Giovanni’s Room as a force for change

Modern views of sexuality are not what they were in the past. Initially, gender and sexuality in society were static: male or female and heterosexual, respectively. However, with time, both have evolved to represent fluid identities that can only be defined individually. Sexuality, gender, and relationships were all defined by the society in which they existed. Heterosexuality was, and still is, considered the norm, with little evidence suggesting otherwise. Those who expressed deviance from the norms that defined sexuality as (being heterosexual) were more often than not relegated and discriminated against. They were considered identity-less, so to speak, and were thus outcasts of a society that demanded conformity. However, this tendency to relegate the so-called outcasts transcends the world of reality and into that of make-believe books.

A quick study of books and readings that defy the definition of heterosexuality as the only acceptable form of sexuality reveals a common theme: the restrictive space through which societal outcasts live and operate merely for being different. The spaces through which non-heterosexuals exist, in both the world and in works of literature, are quite restricted. These spaces are small and dark to hide them (non-heterosexuals) from the view and scorn of society- a social closet to their identities. By being closed off from society, non-heterosexuals lack a permanent identity and are thus forced to be in a constant state of search and longing for acceptance. Where they are denied existence, these characters continue to search for a social space where their identities will be appreciated for what they are- different. In Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin illustrates and challenges the societal pressures and norms that force and dictate what and how gender, sexuality, class, and or relationships should be. Baldwin particularly deconstructs this using the characters and themes in his book to mirror and critique society itself.

In Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin uses the limited social spaces in the book that allow David and Giovanni to be themselves to mirror societal restrictions placed on non-heterosexuals regarding their freedom of expression and life choices. Baldwin represents this restricted status through the lives of his characters, Giovanni and David. Baldwin mirrors the actions of society in his book by confining his queer characters into social closets. Giovanni and David occupy and shift from one restricted space to another, spaces that devoid them of their ability to be free about their sexuality. These spaces include Giovanni's RoomRoom itself and the Prison cell, where Giovanni has to stay awaiting his imminent execution. These restrictive spaces are further highlighted in the real world where despite Baldwin being a gay African-American writer in his own right, he is criticized by fellow African-American and gay writer Langston Hughes despite advocating for those same interests and rights he (Langston Hughes) shares (Armengol, 2012, p. 672). Hughes terms Baldwin's treatment of homosexuality by African Americans as a threat to traditional black values. Baldwin's writings are rejected even by his Black heterosexual brothers, such as Martin Luther King Jr., merely for being homosexual (p. 672). In illustrating these divergent views in his book, Baldwin challenges static societal views of sexual identities by urging non-conformity and, therefore, free expression of sexual identities.

Baldwin challenges static gendered identities that are forced onto people without allowing them to express or be themselves freely. By being a black gay writer, Baldwin represents a revolt against Westernized and social views of what gender is and should be. While his writing is now (in modern-day society) termed as “progressive,” Baldwin’s views were aptly rejected by American society when he wrote the book. According to Eldridge Cleaver, as cited by Armengol (2012, p. 671), their desire by Baldwin to express his homosexual identity and be open about it to the American people was “…ultimately desire for whiteness, desire to abandon black masculinity for the traditionally submissive position of the white female.” Baldwin’s expression of his homosexuality, and in effect those of his characters in the book, is seen as an insult- a derogation of the masculine identity embodied by the black identity- a concept Meg Wesling in her paper, Sexuality, and statelessness: Queer migrations and national identity in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room agrees with (p. 325). According to Wesling (2019), the rejection behind Baldwin's coming out as a homosexual is the partisan product of White supremacy, which cannot essentially exist without being constructed as a racialized thirst for Westernized ideals (325). By rejecting Baldwin, therefore, society draws attention to that which he (Baldwin) wished to embody; gender fluidity and consequently his freedom as a queer man in America.

Giovanni’s Room challenges the interplay of race and sexuality in creating a society that propagates sexual hypocrisy, as evidenced through David and Giovanni's lives. According to Wesling (2019, p. 324), their desire by Baldwin to convey the sexual desires of his characters was to many, an interpretation of Baldwin's desire to be part of what literary critic Robert Bone refers to as "raceless" and "assimilationist" tendencies- those which he advances in his novel. The use of white characters relays how Baldwin interplays race with sexuality, which resulted in mass criticism from the black community. According to Bone, as cited by Wesling (p. 324), Baldwin's use of white characters was derogatory to the African-American experience by going outside what would be Black culture to illustrate a “White” aspect of life. From Bone’s argument, we see that heterosexuality was part of the constructed image of a masculine Black man. As such, Baldwin’s decision to highlight a non-heterosexual perspective in his book was not only a rejection of Black culture and the norms (heterosexuality) that encompassed it but also an appreciation and celebration of White culture- a culture that was behind the suffering of the black community. In particular, this results in his and, in extension, his novel Giovanni’s Room being rejected by his Black community and a white society unready to condone such ideals as homosexuality. Baldwin uses the contrasting perspectives of Black and White culture to illustrate the sexual hypocrisy of the two races. The unwillingness of either race to identify with queer ideals is evident in the novel in that David finds himself rejected by both hence the reference by Jacques to David, “[c]ome out, come out, wherever you are!" (57) in response to David keeping his sexuality a secret (Luminita, 2006, p. 4). The commercialization of homosexual sex is the epitome of this sexual hypocrisy in that people, both White and Black, engage in it yet judge each other in public view. He also presents hypocrisy amongst homosexuals noting that David has yet to accept his identity, himself stating he is yet to have "found himself" (21), a muse to mean that he has yet to acknowledge his sexuality fully.

Giovanni's RoomRoom challenges gender normative biases, particularly with regard to gender roles in relationships. Baldwin uses David symbolically to challenge the normative biases that are applied to gender. Baldwin constructs David to appear as an oppositional force on those aspects that demand he is "expected" to conform to the "woman" in the relationship. Having not come to terms with his sexuality, David finds it difficult to accept and thus conform to the relationship's power dynamics. He wants to retain his masculinity by rejecting the passive role of the housewife that is pre-imposed on women in heterosexual relationships. Baldwin writes, “You want to go out and be the big laborer and bring home the money, and want me to stay here and wash the dishes and cook the food and clean this miserable closet of a room and kiss you when you come in through that door and lie with you at night and be your little girl” (142). Having just begun exploring his sexuality, David is afraid of submitting to Giovanni and, in effect, losing his masculinity. Therefore, Baldwin criticizes the concept of gender roles as applied by society by portraying it as a closed space that denies the free expression of sexual identities. According to Roullier (1999, p. 934), Baldwin was obsessed with constructing an identity. Through establishing a voice for the voiceless (Black homosexuals), Baldwin creates an identity for members of the queer community. In fact, according to Armengol (p.674), Baldwin successfully establishes a narrative where two black men engage overtly in sexual relations in his novel Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, published in 1968. He explores an entirely homosexual identity in his subsequent book in 1979, Just Above My Head, through the characters of two black men. From this, we see that Baldwin's struggle to achieve an identity for non-heterosexuals follows him across his literary career. As such, Baldwin, in Giovanni’s Room, writes to establish a position of expression and, therefore, an identity that goes against conforming to societal gender constructs. In revolting against gender roles, Giovanni's Room offers a foundation upon which persons who identify as queer may have and develop an identity through which they themselves can fit.

James Baldwin constructs homosexuality in Giovanni’s Room as an antithesis of normative gendered views and perceptions of sexuality. That is, Baldwin searches for an identity that does not merely portray homosexuality as the opposite of the heterosexual experience but as a valid identity on its own, hence the notation of a Queer identity. Baldwin uses David to convey this troubled journey in much of what would be self-discovery. The threat that Baldwin experienced in his attempt to have the book published quite effectively compares to David's struggle to escape the persecution of homosexuals in the book itself. Like David, the search and need for the homosexual identity to stand on its own is futile as society has established homosexuality (immoral) as the antithesis of what is "good" and "ordained.” The consequence of this is that homosexuality lacks an identity without reference to heterosexuality and thus cannot exist on its own. This reinforces discrimination and stereotypes based on sexuality and gender identities. While this may be true, Baldwin constructs his characters- particularly David as a champion for non-heterosexual rights, an identity that non-heterosexuals may easily identify with. In this regard, Giovanni's Room relays the challenges that those who do not conform to heterosexual ideals face while also constructing characters that revolt against societal constructs of what gender, sexuality, and or freedom should be.

Baldwin, in Giovanni's Room, implies that most relationships in modern society emanate from societal pressure. According to Roullier (1999 p. 5), some of the relationships people engage in result from societal pressure. Societal pressure in Giovanni's Room is cited as being responsible for the repression of non-conforming sexual identities. This is best realized in David's character, who, in fear of criticism, rejection, and ridicule, is forced to engage in a heterosexual relationship with Hella- a woman. Baldwin writes, “[m]y real fear was buried and was driving me to Montparnasse. I wanted to find a girl, any girl at all" (95) - a statement he makes in response to his desire to suppress his real sexuality. After having a one-night stand with a rich American girl- Sue, David feels disgusted, not at Sue herself or her womanhood, but rather at her heterosexual identity. He writes, "I trace it to something as fleeting as the tips of her breast lightly touching my forearm as she leaned over me to serve my supper. I felt my flesh recoil" (158). David, as such, symbolizes the incarceration of non-heterosexual identities. By bending to social pressure to be heterosexual despite his emotional urges, David represents the suffering both psychological and emotional that queer persons face in the community.

In conclusion, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room is a book that mirrors society by highlighting how having divergent sexuality is criminalized in the real world. In constructing his novel in this manner, Baldwin critiques and challenges static societal views and behaviour by nurturing his characters to revolt against the norms and culture imposed on them by society, and in so doing, trigger a social response against social alienation of non-heterosexuals by society.

References

Armengol, M, J. (2012). In the Dark Room: Homosexuality and/as Blackness in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Journal of women in culture and society. Vol 37: No. 3.
Baldwin, J. (2016). Giovanni's room.

Luminita, D. (2006). Into the Room and Out of the Closet: (Homo)Sexuality and Commodification in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. Gender Forum: Koln. Iss. 16

Roullier, J, C. (1999). (An)Other Modernism: James Baldwin, "Giovanni's Room", and the Rhetoric of Flight. Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 932-956.

Wesling, M. (2019). Sexuality and statelessness: Queer migrations and national identity in James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 55:3, 323-336, DOI: 10.1080/17449855.2019.1617974