First and most obvious, each of the characters needs to face the threat of being expelled from the society that they are trying to integrate into, each for specific reasons (i.e., homosexuality and the lack of information about the American culture). The problems, which David and Giovanni have, may be viewed on several levels of meaning.

Therefore, the lead characters of both novels have to make a choice between a social seclusion and the following loss of their chances for integrating into the society, and defying their own identity for the sake of retaining the support of the people, who they are to coexist with. As many aspects as the two novels treat differently, both of them view their protagonists as the victims of the flawed system, which forces people into building the relationships that they do not want to engage in, thus, locking them in the enclave of their own pretense and lies. The theme of being imprisoned in the environment that is seemingly open-minded to a range of cultures, yet promotes a single standard in terms of the identity that one is supposed to have and the roles that one must assume, the society is depicted as a cold and brooding social enclave in both Giovanni’s Room and Native Speaker. By creating the hostile environment that is both opening one to a variety of opportunities and at the same time restricting in terms of the choices that one must make in the course of searching for one’s own identity, the urban environment can be viewed as a sexual and an ethnic enclave, as Baldwin and Lee argue in their novels. The problem of sexual identity in general and the lack of tolerance towards homosexuals in the modern society, as well as the issues regarding the culture clash and the problems related to acculturation, still remain on the world agenda (Bhugra and Vahia 116).ĭespite the fact that the concept of globalization seemed rather promising in terms of creating links between the representatives of different cultures, the opportunity to communicate freely with the members of other societies only made the problem more complicated by adding the urbanization factor to the overall set of irritants fueling the ethnic and gender conflicts.

Although the problem of gender and race inequity has been on the world agenda for several decades running, the progress that has been made so far has not yet brought one to triumph of equal rights for all those concerned.

James baldwin's giovanni's room