Giovanni's Room Literary Elements

Giovanni's Room Literary Elements

Genre

Gay Novel, Tragedy.

Setting and Context

Brooklyn, Paris and South of France. The protagonist trying to come into terms with his homosexual self.

Narrator and Point of View

The protagonist, David, is the narrator and he narrates the whole novel from a first-person point of view.

Tone and Mood

Nostalgic, confessional, and tragic.

Protagonist and Antagonist

David is the protagonist and the society’s heterosexual norms play the role of the antagonist.

Major Conflict

David has a fiancé, Hella, who does not know about his homosexual side. He falls in love with an Italian guy, Giovanni, but struggles to accept his homosexuality.

Climax

Giovanni murdering Guillaume.

Foreshadowing

David hinting Giovanni’s death beforehand.

Understatement

When David foreshadows his guilt, it clearly understates the fact that his confusions destroy Giovanni’s life and Hella’s too.

Allusions

N/A

Imagery

The time imagery, underwater imagery of Giovanni’s room, home and wanderer imagery are pretty obvious ones.

Paradox

David knows he would leave Giovanni for Hella yet falls in love with Giovanni. He gets back to Hella but can never get his mind off Giovanni in intimate times.

Parallelism

David’s search for home is parallel with his search for his true self.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

David’s father stands for the idea of home and family for David and that is a metonymy. David’s homophobic hometown stands for the homophobic ideals of the society and that is a metonymy.

Personification

N/A

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