English 2000 Perspectives in Literature

Audre Lorde spoke excellently about “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” she addressed many issues that were occurring in 1980 and unfortunately all of those issues are still present. Racism is among every culture and is still one of the leading causes of separation between individuals of different skin color. For example, you may have heard about a young African American boy named Trayvon Martin who was gunned down by a Caucasian man named Andrew Zimmerman because he was walking in a suburban neighborhood, and supposedly he was acting in a suspicious manner. This is a prime example of why racism is an ongoing issue. Age, class and sex are also at the top, women are constantly being judged as the inferior sex and less valuable than men. I agree that progress have been made but these issues are still alive.

“The power and the promise and the mystery of that body made me suddenly afraid. The body suddenly seemed the black opening of a cavern in which I would be tortured till madness came, in which I would lose my manhood.” In other words, David is ashamed and scared of what he had done with Joey. During that time, there were a lot of discrimination, stigma, stereotypes, and criticized against gays because of religious beliefs that everybody has to be attracted to their opposite gender. Because of that, he lied to everyone and himself that he is not gay, yet we all know that he enjoyed his first romance with Joey “Odd to remember, for the first time in so long, how good I felt that night, how fond of Joey.” In order to hide the truth, he bullied Joey “the sadder this made him, the nastier I became” and he lied and said he has a girlfriend over the summer. On the other hand,  David is afraid to admit his sexual orientation, and especially how would his father see him as. Since he can’t admit his true sexuality he flew to Paris to search for his real “manhood” as an excuse. Nonetheless, he failed at his flight because he can’t hide the fact that he’s gay, especially his relationship with Giovanni in chapter two.

              Audre  Lorde’s quote, For in order to survive, those of us for whom oppression is as american as apple pie have always had to be watchers, to become familiar with the language and manners of the oppressor, even sometimes adopting them for some illusions of protection”(114), means that individuals who are looked down upon because they don’t “fit in the box”, or are seen as different become accustomed to their lifestyle and ;therefore, they accept their life for what it is. However, some choose to mirror after or emulate the behaviors of other individuals who are seen as conventional or normal in order to live and function in society without being an outcast,thereby attempting to survive.

        In Giovanni’s Room, David does exactly this in many ways. In order for him to survive and make it in society and not dissapoint  his father, he pretends to act like a heterosexual man, because he feels being gay isn’t acceptable. For example, after sleeping with Joey, he decides that he can’t be gay, so he makes up a lie about having a girlfriend, starts acting tough like the other kids and joins in on bullying Joey once school started back up. He also begins a relationship with Hella, and tells her he loves her and asks to marry her. ” I told her that I had loved her once and I made myself believe it. But I woander if I had” (5).  He was pretending to be something he wasn’t and was failing at it because he wasn’t even convincing himself. David also picked up women at the Montparnasse, in an attempt to try and be a straight man.

         I think that David believed at one point that if he acted and pretended to be straight that it would eventually become the truth. he didn’t want to face the reality and possible repercussions of being gay so he tried to “fit in the box”, but that didn’t work, and so far that decision seems to have lead him down a bad road.

Audre Lorde does give many valid points addressing racism, ageism, sexism etc. But in this time and age i believe that her points are invalid. Woman today are respected more now then back then, they are seen as equals and the points such as racism and ageism are to much of general/bland topics to bring up. I think Audre since she was a lesbian woman and black back then she had more problems then usual, not saying she is not a powerful woman for fighting in what she believes is right, i just believe that she was a little more agitated because she was lesbian and not accepted more then all of her other rants which lead onto the purpose of her essay

The theme of entrapment and flight in Giovanni’s Room, starts out with David living with his father and aunt. During which time he feels detached from his father, and convinces him to allow him to skip college and find a job. Taking this opportunity David goes to Paris trying to, as he states “I wanted to find myself”. However, he tries to find himself as well as to lose himself in the process. I believe his real reasons for leaving was that he tried to forget what happened with Joey; David wants to love women but is sexually attracted to men. Also, David seems to be trying to escape the pressure his father placed on him for becoming man. David also feared and avoided his father because he did not want his father or anyone to actually know him for who he is. In the end, however, David does not succeed in his flight for he states, ” I think now that if i had had any intimation that the self I was going to find would turn out to be only the same self from which I had spent so much time in flight, I would have stayed at home”.

The blog posting requirements have changed slightly. Each week you will have to post a response to a discussion question by Wednesday at 1:00 pm (just like before). You will then have to comment on at least two other posts from that week by the end of day on Friday (11:59 pm).

**For the title/subject of the post, please include your name and the number of the discussion question you are answering. Also, you will need to categorize your post before you publish it. Look on the right side of the screen when you are done writing your blog, and click the box next to the correct blog post number**

Each Wednesday by 1:00 pm, create a post that:

• Is 100-200 words
• Thoughtfully responds to one of the posted discussion questions
• Provides direct quotes from the text in order to support and clarify your discussion

Each Friday, by 11:59 pm:

• Respectfully and thoughtfully comment on at least two other blog posts.