Imagery And Symbolism In Giovanni's Room

In James Baldwin’s, Giovanni’s Room, Baldwin presents fresh perspectives about a lot of things, including the notion of home. Giovanni’s Room has its fair share of symbolism that is not exactly a far-fetched feature of realist fictional novels (Henderson and Thomas 83). The interesting thing about the symbolism in the novel is that it is mostly driven by the character, who is having a dilemma concerning his own sexual identity that constantly reminds himself the significance of the room that he longs for. A homosexual should support his right in accepting who he is because this prevents the self-deception that the public is forcing them to appear in public as part of the Sapphic society. In David’s action, he indicates the difficulties that

In a passage, where David was about to go to Giovanni’s place, he said: “I ached abruptly, intolerably, with a longing to go home … to things and people I knew and understood; to those things, those places, those people which I would always helplessly, and in whatever bitterness of spirit, love above all else” (Baldwin 3). This highlights that the only way to cure his discomfort in both his environment and his life is to escape from one room to the other. After all, it was placed at the beginning of the novel, which makes its purpose to be almost ornamental because he keeps on claiming his lies and trickeries to cover his conflicted feelings. However, as the reader goes through the words even further, it becomes quite clear that David is further expanding and clarifying his very own ideas. His main motivation in going “home” is to go back to the “things and people I knew and understood” (Baldwin 3). This proves that David does not state home in a literal sense but rather he calls it as the sentiment and sensation that you perceive when you are surrounded by familiar things that makes you feel pleased. The sentence indeed allows the author to gain momentum as far as setting the tone for the novel is