Giovanni's Room
This city, known for its cafés, art, and romance, serves as the setting for most of Giovanni’s Room.
What is Paris?
C'mon girls! This video was inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis, a 1927 German Expressionist film.
What is "Express Yourself?"
This character is the play’s protagonist, a housewife who secretly took out a loan to save her husband’s life.
Who is Nora?
"Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air."
What is "Lady Lazarus?"
David Brooks publishes in the United States, but he was born in this country.
What is Canada?
She is David’s fiancée, who represents the conventional life with which he struggles.
Who is Hella?
1985's "Material Girl" was inspired by this 1953 film starring Marilyn Monroe.
What is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?
This character serves as a foil to Nora, representing a woman who chose self-sacrifice and duty over personal freedom.
Who is Mrs. Linde (Christine)?
"There's a stake in your fat black heart / And the villagers never liked you."
What is "Daddy?"
Developed by Norman Lear, this American sitcom was based on the British "Till Death Us Do Part."
What is "All in the Family?"
This symbolic location represents both confinement and the inevitability of Giovanni’s fate.
What is Giovanni's room?
This is a style of music created by women that originated in Cape Verde, some say the birth place of slave trade. It featured prominently in "Batuka."
What is Batuque?
The play caused shock in 1879 for ending with this unprecedented act by a female character in a major play.
What is Nora leaving her husband and children?
"My body is a pebble to them, they tend it as water / Tends to the pebbles it must run over, smoothing them gently."
What is "Tulips?"
IB defines these as a) having significance on a wide/large scale; (b) transnational; and (c) having impact felt in everyday contexts
What are global issues?
Before writing Giovanni’s Room, Baldwin moved to this country to escape American racism and censorship, finding the freedom to explore themes of sexuality and identity in his work.
What is France?
This video opens with a quote from Joan of Arc: "One life is all we have and we live it as believe in living it."
What is "Dark Ballet?"
This is the language in which the play was originally written.
What is Norwegian?
"Love set you going like a fat gold watch."
What is "Morning Song?"
In IB, "IO" stands for this.
What is Individual Oral?
This was the year Giovanni's Room was first published.
What is 1956?
This video implores viewers to "wake up" on matters of gun violence and political apathy.
What is "God Control?"
He wrote A Doll's House.
Who is Henrik Ibsen?
"But one dusk our questions commended us to a tour / Through his lantern-lit / Maze of barns..."
What is "Sow?"
When a sentence has a subject performing an action, it is in this “voice,” as opposed to when the subject receives the action.
What is the active voice?