David

The novel's protagonist. David is an American expatriate who came to Paris to try to figure out what he wants to do with his life after leaving the army. Giovanni's Room progresses as David reflects back on his life and especially events surrounding his intense affair with an Italian émigré bartender named Giovanni and his inability to accept his sexuality.

Giovanni

An Italian émigré in Paris working in a gay bar who meets David and has a brief but passionate affair with him. At the beginning of Giovanni's Room, it is revealed that Giovanni is awaiting execution for the murder of his former employer. Described as beautiful, Giovanni is also sad and vulnerable.

Hella

An American woman and David’s fiancée who is traveling in Spain throughout most of the book. Hella is reunited with David in Chapters 4 and 5 of Part Two. She represents David’s attempt to live a traditional, heterosexual life.

Jacques

A Belgian businessman living in Paris. Jacques is an older gay acquaintance of David whose behavior David disdains. He engages in mutually exploitative relationships first with David and eventually with Giovanni.

Guillaume

The owner of the bar that Giovanni works at in Paris. Guillaume presides over a wildly imbalanced exploitative relationship with Giovanni. Giovanni is later convicted of killing him in a fit of rage when Guillaume exploits him one too many times.

Joey

A childhood friend of David’s in Brooklyn. One night the two become intimate, and this fills David with fear and shame. David decides to bully him at school and never sees him again.

David's father

An American who lives in New York. He provides David with financial support while pressuring him to return home to the United States.

Aunt Ellen

An American woman and David’s aunt who helps raise him after David’s mother dies.

Soldier

A soldier who David had sex with while in the army before the events of the novel. It is revealed that he was later court-martialed for being gay.

"Zombielike" bar patron

A customer at Guillaume’s bar in Paris who disturbs David at the beginning of the novel. David mocks and misgenders this person to reinforce and codify his own fragile masculinity.

Restaurant hostess

An acquaintance of Giovanni’s who greets him at a seedy restaurant in Les Halles.

Caretaker

The caretaker at David and Hella's house in the south of France who advises David to settle down and get married in Part One, Chapter 3.

Sailor outside American Express office

A good-looking sailor whom David absent-mindedly stares at in Part Two, Chapter 2. He stares back in disgust and reminds David of the way that he reacts to Jacques’ sexualized glares.

Sue

An acquaintance of David’s who he has sex with to forget Giovanni.

Yves

A street prostitute friend of Giovanni’s who talks to David about Giovanni.

Sailor in Nice

A sailor David hooks up with before Hella catches and confronts him in Part Two, Chapter 5.

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