Swimming in the Dark

Giovanni’s Room plays an important part in Swimming in the Dark. Write an essay in which you compare Ludwik with the novel’s main character, David. In what way is Swimming in the Dark a response to or commentary on Giovanni’s Room?

Ludwik undergoes a transformation during Swimming in the Dark, re-analyzing the shame he feels for his sexuality. What precisely allows Ludwik to release his shame? Examine the moments when Ludwik reconciles with his sexuality and explain the factors behind his self-acceptance and the implications of those factors.

Ludwik mentions at the end of the novel that he and Janusz had no good examples of how to be a couple. What influences Ludwik during his formative years to shape his view of his sexuality? What specifically does the novel demonstrate about the importance of representations of the LGBTQIA+ community and relationships?

One of the reasons that Ludwik and Janusz often struggle to find common ground in their relationship is because of The Antagonism of Cold War Politics. What do their different beliefs and experiences demonstrate about the way political structures and ideologies shape individual lives?

The act of swimming is a motif in Swimming in the Dark that represents Ludwik’s seeking freedom. Why does swimming represent freedom to Ludwik, and how does his relationship with swimming and his mother impact his approach to Janusz? In what ways does Ludwik become free while swimming, and in what ways is he still constrained?

Janusz, Ludwik, and Hania form a love triangle. How might we also see them as a political triangle? How do their romantic conflicts comment on the political conflicts of Soviet Poland?

Two events in Ludwik’s younger years inform his relationship with The Friction of Shame and Desire. Compare and contrast his near kiss with Beniek and his time in the park with Marian. How does each shape his identity and expectations? How does his understanding of each encounter and individual change over time, and why?

Ludwik often lives as though he has two lives in Poland, an internal one and a public one. The Impact of Repressive Society on Personal Identity eventually becomes so unbearable that he feels he must leave Poland. To what extent does leaving Poland resolve his split identity? In what ways does it fail to resolve it? If leaving Poland does not resolve all of Ludwik’s conflict, what does that mean?