A common theme throughout life is change, and different changes create contradictions within peoples’ minds. For example, one of the most common causes of contradictions is self denial. This can lead people to say one thing, but either mean something else, or do the exact opposite of what they said. In addition, sometimes people will say two completely contradicting statements, because they either forgot about their first statement or have changed their mind. A variety of these elements are combined within literature to create a feeling of realism, if everything occurred through one unilateral line of thinking, the story would not be realistic. Two novels that strongly convey this use of contradictions are Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin,…show more content… One example of these contradicting feelings occurs on page 105, where he states, “His touch could never fail to make me feel desire; yet his hot, sweet breath also made me vomit (Baldwin 105).” Desire and sickness are two conflicting ideas, and are employed to parallel David’s own emotions. He desire’s Giovanni, but also rejects him, because he does not fit into his ideal life. David states several times throughout the novel that he wants to have a family and be a father. This desire is shown through his agreal to Hella’s statement, “Hell, I want to be knocked up. I want to start having babies” (123). Not only does he agree, he directly states, “ I’ve always wanted that” (123). David clearly has a desire for both babies, and Giovanni; however, he knows that he cannot have both. These two contradicting desires put him in the realistic position where he has to choose between opposite lives, neither of which will be able to give him full happiness. When Hella discovers David’s desire for men she accuses him of lying, but he disagrees stating, “I was lying to myself” (103). It is through this line that the realism of David’s internal struggle truly shines through. Throughout the story he doesn’t reach out for Hella in a manipulative way, while fully aware that he is in love with Giovanni, rather, the entire time he is forced to fight contradictory emotions, because he continues to lie to himself until he is no longer able
