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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Key Examples in Giovanni’s Room
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Night and Day:
Throughout “Giovanni’s Room,” night bleeds into morning, and the edges of a day blend with each other. David’s careful attention to night and day supplies close parallels to the gender binaries that he negotiates throughout the story. The novel itself begins with just this observation: “I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life,” David writes.
Related Themes:
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Sight:
In a novel whose protagonist staggers beneath the weight of exposure and vulnerability, eyes often present another source of perception and self-consciousness. David is uncannily aware of gazes directed upon him, and much of his narration reflects this. The story closely follows moments of eye contact in ways that intensify its underlying sense of uneasiness. Jacques looks on greedily at the boys in the bar. David’s caretaker searches his face and surveys his emptied house, very nearly uncovering his homosexuality. On the street, David and the sailor engage in an entirely silent exchange of humiliation and shame: “we came abreast and, as though he had seen some all-revealing panic in my eyes, he gave me a look contemptuously lewd and knowing.” Eye contact escalates the conflict with its constant undercurrent of angst.
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Part 2: Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Love, Like Water:
Mentions of water appear throughout the course of Giovanni’s Room. Though Giovanni memorably likens the sea to time, water also provides vocabulary for the complex, shifting landscape of love at the other points in the work. David frames his first night meeting Giovanni in distinctively maritime terms. He compares the commotion at Guillaume’s bar to the “roaring of the sea, heard at night.” Upon meeting Giovanni, he even likens the new bartender to a “promontory” above the sea of customers. David “flows” towards Giovanni as a “river rushes when the ice breaks up.”
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Part 2: Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Windows and Mirrors:
Giovanni’s Room is bookended by a reflection in a windowpane and another in a mirror. In between, the novel’s account of both windows and mirrors underscores the role of perception in defining the queer experience. Windows and mirrors replicate the process of both seeing and being seen.
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Explanation and Analysis—Stone and Brick Walls:
Walls symbolically express inhibition and constraint. The mention of “stone walls” appears first during David's conversation with Sue in Part 2, Chapter 2, where they trade in uncomfortably snappy banter about sex:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘Stone walls,’ she said, ‘are impenetrable.’
The waiter arrived. ‘Doesn’t it,’ I dared, ‘depend on the weapon?’
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Part 2: Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Stone and Brick Walls:
Walls symbolically express inhibition and constraint. The mention of “stone walls” appears first during David's conversation with Sue in Part 2, Chapter 2, where they trade in uncomfortably snappy banter about sex:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘Stone walls,’ she said, ‘are impenetrable.’
The waiter arrived. ‘Doesn’t it,’ I dared, ‘depend on the weapon?’
Related Themes:
Part 2: Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Windows and Mirrors:
Giovanni’s Room is bookended by a reflection in a windowpane and another in a mirror. In between, the novel’s account of both windows and mirrors underscores the role of perception in defining the queer experience. Windows and mirrors replicate the process of both seeing and being seen.
Unlock with LitCharts A+
Related Themes:
