Giovanni's Room

The beginning of David’s relationship with Giovanni is full of excitement and freshness, mirroring the spring season. The two spend most of their days together. David meets Giovanni at the end of his shifts to get breakfast, and they wander the streets and riversides of Paris until they return home. Despite this happiness, the underlying fear and shame in the relationship bubbles to the surface, due especially to David’s anxiety that Hella will find out.

One day, David finally reveals his ongoing affair with Hella and his proposal. Giovanni derides Hella’s indecisiveness and her dramatic plan to think her way across Spain. Giovanni believes Hella wants to have affairs with Spanish men while leading David on. Giovanni begins a chauvinistic rant about the trouble of relationships with women who think they are equal to men; he believes such women should be beaten to be kept in their place. Giovanni thinks David’s fears of being found out by Hella are melodramatic since they aren’t committing any crimes—though David’s American upbringing makes him think they are. Later, David walks Giovanni to the bar for work and wanders Paris alone.