Throughout John's Room, Baldwin makes a number of references to David's sense of virility or invented masculinity imprinted on him by his father. In the early chapters, David alludes to the empty playfulness between father and son. This hyperbolized masculinity coming from his father leads to the formation of David's fervent belief in archetypal masculinity, prompting his unconscious and lifelong search for an ideal masculinity. This quest ultimately becomes one of the driving forces behind his actions for the rest of the novel. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Although unnamed, David's father is the only archetypal "man" in the entire novel, and thus is the only role model young David must compare himself to. form their own perceptions of what it truly means to be a “man.” In David's childhood, David's father was distant, and the times David interacted with him, every paternal instinct was veiled under a mask of brotherly companionship, not fatherhood: "We weren't like father and son, my father sometimes said proudly, we were like friends. I think my father sometimes really believed it. I didn't want to be his friend; I wanted to be his son” (16). own understanding of masculinity and, with no real guiding examples at his disposal, his ideologies became steeped in fictional stereotypes of manhood. In the later stages of the novel, David's latent search for true manhood is undeniable his preconceived notions of what it means to be a man, and as a direct result he retreats to the safety of Hella's bosom in a vain attempt to conform to her archetypal vision of perfect manhood and patriarchy. There was only one moment of true paternal feeling, a moment that David seems to regard as the only normal interaction he ever had with his father. After the car accident at the beginning of the novel, when David is in the hospital, his father, in a rare moment where he could be seen as weakness or strength, finally hints at his buried paternal love for his son through a simple touch. of David's forehead. “Don't cry, he said, don't cry. He caressed my forehead with that absurd handkerchief as if it possessed a healing power” (18). In a metaphorical sense, the handkerchief actually had a sense of relief for David, but his father's admission of paternity was too late. David's ideological views on masculinity were already ingrained in his mind. This latent desire for an archetypal manhood is most pronounced in David's internal struggle over his relationship with John. He longs for the sense of intimacy he feels when he is with the young man; however, his conscience makes him hesitate. While a sense of social propriety was undoubtedly a factor in David's hesitation, Baldwin alludes to David's terror that his carefully constructed sense of masculinity would be destroyed as the real reason behind his eventual escape from John. David hints at the realization of his fears when he talks about his relationship with the Italian: “I invented a sort of pleasure in being a housewife after Giovanni had gone to work….. But I'm not a housewife - men can't never be housewives” (88). David's previously unknown discomfort with his role in their relationship manifested itself instantly; he began to see himself as the light of a wife, and it was this notion that ultimately threatened his view of masculinity to the point that he saw no other option but to flee John's grasp to preserve his sense?