is on her way back to

America". However it seems as though David does not really know who he is, as he looks

back on his life, wondering where thing went wrong, David's denial of his happy.

Throughout the story, David suggests feeling of confinement and self hatred as a

homosexual, David often projected his own self hatred on to others who were able to

label their sexuality comfortably unlike him.

One theme of Giovanni's Room is social alienation. In this novel David faces a

choice between his American fiancé and his European boy friend, but ultimately, like

Baldwin, he must grapple with "being alienated by the culture that produced him". In

keeping with the theme of social alienation, this novel also explores the topics of origin

and identity. The next one is masculanity, David grapples with insecurities pertain to his

masculanity throughout the novel. For David, masculanity is intertwined with sexual
 29

identity and thus he believes that his some sex desires act against his masculinity. David

craves an authority figure and blames his father's lack of authority and responsibility for

many of his struggles throughout the novel

Finally it is possible to reach at a conclusion by describing Baldwin novel

Giovanni 's Room as one of the finest work in gay literature. Giovanni's Room was ranked

number 2 on a list of the best 100 gay and lesbian novels complained by ‘The publishing

Triangle’ in 1990's.
 30

WORKS CITED

Als, Hilton. “Giovanni’s Room Revisited”. The New York Times, 2019.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/t-magazine/james-baldwin-giovannis-room.html

Baldwin, James. Giovanni’s Room. Dial Press, 1956.

Greenwell, Garth. “James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room: An antidote to shame”. The

Guardian, 2016.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/19/james-baldwin-giovannis-room-garth-

greenwell-60th-anniversary-gay-novel

Leonard, Kim. “ What is queer theory? Definition and examples for filmmakers

“.Studiobinder, 2020.

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-queer-theory-definition/

Smith, Dinita. “ Queer theory is entering the literary mainstream “.The New York Times,

1998.

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/17/books/queer-theory-is-entering-the-literary-

mainstream.html