Giovanni's Room

In the aftermath of Guillaume’s murder, the public feels a heightened moral anxiety about Paris’s “underworld.” The media latch onto the storyline of Giovanni as a thieving foreigner preying on the dignified Guillaume, a man of ancient French lineage. David expresses his anger at these accusations and his worries for Giovanni, shocking Hella and himself with his depth of concern. The police find Giovanni hiding in a boat on the Seine with unused money from Guillaume’s pockets, and the courts sentence Giovanni to execution. Hella and David leave for the south, and Jacques continues to update David on Giovanni’s condition.

The media doesn’t reveal why Giovanni killed Guillaume, so David imagines that Giovanni approached Guillaume out of desperation for a job, revealing the end of his relationship with David as a way to entice Guillaume’s desires. Despite his disgust and fear of the “silly old queen” (155), Giovanni must have let Guillaume have his way—and must have hated himself for it. David imagines that Guillaume refused to give Giovanni a job after using him. In an argument that likely ensued, David believes Guillaume insulted Giovanni too many times,