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Guillaume
David’s father is an American man who, along with his sister, Ellen, raises David. After David’s mother dies when he’s only five, his father devotes himself to him, though he doesn’t know how to be a conventional parent. Rather than wanting to have a traditional father-son relationship with David, he tries to bond with his son as if they’re friends—a dynamic David comes to dislike because all he wants is parental support. Despite their unconventional connection, though, David’s father cares strongly about him. In particular, he wants David to become a true man, a sentiment he expresses to Ellen one night after coming home drunk. Ellen accuses him of setting a bad example for David by drinking too much and spending all of his time with women, but he doesn’t pay attention to her, instead insisting that he can raise David however he wants. Later, when David moves to Paris, his father feels at a loss because he doesn’t understand why his son would want to live so far away. When he implores David to return, David senses the old man’s concern, realizing that his father must sense that he’s attracted to men but can’t bring himself to ask him the truth.
David’s Father Quotes in Giovanni’s Room
The Giovanni’s Room quotes below are all either spoken by David’s Father or refer to David’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1: Chapter 1
Quotes
For I am—or I was—one of those people who pride themselves on their willpower, on their ability to make a decision and carry it through. This virtue, like most virtues, is ambiguity itself. People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception. Their decisions are not really decisions at all—a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named—but elaborate systems of evasion, of illusion, designed to make themselves and the world appear to be what they and the world are not.
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David’s Father Quotes in Giovanni’s Room
The Giovanni’s Room quotes below are all either spoken by David’s Father or refer to David’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1: Chapter 1
Quotes
For I am—or I was—one of those people who pride themselves on their willpower, on their ability to make a decision and carry it through. This virtue, like most virtues, is ambiguity itself. People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception. Their decisions are not really decisions at all—a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named—but elaborate systems of evasion, of illusion, designed to make themselves and the world appear to be what they and the world are not.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock explanations and citation info for this and every other Giovanni’s Room quote.
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