Every coming out story should deal with the characters' struggles with staying in the closet. The stage where one cannot yet speak openly about one's identity can be the most difficult and turbulent time in navigating one's queer identity. It's a time of difficult introspection and dissonance from the rest of the world, which can be incredibly isolating and worrying. Each person's experience in discovering their identity is unique, as are the closets they find themselves in. The nature of the closet depends on the period, society and the attitude of each individual. Additionally, an individual's experience in the closet inevitably shapes how they perceive their sexuality, act toward their partner, and approach the outside world. After careful analysis of three new short stories: the novel Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, the short story "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx, and the graphic memoir Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, I believe that the most central setting of each serves as a metaphor for the closet. I will discuss how Giovanni's room in Giovanni's Room, the mountain in "Brokeback Mountain" and Alison's childhood home in Fun Home all symbolize the closet in the way the settings act as very personal worlds away of reality for the characters, work to conceal the atmosphere. secrecy of the characters' sexuality and reflects the characters' attitudes towards their identity. I will also work through some of the many similarities and differences between the experiences of the characters in these works. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay As Baldwin describes the crucial setting for his characters, “Life in this play seemed to go on under the sea. Time flowed indifferently above us; hours and days had no meaning” (75). For David and Giovanni, Giovanni's room is a place detached from reality, where the rules of the world they knew do not apply. The two men are in a sort of limbo in Paris, Giovanni having fled his family to Italy after the stillbirth of his child and David waiting for his fiancée? Damn, I'll be back. This room, their home in Paris, is where they can safely express their sexuality, but also where their secret must remain if they want to integrate into the dominant world. Not only are they free to act on their desires within the walls of the room, but they even begin to mirror the gender roles of a heterosexual couple, with David staying inside and cleaning while Giovanni works and attempts home improvement projects like building a book shelf in the room. bedroom. This stands in stark contrast to the way they cling to classical ideas of masculinity in their daily lives, and it only makes them stranger and more removed from the outside world of 1950s Paris. David and Giovanni are both closeted, but Their experiences and attitudes toward their sexuality and relationships diverge greatly. Just as the room reflects the closet, their attitude toward the room reflects their attitude toward their situation. Giovanni makes an effort to renovate the room and make it a good home where he and David can be happy together instead of remembering the difficulties of their lives. David remarks, “I had to destroy this room and give Giovanni a new and better life” (88). Giovanni feels no self-hatred due to his attraction to men and wants to find a way to get the most out of his relationship with David even if theymust remain “in the closet”. However, David has a very different point of view. “No matter what I did, another me sat in my belly, absolutely cold with terror at the thought of my life” (83). He views the room as dirty and begins to hate being there as his shame and hatred for his identity grows. He feels uncomfortable there to the point that he often dissociates and completely denies what is happening. David would rather live his life in denial than ever call this room home, because it is such a strong symbol of an identity he resists and the man who wants to bring him to embrace it. “You want to leave Giovanni because he makes you stink. You want to look down on Giovanni because he's not afraid of the stench of love. (141). In comparison to the closet metaphors found in the other two works, Giovanni's room is certainly the most literal image of a closet, with the two men locked together in tiny maid's quarters. This contrasts greatly with the vast natural mountain world of Brokeback Mountain and the extravagant labyrinth house of Fun Home. However, Giovanni's room is similar to Brokeback Mountain in that the characters' closet is a new place away from home where they find themselves freer and able to have a secret relationship. Neither David and Giovanni nor Jack and Ennis are able to come out in the societies they live in and need a place isolated from the world for their relationship to begin. In Brokeback Mountain, the metaphor for Jack and Ennis' closet is the mountain. where they meet and begin their relationship while working on a ranch together one summer. Although their relationship continued sporadically for many years until Jack's death, the couple still remained obsessed with the power of their experience at Brokeback Mountain. The mountain continues to be so important to them that Jack even wants his ashes scattered there: "He used to say he wanted to be cremated, his ashes scattered on Brokeback Mountain" (25). This is very important because for Jack and Ennis, the mountain is a fantasy world that belongs only to them. “There were only two of them on the mountain, flying in the euphoric and bitter air, watching the back of the hawk and the creeping headlights of vehicles on the plain below, hanging above ordinary affairs” (7). It becomes a bubble of security and secrecy in a society that would never tolerate them. Jack and Ennis' approach to their sexuality is reflected in Brokeback Mountain, in the way their desires, much like their surroundings, are treated as natural and uncontrollable rather than rational. They are described as part of the mountainous environment around them rather than a distant human civilization. Jack and Ennis are simple and bestial in their actions, and this is perhaps best exemplified by their almost complete lack of communication about their relationship. “They never talked about sex, let’s just let it happen” (7). Like nature, Jack and Ennis' relationship is something bigger than themselves, something they cannot fight against. “There are no reins on this one. This really scares me. »(14). The major difference between Brokeback Mountain and the closet metaphors found in the other two stories is that the setting is part of nature rather than created by humans. The characters in Giovanni's Room and Fun Home are depicted as having more choices regarding their path as well as more control over their environment and their closets. It's also different in that Jack and Ennis fondly remember their summer on Brokeback Mountain as a carefree time of their youth, while Alison's house and bedroom.