James Baldwin never did anything by accident. If he put a character in a room, if he let them linger by a window, press their lips to a cigarette, fold their hands over their own shame, it was because they were meant to be seen, felt, reckoned with. So, to read Giovanni’s Room and think of the women—Hella, Sue, even the silent presence of David’s mother—as mere shadows of the men’s grand, tormented desires is to miss the point entirely.
YOU get this. This essay understands that Baldwin doesn’t discard women in Giovanni’s Room; rather, he places them in the margins so that we, the readers, might question why they’re there, forced to witness the men’s wreckage but never allowed to claim their own stories fully. Hella, especially, is no less suffocated than Giovanni, no less betrayed than David, no less trapped in a world that demands she play a part she doesn’t truly want. But while David’s turmoil is made literary—his suffering at war with itself in grand, European tragedy—Hella’s suffering is silent, taken for granted.
That silence is intentional. It is the silence of women in so many gay men’s narratives, a silence that doesn’t signal absence but erasure, dismissal, a refusal to acknowledge the way patriarchy twists and wounds us all. Your work here reminds us that Baldwin, in his genius, is pointing toward that very dismissal. David is not a hero; he is a coward. And cowards don’t just hurt their lovers—they leave collateral damage.
What strikes me most in your analysis is the way you connect Baldwin’s treatment of women to the broader conversation about who is centered in queer narratives. Giovanni’s Room is a novel about David’s repression, but repression is never a singular suffering. It spills out, stains the people closest to you, demands their sacrifice. Hella, in her bitterness, her exhaustion, is a testament to this. She does not belong in the gay Paris of David and Giovanni, but neither does David, not really. He is a visitor in his own desire, watching himself as if from a distance, and in the end, the only thing he truly commits to is running.
This work is a necessary read because it refuses to let the women in Baldwin’s novel be footnotes. It demands that we look at them, listen to them, understand the ways their lives, too, are shaped by the same violences that ensnare David and Giovanni. Baldwin may have written Giovanni’s Room as a book about love and loss between men, but he knew—he knew—that the world of men does not exist without the women who bear witness to it.
So, what do we do with Hella, with Sue, with all the women Baldwin leaves in the margins? Maybe we do what David never could: see them, honor them, and let them take up the space they were always meant to.
This was beautifully written. Thank you for providing analysis from this POV that allowed me to examine one of my favorite Baldwin works in such a way. Much respect to the pen that you wield.
Such a good addition to this analysis. When I first read the title I was worried to think of how James Baldwin was another author that simply didn't pass the Bechtel test because he didn't care to write in women. But through his intentionality, he wrote about women as much as he wrote about men.
Lovely lovely analysis, so glad people are still talking about this book. One thing I noticed when I read it years ago were how words about whiteness and paleness accompanied descriptions of men, masculinity, and straightness, while darkness and shadows were used to describe women, femininity, and queerness. It always seemed that any of the “lower” category corrupted the straight white masculinity above it (i.e. David’s gayness keeping him from being masculine how he/his dad wanted him to be, Hella’s being a woman, I know there were other examples but it’s been a while!).
Great catch about darkness being associated with femininity! I had noticed darkness being associated with queerness (both Joey and Giovanni were described as "dark" I believe), but I didn't catch the association with women and femininity!
Almost forgot about how Giovanni’s features were described as dark, so true!! His misogyny shines through but his queerness is undeniable, the “corruption” keeping him from the hetero dream, manifested in his features. I need to reread…!
I feel like this portrayal of women is often used in gay stories like we see in cmbyn, Elio flirts with Marzia in the same way to legitimize his sexual desire and masculinity. She is a more valid person for him to lust for, so he acts upon his lust for Oliver by using her, again, as a tool. Very interesting essay!!
Excellent and important analysis of Baldwin's work! I've always had so many questions about Baldwin's portrayal of women. He really only has one white woman he writes over and over (Sue, Hella, Cass from Another Country), who are kind of all angels in the house -- or wish they could be. Black women are often heroic. Interestingly, though, no lesbians! For this reason, I've always loved his conversation with Audre Lorde, where she holds him more accountable than most of us (who tend to idealize him): https://theculture.forharriet.com/2014/03/revolutionary-hope-conversation-between.html
Thank you so much for this resource! I plan to read more of Baldwin's work, and look forward to see how he portrays women in his other novels and works of fiction. This conversation between Lorde and Baldwin was very rich, raw, and human; I was annoyed at how Baldwin kept misunderstanding Lorde and focusing on this idea of her "blaming" the Black man when really, she was asking for the same thing that Black people have been asking America for centuries now: stop killing me.
Yes…it’s so interesting to see Baldwin profoundly not getting her! I think it reflects his later career when he fell out of touch with the pulse of activism. Even Beale Street was a bit out of touch if you really dig into it. Late Baldwin is very fascinating.
Such a good analysis. Loved thinking more about this story. The way you wrote brought the story right back to me even though I read it over a year ago.
Absolutely loved this analysis! I have yet to read Giovanni’s Room, but I’m definitely going to after reading this.
I’m currently taking a philosophy course about gender, sexuality, and sex. This story plays completely into the content I’m reading! Something that stood out to me from your analysis was David’s need for women (specifically, sexually) in order to solidify his masculinity. I’ve been thinking lots about the term ‘homosocial’ and how this relates to the novel. David is performing masculinity not for women, but for the acceptance of men. Despite him being queer, I think this happens for a lot of men nowadays. The only way for men to feel like men is through the validation from each other. Almost seems a little queer to me haha.
Anyways, thank you for this piece! It was a great read 😊
This book has been sitting on my tbr, this is really insightful on what to expect of how the female characters are written. Somehow, this just made me want to watch Luca where it's queer and doesn't objectifying women lol
Thanks for writing this! Recently re-read the book after ten years and what stuck out to me the most this time was Hella and the glimpses into her internal world... and then this came across my feed! Brilliant analysis.
This was absolutely brilliant. I read Giovanni’s Room earlier this month and adored it. This was such a nuanced and concise analysis of the theme of gender roles in the novel.
James Baldwin never did anything by accident. If he put a character in a room, if he let them linger by a window, press their lips to a cigarette, fold their hands over their own shame, it was because they were meant to be seen, felt, reckoned with. So, to read Giovanni’s Room and think of the women—Hella, Sue, even the silent presence of David’s mother—as mere shadows of the men’s grand, tormented desires is to miss the point entirely.
YOU get this. This essay understands that Baldwin doesn’t discard women in Giovanni’s Room; rather, he places them in the margins so that we, the readers, might question why they’re there, forced to witness the men’s wreckage but never allowed to claim their own stories fully. Hella, especially, is no less suffocated than Giovanni, no less betrayed than David, no less trapped in a world that demands she play a part she doesn’t truly want. But while David’s turmoil is made literary—his suffering at war with itself in grand, European tragedy—Hella’s suffering is silent, taken for granted.
That silence is intentional. It is the silence of women in so many gay men’s narratives, a silence that doesn’t signal absence but erasure, dismissal, a refusal to acknowledge the way patriarchy twists and wounds us all. Your work here reminds us that Baldwin, in his genius, is pointing toward that very dismissal. David is not a hero; he is a coward. And cowards don’t just hurt their lovers—they leave collateral damage.
What strikes me most in your analysis is the way you connect Baldwin’s treatment of women to the broader conversation about who is centered in queer narratives. Giovanni’s Room is a novel about David’s repression, but repression is never a singular suffering. It spills out, stains the people closest to you, demands their sacrifice. Hella, in her bitterness, her exhaustion, is a testament to this. She does not belong in the gay Paris of David and Giovanni, but neither does David, not really. He is a visitor in his own desire, watching himself as if from a distance, and in the end, the only thing he truly commits to is running.
This work is a necessary read because it refuses to let the women in Baldwin’s novel be footnotes. It demands that we look at them, listen to them, understand the ways their lives, too, are shaped by the same violences that ensnare David and Giovanni. Baldwin may have written Giovanni’s Room as a book about love and loss between men, but he knew—he knew—that the world of men does not exist without the women who bear witness to it.
So, what do we do with Hella, with Sue, with all the women Baldwin leaves in the margins? Maybe we do what David never could: see them, honor them, and let them take up the space they were always meant to.
This was beautifully written. Thank you for providing analysis from this POV that allowed me to examine one of my favorite Baldwin works in such a way. Much respect to the pen that you wield.
Such a good addition to this analysis. When I first read the title I was worried to think of how James Baldwin was another author that simply didn't pass the Bechtel test because he didn't care to write in women. But through his intentionality, he wrote about women as much as he wrote about men.
Lovely lovely analysis, so glad people are still talking about this book. One thing I noticed when I read it years ago were how words about whiteness and paleness accompanied descriptions of men, masculinity, and straightness, while darkness and shadows were used to describe women, femininity, and queerness. It always seemed that any of the “lower” category corrupted the straight white masculinity above it (i.e. David’s gayness keeping him from being masculine how he/his dad wanted him to be, Hella’s being a woman, I know there were other examples but it’s been a while!).
Again, great analysis!!
Great catch about darkness being associated with femininity! I had noticed darkness being associated with queerness (both Joey and Giovanni were described as "dark" I believe), but I didn't catch the association with women and femininity!
Almost forgot about how Giovanni’s features were described as dark, so true!! His misogyny shines through but his queerness is undeniable, the “corruption” keeping him from the hetero dream, manifested in his features. I need to reread…!
I feel like this portrayal of women is often used in gay stories like we see in cmbyn, Elio flirts with Marzia in the same way to legitimize his sexual desire and masculinity. She is a more valid person for him to lust for, so he acts upon his lust for Oliver by using her, again, as a tool. Very interesting essay!!
this was such an interesting analysis, giovanni's room is definitely one of his best books
lovely piece. i wrote a blog post on sex work in james baldwin's novels which you can read here: https://tryst.link/blog/sex-work-in-james-baldwins-writing/
Excellent and important analysis of Baldwin's work! I've always had so many questions about Baldwin's portrayal of women. He really only has one white woman he writes over and over (Sue, Hella, Cass from Another Country), who are kind of all angels in the house -- or wish they could be. Black women are often heroic. Interestingly, though, no lesbians! For this reason, I've always loved his conversation with Audre Lorde, where she holds him more accountable than most of us (who tend to idealize him): https://theculture.forharriet.com/2014/03/revolutionary-hope-conversation-between.html
Thank you so much for this resource! I plan to read more of Baldwin's work, and look forward to see how he portrays women in his other novels and works of fiction. This conversation between Lorde and Baldwin was very rich, raw, and human; I was annoyed at how Baldwin kept misunderstanding Lorde and focusing on this idea of her "blaming" the Black man when really, she was asking for the same thing that Black people have been asking America for centuries now: stop killing me.
Yes…it’s so interesting to see Baldwin profoundly not getting her! I think it reflects his later career when he fell out of touch with the pulse of activism. Even Beale Street was a bit out of touch if you really dig into it. Late Baldwin is very fascinating.
Such a good analysis. Loved thinking more about this story. The way you wrote brought the story right back to me even though I read it over a year ago.
Absolutely loved this analysis! I have yet to read Giovanni’s Room, but I’m definitely going to after reading this.
I’m currently taking a philosophy course about gender, sexuality, and sex. This story plays completely into the content I’m reading! Something that stood out to me from your analysis was David’s need for women (specifically, sexually) in order to solidify his masculinity. I’ve been thinking lots about the term ‘homosocial’ and how this relates to the novel. David is performing masculinity not for women, but for the acceptance of men. Despite him being queer, I think this happens for a lot of men nowadays. The only way for men to feel like men is through the validation from each other. Almost seems a little queer to me haha.
Anyways, thank you for this piece! It was a great read 😊
love! read Giovanni’s last year and literally half my margins have “David is a pos” written on them 😭
He really is such an asshole 😭
This book has been sitting on my tbr, this is really insightful on what to expect of how the female characters are written. Somehow, this just made me want to watch Luca where it's queer and doesn't objectifying women lol
Thanks for writing this! Recently re-read the book after ten years and what stuck out to me the most this time was Hella and the glimpses into her internal world... and then this came across my feed! Brilliant analysis.
This was absolutely brilliant. I read Giovanni’s Room earlier this month and adored it. This was such a nuanced and concise analysis of the theme of gender roles in the novel.
this analysis was amazingly put 🤍 Giovannis room is one of my favorite books ever!!
I haven't read the book, but this review peaked my interest. Sadly, this perception of women also happens in the African culture to date 💔
a brilliant analysis!! thank you for deepening my understanding of this book.
loved this! thanks for sharing your points so eloquently