Character Comparison: Analyzing Protagonists in Two Novels

This essay provides a character comparison of the protagonists in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room and Nella Larsen's Passing. The essay explores how both novels challenge traditional literary archetypes, particularly the figure of the flâneur, by focusing on characters whose identities are shaped by their sexuality, race, and gender. The analysis examines the protagonists' struggles with self-discovery, societal expectations, and the complexities of their relationships. The essay highlights the themes of identity, sexuality, race, and the challenges faced by individuals who do not conform to societal norms. It discusses how David in Giovanni's Room grapples with his sexuality and how Irene and Clare in Passing navigate racial and gender stereotypes. The essay underscores the tragic consequences of societal pressures and the characters' journeys of self-discovery, ultimately challenging the traditional image of the flâneur and emphasizing the characters' unique experiences and transformations.

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CHARACTER COMPARISON OF THE PROTAGONISTS
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Race, gender, colour, creed, sexual orientation, religion, nationality and similar other
notions define an individual, at least that was the commonly held belief in the pre modern era
when judging people according to their physical appearance or preferential choices became
common practice. However in the postmodern period there were more regions of grey, and
strictly black or white, right or wrong, was becoming obsolete.
The figure of flâneur was developed in the 19th century in various novels, and was an
important part of the work on French Culture by Walter Benjamin. The surrealists of the era
also had deep interest into the concept and had been revisiting the figure several times
through their works. The traditional figure that has been projected as the figure of Flâneur is a
male pedestrian with typical characteristics of an urban man, the man of “leisure” (Ferguson).
The personification of being free and doing “nothing” to “observe” others was the point.
However this archetypal traditional figure of Flâneur has been challenged by the gender
movements and rights activists and the more days has passed different portrayals of the figure
of flâneur has been developed .
The two works which are compared in this paper is Giovanni’s room and The Passing.
In both of these works the authors have portrayed their protagonists who does not conform to
the traditional hero of the traditional novels. Rather people with challenges in their lifestyle
that is related to their genders, colour an d their preference of sexuality is seen to be the
central themes of the essays,
Giovanni is a person who have been in the dilemma of his own sexual choice from the
beginning till the end. The man has encountered with men and women and can be understood
by the reader as bisexual. However it is a fact that he himself tries to disprove his sexual
identity by forcing sexual intercourse with a woman and then leaving that woman only to

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fulfil his own desire of getting answer about his own sexual identity. David who is the
protagonist of the novel himself shows distresses which can be traced back to the event of the
death of his mother. “My mother had been carried to the graveyard when I was five. I
scarcely remember her at all, yet she figured in my nightmares, bünd with worms, her hair as
dry as metal and brittle as a twig, straining to press me against her body; that body so
putrescent, so sickening soft, that it opened, as I clawed and cried, into a breach so enormous
as to swallow me alive” (Baldwin). Such disturbing scenes are bound to challenge a child,
although it is a fact that such ghastly imagination of one’s own mother is rarely seen. When
David decides to visit France to “find himself”, it typically reminds one of the figure of
flâneur. A person who is in a journey to look for oneself, to understand the own self and the
people who are around. A person who is doing “nothing” in order to understand what is best
to be done. David already had a sexual experience with a boy when he started to discover his
sexuality. In Paris a new chapter starts for the man when he meets Giovanni in Guillame’s
gay bar. The two men patches well and soon a chemistry develops. The character is still
conforming to the figure of flâneur in spite of being different in terms of sexuality. Again it
can be interpreted that the character shifts from conforming to the features of a flâneur by no
more wanting to be just a spectator and actually participating in social activities to bring
about the necessary changes.
“I'm very fond of Giovanni. You didn't see him at his best tonight, but he's a very nice
man.' I laughed; covered by the night, emboldened by Hella's body and my own, and
protected by the tone of my voice, I found great relief in adding: 'I love him, in a way. I really
do” (Baldwin). This statement of David while being in the bed romantically close to Hella,
the lady love he pursues because of his disenchantment about gay relationships, brings
several layers to the character of the protagonist. He breaks away from the figure of the
flâneur. He is not merely a spectator, he is one of the active players in the game.

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In the novel Passing, the characters show more complex situations and positions
which are even more challenging. The two central characters Clare and Irene are childhood
friends who grow up and meet again. Both the girls are from Afro-American origin and are
from the “black” community. However their “white” skin colour helps them to keep their
origin hidden to save themselves from racial attacks. The long lost childhood friends meet
again suddenly and another childhood friend also meets them called Gertrude. All of them are
living in the fake identity of white women. Clare’s husband does not know about her real
identity. The story rolls ahead and soon there are sexual overtones in the relationship between
Irene and Clare. Their friendship remains with several layers of sexual and romantic angles.
There is a romantic angle that grows between Clare and Irene’s husband Brian. “She was
caught between two allegiances, different, yet the same. Herself. Her race. Race! The thing
that bound and suffocated her. Whatever steps she took, or if she took none at all, something
would be crushed. A person or the race. Clare, herself, or the race. Or, it might be, all three.
Nothing, she imagined, was ever more completely sardonic” (Larsen). Irene fantasizes about
getting rid of Clare, there is jealousy, anger, lust, sexual overtone and several other feelings
behind this idea. Clare’s husband Jack comes to know about the “black” origin of Clare and
Jack enters into the party hosted by Felise, “the visibly black friend of Irene”, Clara falls
down the window it is unsure whether she fell accidentally or was pushed by Irene.
In David’s case his love Giovanni is executed by the government, because he was
charged with murder of Guillame. It could have been avoided if David would have not
rejected Giovanni, and they would have stayed together. The feeling of guilt destroys David.
In the same way Irene’s guilt is expressed allegorically after the death of Clare. It is not clear
whether it’s Irene who pushed Clare, but her guilt speaks otherwise.
The sexual orientation of the characters sometimes enables them and sometimes
constraints them in their journey. Their conformity or breaking away from the image of

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flâneur depends on the situation they are in. Their identities are shifted and changed with
time, David comes close to a man, develops romantic relationship, and then decides to
experiment with his sexuality and becomes romantically close to a girl. Irene’s character also
evolves, her and Clare’s friendship growing from a sweet starting to a tragic end when Clare
dies.
There have been historical movements against the gender, racial and sexual
stereotypes. The two novels discusses life of two protagonists who goes through several
tragic turning points in life. The image of flâneur is challenged in both the cases however it
begins with the narrative that puts the characters in the mode of self-discovery and journeying
to know their inner self. What they discover is what breaks them away from the archetypal
image of flâneur. The man standing with the hat is not what they are, however they have their
own method of journeying and transforming through life.

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Reference:
Baldwin, James. Giovanni's room. Vol. 372. Everyman's Library, 2016.
Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst. "The flâneur on and off the streets of Paris 1." The Flâneur
(RLE Social Theory). Routledge, 2014. 22-42.
Larsen, Nella. Passing. Modern Library, 2007.