HOMOSEXUALITY IN JAMES BALDWINS NOVEL GIOVANNIS ROOM

Summary Part one

David, in the South of France, is about to board a train back in Paris. His girlfriend Hella, to whom he had proposed before she went to Spain, has returned to the United States. As for Giovanni, he is about to be guillotined. David remembers his first experience with a boy, Joey, who lived in Brooklyn, too. The two bonded and eventually had a sexual encounter during a sleepover. The two boys began kissing and making love. The next day, David left, and a little later he took to bullying Joey in order to feel like a real man. David now lives with his father, who is prone to drinking, and his aunt, Ellen. The latter upbraids the father for not being a good example to his son. David's father says that all he wants is for David to become a real man. Later, David begins drinking, too, and drinks and drives once, ending up in an accident. Back home, the two men talk, and David convinces father to let him skip college and get a job instead. He then decides to move to France to find himself. After a year in Paris, penniless, he calls Jacques, an older homosexual acquaintance, to meet him for supper so he can ask for money. (In a prolepsis, Jacques and David meet again and discuss Giovanni's fall.) The two men go to Guillaume's gay bar. They meet Giovanni, the new bartender, at whom Jacques tries to make a pass, until he gets talking with Guillaume. Meanwhile, David and Giovanni become friends. Later, they all go to a restaurant in Les Halles. Jacques enjoins David not to be ashamed to feel love; they eat oysters and drink white wine. Giovanni recounts how he met Guillaume in a cinema, how the two men had dinner together because Giovanni wanted a free meal. He also explains that Guillaume is prone to making trouble. Later, the two men go back to Giovanni's room and they have sex.

Part two
David moves into Giovanni's small room. They broach the subject of Hella, about whom Giovanni is not worried, but who reveals the Italian's misogynistic prejudices about women and the need for men to dominate them. David then briefly describes Giovanni's room, which is always in the dark because there are no curtains and they need their own privacy. He goes on to read a letter from his father, asking him to go

back to America, but he does not want to do that. The young man walks into a sailor; David believes he thinks David is a gay man, though it is unclear whether this is true or the sailor is just staring back at David. A subsequent letter from Hella announces that she is returning in a few days, and David realizes he has to part with Giovanni soon. Setting off to prove to himself that he is not gay, David searches for a woman with whom he can have sex. He meets a slight acquaintance, Sue, in a bar and they go back to her place and have sex; he does not want to see her again and has only just used her to feel better about himself. When he returns to the room, David finds a hysterical Giovanni, who has been fired from Guillaume's bar. Hella eventually comes back and David leaves Giovanni's room with no notice for three days. He sends a letter to his father asking for money for their marriage. The couple then walks into Jacques and Giovanni in a bookshop, which makes Hella uncomfortable because she does not like Jacques's mannerisms. After walking Hella back to her hotel room, David goes to Giovanni's room to talk; the Italian man is distressed. David thinks that they cannot have a life together and feels that he would be sacrificing his manhood if he stays with Giovanni. He leaves, but runs into Giovanni several times and is upset by the "fairy" mannerisms which he is developing and his new relationship with Jacques, who is an older and richer man. Sometime later, David walks into Yves and finds out Giovanni is no longer with Jacques and that he might be able to get a job at Guillaume's bar again. The news of Guillaume's murder suddenly comes out, and Giovanni is castigated in all newspapers. David fancies that Giovanni went back into the bar to ask for a job, going so far as to sacrifice his dignity and agree to sleep with Guillaume. He imagines that after Giovanni has compromised himself, Guillaume makes excuses for why he cannot rehire him as a bar-tender; in reality they both know that Giovanni is no longer of interest to Guillame's bar's clientele since so much of his life has been played out in public. Giovanni responds by killing Guillame in rage. Giovanni attempts to hide, but he is discovered by the police and sentenced to death for murder. On the day of Giovanni's execution, David is in his house in the South of France. The caretaker comes round for the inventory, as he is moving out the next day. She encourages him to get married, have children, and pray. Hella and David then move to the South of France, where they discuss gender roles and Hella expresses her desire to live under a man as a woman. David, wracked with guilt over Giovanni's impending execution, leaves her and goes to Nice for a few days, where he spends his time with a sailor. Hella finds him and discovers his homosexuality, which she says she suspected all along. She bitterly decides to go back to America. The book ends with David's mental pictures of Giovanni's execution and his own guilt.

THE ANALYSIS OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN JAMES BALDWINS NOVEL GIOVANNIS ROOM TO REVEAL THE THEME

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Problem Homosexuality is a sexual desire that is directed of ones own sex and that is regarded to be an abnormality. Homosexuality is very common at present and it has been practiced openly without much restraint up to now. Today homosexual practices are widespread and publicly displayed. Therefore homosexuality has become a subject in mass media and also become a subject of intense scientific curiosity. Homosexuality does not only appear in a book but also in TV shows and cinemas. In the west, homosexuality is on the increase because youngsters are encouraged by society to date at earlier ages and they are encouraged to experiment sexually with their same sex. In Indonesia, homosexuality also increase, for example there are many homosexual couple at Kaliber in Old City, Jakarta both gay and lesbian. They dont feel ashame to show their intimacy at public place. And also, nowadays, homosexual people have a community to support their right to do a homosexual marriage. Homosexuality is not legitimated by government and all religion in Indonesia, for example in the Bible, there are many verse that say homosexuality is a sin. And also Indonesian government prohibit the homosexual marriage because they have a reason that aimed on five religion in Indonesia.

Homosexuality is based on a refutation of an obvious fact and contradiction with the very nature on which man has been created. Nowadays, homosexuality has also created a controversy among us up to the present moment, but this controversy has made homosexuality one of interesting topics in fiction. This is one of the reasons why the writer took this novel as the material is worth of being discussed. In this research, the focus is in psychological. We know that homosexuality is perceived as psychological problems. The study has been conducted on the basis of the following reasons. On the one hand, the topic about homosexuality is a global issue that can be found in our surroundings. This is a very interesting and proper topic to be discussed as we know that nowadays homosexuality becomes more widespread so that it studied by many scientists. On the other hand, homosexuality is unnatural, abnormal and despised by God. From the two opinions above, the topic about homosexuality is worth to be discussed in this final project.

1.2 Identification of the Problem Identification of the problem is focused on the analysis of the main theme of the novel Giovannis Room Through the study of character, characterization, and psychology theory by Sigmund Freud. 1.3 Limitation of the Problem In this research I limit the problem to the analysis of the theme through the analysis of character, characterization, and homosexuality. 1.4 Statement of the Problem The problem in this research is to reveal homosexuality in Giovannis Room by James Baldwin. The problem is formulated as follows : a. Is homosexuality one of the themes in Giovannis Room? b. Who is the main character? c. How is the characterization of main character? d. How is the homosexuality revealed in the Novel Giovannis Room? 1.5 Aim of the Research The aim of this research is to reveal the main theme in Giovannis Room. The steps that I take are as follows: a. Analyzing the main theme b. Identifying the central character c. Identifying the characterization of the central character d. Analyzing the homosexuality

1.6. Benefit of the Research All literary works such as novel bring moral values to the readers like Giovannis Room novel. I hope after reading the study the readers will get more value and experiences to bring it to the real life. The study is expected to give contribution to the readers to know how to see the homosexuality problem.

1.7. Methods of the Research Methods of the research are stated as follows: 1. I determine Giovannis Room novel by James Baldwin as an object of the research 2. I collect all the supporting data from the library, books, and the internet. 3. I analyze the main character on Giovannis Room. I also identifying the main character, the characterization of main character and analyzing the homosexuality itself. 4. I make conclusion of the research.

1.8. Theoretical Framework 1.8.1. Theme In contemporary literary studies, a theme is the central topic, subject, or concept the author is trying to point out, not to be confused with whatever message, moral, or commentary it may send or be interpreted as sending regarding said concept.

1.8.2. Character In a literary work, a character is one of the important elements that develop the story because the character is involved in the events that make the story. We can say the character is a fiction creation in a literary works, and decided by what the author tells us about the character and what the character does and says. A character is someone in literaty work that has one sort of identity (it neednt be a strong one), an identity which is made up by appearance, conversation, action, name and (possiblly) thoughts going on in the head. (Gill, 1999: 127)

a. Major character In work of fiction major character are the center, the most dominant and important character that influence the event of the story, and the major characters are sometimes called a protagonist. A major character is an important figure at the center of the storys action or theme, the major character is sometimes called a protagonist (DiYanni, 2000:35)

b. Minor Character Minor character are supporting the major character. Their existences in the event of the story are to help and illuminate the major characters accomplish the action. Supporting the major character are one or more secondary or minor characters whos function is partly to illuminate the major characters. (DiYanni, 2000:35)

1.8.3. Characterization Characterization - the creation of the image of imaginary persons in drama, narrative poetry, the novel, and the short story. Characterization generates plot and is revealed by actions, speech, thoughts, physical appearance, and the other characters thoughts or words about him. (http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/characterization)

1.8.4. Homosexuality There are several ways to define homosexuality, many of which carry overtones of mental illness or reprehensible behavior. Fromer (1983:79) stated, that the definition of a homosexual that is more accurate and which carry no judgmental weight is a person who feels a strong erotic attraction to person of the same sex, who has the ability to be sexually aroused by member of the same sex. Another definition of homosexuality is that it is psychology; some even go so far as to define it as pathologic condition in which normal psychosexual development

somehow failed, and the person is unable to relate sexually to members of the opposite sex (Fromer, 1983:79).

1.8.5. Psychology Approach Psychology according to Encyclopedia Americana (1998:723) is the scientific study of the behavior of humans and other animals. The term behavior refers both to overt, observable actions and to covert, unobservable (internal) mental processes and states such as perception, thought, reasoning, problem-solving, and feelings. 1.8.5.1 Abnormal Psychology Abnormal psychology is also devoted to the study of mental, emotional, and behavioral aberrations. It is the branch of psychology concerned with research into the classification, causation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of psychological disorder or psychopathology. (www.narth/psychology.com) The essence of abnormal psychology is its emphasis on research into abnormal behavior and its endeavor to classify the wide range of mental and emotional aberrations into coherent categories and to understand them. (www.depression.about.com/abnormal.html)

1.9. Systematic Organization of the Research The research consists of four chapters, they are: Chapter I consists of the introduction, the background of the problem, the identification of the problem, the limitation of the problem, the statement of the problem, the aim of the research, the benefit of the research, the methods of the research, the theoretical framework, and the systematic organization of the research. Chapter II consists of three sub-chapters. The first is the analysis of major character and the second is the analysis of characterization of main character. Chapter III consists the psychological approach about the homosexuality. Chapter IV consists the conclusion that reveal the theme.