Johnnie’s Struggle to Find His Niche

Johnnie’s Struggle to Find His Niche

            Johnnie struggles throughout “The Outing” to find himself, both in his church and in his family. Johnnie struggles to find his place in his family due to his oppressive preacher father. Johnnie struggles to be accepted by his step-father, because he is a product of his mother’s premarital sins. Johnnie’s step-father does not treat his son with respect, only ever praising and fawning over his half-brother, Roy. The tension between Johnnie and his step-father is palpable, especially when Johnnie attempts to challenge his father, he wants his father to see how much he “hated him” and is met with the response of “We get home, I’ll pull down those long pants and we’ll see who’s the man” (pg. 36).

            Johnnie is understandably angry with his step-father. Before the standoff, Johnnie’s father, named Gabriel, had claimed that Roy, his obvious favorite, had been the one bringing David and recruiting him to the congregation. This is obviously false as the narrator comments that David has to work to “recover from his amazement at hearing Roy mentioned as his especial pal (for he was Johnnie’s friend” (pg. 34).  Johnnie is not accepted by his father, and because he is not accepted by the man of the house, it is difficult for him to find himself at home, because his mom only filters Gabriel’s wrath and does not altogether stop it.

            I would like to turn to David’s mention to Johnnie as his “especial pal” (pg. 34). Especial pal is an interesting way to refer to someone who is just a friend. We learn later however that Johnnie, like James Baldwin, is gay or at least has feelings of attraction to David. Johnnie’s sexuality can be inferred from the numerous descriptions of “their arms around each other” and Johnnie telling David, “I love you” (pg. 42-43). Baldwin explores Johnnie’s love, jealousy, and difficulty to give in to the revelry of the church throughout “The Outing.”

            Traditionally, it has been difficult for homosexual individuals to be accepted by the Christian Church, because the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin, and especially because being gay was not tolerated at the time Baldwin was writing “The Outing.” The reader is in tune to Johnnie’s inner strife even though it may not be explained by the narrator. When the service begins, and congregation members begin to “Shout,” Johnnie is drawn to join in, he wants to join in, but seems to feel slightly out of place. He eventually does not “feel the presence of the Lord, but the presence of David” (pg. 51). Though Baldwin only gives huge hints at Johnnie’s sexuality, and never mentions he may feel out of place due to his sexuality, we as the readers are able to imagine that those thoughts or feelings may perturb Johnnie.

            Johnnie is seemingly hit by the reality of David at the end of the story. Johnnie begins to flail at the end of “The Outing” when he attempts to wrest David away from a traditional relationship of the time, one with a girl. Johnnie is jealous and can sense that something has changed within David by the end of their outing. It will no longer be David and Johnnie against the world. Johnnie is not pushed away by David, but he is no longer the singular object of David’s love and attention.

            By the end of “The Outing” the reader can tell that Johnnie is an outsider in his family, in his church, and now partially an outsider to his best friend and dearest friend. Johnnie is the definition of outsider in the American society of the 1950s, he is a homosexual, black, child out of wedlock. Johnnie’s situation makes my heart throb, it hurts to connect with a character who faces such adversity, but his struggle is a key reason that makes Johnnie’s character so compelling. He does not really belong in the situation or time period he is growing up in, and this fact makes him, like Baldwin, radical and brave. I am interested to see how Johnnie progresses throughout the rest of Baldwin’s short stories.