James Baldwin writes Hella in as a stupid woman in my opinion. I would like to think I would know something is up. Or maybe he writes her as smart, but not letting on that she knows. Because they both clearly slept with other people and they told eac hother, but to me it seems kind of obvious. Even if she doesn't know the whole truth I feel like she knows a little and is playing dumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ADfS8WQmw

Wouldn't let me annotate the whole passage starting with "what is this thing about time?" David is making everyone wait. He isn't sure about what he is doing with his life of who he really is so he makes everyone else wait for him: Giovanni and Hella.

Getting at the idea that nobody is perfect in a way I believe. Or that even if someones life is perfect, and everyone views their life to be perfect and fulfilled, they're always going to want more. Also connects to later in the book when David is at "home" with Giovanni and that room is his Eden for while, but then his Eden becomes more of a cage where he has no freedom. Changing tones a little to David feeling trapped - this is how I view a lot of people in relationships. Weather or not he's gay/bisexual, I feel like a lot of people who aren't questioning their sexual identity can feel trapped. So maybe he is just bisexual and doesn't want the relationship because it's not working. But he ends up viewing it as his hell in the end. The opposite of Eden. As well as his trap in the "gay world."

I think Baldwin is trying to break gender roles. Throughout the story, many of the men are seen as weak, like David’s dad being unable to be a good parent, and David being unable to control his feelings and desires. Then, many of the women have strong and empowered roles. David’s dead mother having control over the room by just being in a picture, David’s aunt by taking care of/managing David’s father’s life, and Hella by leaving David and knowing she deserves better. At the time the novel was written there were arguments starting in favor of women’s rights, and I think Baldwin wanted to incorporate that into the novel along with gay rights. The picture I added is an advertisement that is similar to those that women would have seen constantly in this time period, and it made me laugh because its so demeaning.

I think home for David is in two places. First, it is in America because that is where he grew up and came from, and he references it as home many times. Second, I think home is in Giovanni’s room, because that’s where he really found himself even if he doesn’t like it. In many stories, mostly YA novels, home is a place where the character grows and then grows out of, and describes it as suffocating. In Giovanni’s room is wear he really embraced his sexuality, and then grows to hate it.