Giovanni’s Room is a beautiful tragedy written by James Baldwin. It tells the story of David, a bisexual American living in France, and how his self-deception destroys not only him but two people closely connected to him.
Baldwin wrote this story before United States began decriminalising same-sex sexual activities. At the time the story was set, same-sex intimacy was treated as a crime. Men who were homosexuals had to engage in secret sexual activities lest they will be punished by law and ostracised by the society.
David, the protagonist and the narrator of the story, was placed in a difficult situation. When he was young, he noticed his attraction to boys. This bewildered and terrified him. To find that he was not straight, that he didn’t conform to the accepted norms of a “man” appalled him. His reaction to his sexual awakening was to practice self-deception, to fool himself as to his sexual identity, and to convince he was a heterosexual who wanted a normal life with a wife and kids. But his self-deception couldn’t change who he was, his sexual identity; and the self discovery trip to France proved a disaster as he tangled himself with a woman (Hella) to prove to him that he was straight, and then with a man (Giovanni) in her absence, surrendering to his desire. David’s deception wrecked and ruined the lives of Giovanni and Hella, burdening him with a huge guilt from which there was no escape.
On a cursory reading, Giovanni’s Room, could be seen as an ordinary and simple tale of a man who struggles with his sexual identity. But if one delves deeper, one won’t fail to see the powerful emotional display of the characters. The raw emotions of love, betrayal, and grief of the characters flow through the story, intermingling with the storyline. The protagonist’s guilt runs like an undercurrent all along. To be quite honest, I hated David. He was delusional and utterly selfish. I found his behaviour towards Giovanni and Hella, despicable. It was they who suffered more than him, through his actions. I couldn’t forgive him for the damage he caused on two innocent lives. Yet, Baldwin compels me to be kind to him, to understand his dilemma, even though it may sound selfish. “I wanted children, I wanted to be inside again, with the light and safety, with my manhood unquestioned…I wanted the same bed at night and the same arms and I wanted to rise in the morning, knowing where I was. I wanted a woman to be for me a steady ground, like the earth itself, where I could always be renewed.”
Baldwin’s ability to engage the reader in his story, all the while taking her through an emotionally gripping journey passing all the unpleasant valleys, is amazing. Not for once, he eases his grip. It’s tightly wound upon the reader until the very end. His writing is poetic and the reader immerse deeply in its beauty. The sensitive touch with which he writes makes the character emotions genuine. I cannot say I liked any particular character but Baldwin makes them so real that I couldn’t help being understanding.
Reading Giovanni’s Room is emotionally taxing. It is a mercy that the novel is short. Although I’m done with the novel, I’m not done with the Author. I most certainly will come back to him.
Rating: 4/5
