Giovanni's Room

I think it is interesting that Giovanni's Room is so renowned considering the way David appears in the novel. David is a character who is ashamed of who he is and is constantly trying to lie about his life. He is not honest with anyone that is close to him, least of all himself. He is unable to confront the people close to him about his feelings and he refuses to acknowledge his feelings himself. It is sad that he cannot be honest with himself about what he wants out of life, and it is even worse that he drags others down with himself. Therefore, I find it interesting that this novel, with a character who is unable to accept himself, is such an important novel, and that a bookstore has even named itself after this novel.

David is not a character that I would be able to relate to nor would I want to. It is one thing to be confused about who you are and what you want, but it is something else entirely to lie to people and hurt others because you are unable to accept yourself. I understand that in the 1950s it was difficult to be out with your sexuality if it was outside of the ‘norm,’ but David could go about it differently if he did not want to accept how he felt for men. Instead he used Giovanni and then left him hanging, and basically did the same thing to Hella. The fact that David is not only a confused character, but completely unwilling to accept who he is makes him a character not worthy to be looked up to by the gay community. If David was able to accept himself at the end there would be some redemption, but instead he is haunted by his guilt for how he has acted and the consequences.