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When A Single Man was published in 1964, views of gay people were extremely negative and ignorant. George is a gay man living in Los Angeles during the 1960s. He left his home in England due to his orientation being illegal and widespread prejudice, hoping life for him would be less secretive in the United States. While no longer at risk of being jailed, George still faces gossip, shame, and isolation. With that said, he embodies the ways prejudice against minorities affect people as individuals.
The effects of prejudice on George are numerous and severe. First and foremost, George is not allowed to be his true self, citing the “psychological makeup” (27) he must wear to be acceptable in the public sphere. Not being able to be himself creates shame within George, and he begins to see himself as the abhorrent “creature” (2) that others do. While George is fortunate enough to find love amid his social isolation, Jim is taken from him in a cruel twist of fate, leaving him even lonelier than before. He is acutely aware of the way others view gay relationships, and speaks to Mrs. Strunk in his head, saying “Jim wasn’t a substitute for anything” (27). He knows that people “are afraid of what they know is somewhere in the darkness around them [...] the unspeakable that insists, despite their shushing, on speaking its name” (15). Even George’s closest friend, Charlotte, assumes he isn’t truly gay and attempts to romance him. Everyone around George misunderstands him and downplays the life he shared with Jim.
George experiences several mental health issues, partially due to the prejudice he faces in his daily life. Having to hide his true identity and feelings about social issues leads him to dissociate and have regular emotional outbursts. He yells at his neighbors and students, loses control of his thoughts, and mentally separates from his body while driving: “George comes up dazed to the surface, realizing with a shock that the chauffeur-figure has broken a record; never before has it managed to get them this far entirely on its own” (26). George’s loneliness is severe, which causes him to be gullible and vulnerable to romantic attention (real or otherwise). This leads to him being teased and used by Kenny. In the end, the prejudices George faces cause his downfall, as he is alone and angry at the world’s injustices.
George is burdened by grief after the loss of his partner, Jim. He and Jim were together for years and experienced a genuine connection that George never felt with anyone else. Jim accepted George for who he was, and brought out the fun, lighthearted side of him. George’s inability to move on from Jim’s death and process his loss ties him to the past and prevents him from living a fulfilling life in the present. Antithetical to the prejudice of those around him, George’s grief is real and rooted in undying romantic love for his partner.
When George talks about the past, he capitalizes it. The past weighs heavy, and he is constantly consumed by nostalgia that causes him to dissociate and sometimes lose control of himself. George continues to live in his and Jim’s house because it keeps him connected to his partner. He visits Doris on her death bed, a person he despises in an environment he cannot stand, for the sake of keeping a small piece of Jim in his life. When George visits Charlotte, the two of them discuss the past and reminisce about things discussed several times before. This shows that they are both stuck in a loop they cannot escape. Neither of them has any goals or prospects for the future, and are deeply depressed as a result. By the time George finally has an illuminating experience with Kenny and realizes he must live for the present, he dies. Grief consumed George’s life, and he was never able to move past it.
George bases his actions and views on his past with Jim and what Jim would do and think. From the moment he wakes, he wonders if Jim would approve of his life: “Just suppose that the dead do revisit the living. That something approximately to be described as Jim can return to see how George is making out” (16). George is not living for himself, but instead for a person who is long gone. It is not until his dying moments that he realizes “Jim is death” (159). Lingering on the past does nothing to serve either man, as Jim cannot benefit, and George is being held back from experiencing growth or new love. At times, the memory of Jim becomes toxic and stirs up hate in George: “Jim hardly matters any more. Jim is nothing now, but an excuse for hating three quarters of the population of America” (36). Grief over lost love is a very human experience. George’s first thought when he wakes is Jim, and his last thought before he dies is his seeing Jim at The Starboard Side bar. George’s devotion to his partner is unmovable and becomes his tragic flaw.
George constantly faces the fact that his life will end. He is preoccupied with worry about when he will die, what it will be like, and if anything will follow it. He is fully aware that he is stuck in the past and unable to live a fulfilling life due to his fear of death—but does not know how to overcome it. George thinks about death from the moment he wakes (and is reminded of Jim) and still thinks about it as he dies. He lived through both World Wars and the Cold War, the threat of death being ever present in his life. He spent his younger years worrying about being drafted and killed in war, or bombs falling on him. Now, during the Cold War, George sees the future as bleak and possibly nonexistent. Throughout the novel, George’s obsession with death acts as a barrier against his acceptance of Jim’s own—as well as a barrier against any potential growth.
Many of the events during George’s final day are steeped in the concept of death or the threat of it. George begins his day thinking about Jim’s death and when his own death will occur. When he drives to work, he lets “the chauffeur-figure” (48) take the wheel and risks a car accident. The Holocaust comes up during George’s English class, and afterwards, he visits Doris who is literally dying before him. Doris is a stark reminder of death, and George spends more time thinking about his own existence than hers. He later asks Kenny if he thinks about death, to which the younger replies that “maybe the other generations before [his] think about Death a lot more” (137) due to the possibility of being drafted and killed in war. When the two go swimming in the ocean, George nearly drowns. As the day goes on, death seems to be catching up with him, until he finally dies in his sleep at the end of the night. The irony and tragedy of the novel are grounded in George’s fear of death, grief, and isolation. By the time he finally overcomes these truths, he dies: “But George is getting old. Won’t it very soon be too late?” (159).
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By Christopher Isherwood