A Single Man: A Novel

Being long deceased, Jim is not physically present in the novel, but plays a vital role in George’s perspective. Jim dies in a car accident on his way to visit family a few years prior to the events of the novel. The only information given about him is through memories that George frequently returns to in times of grief and joy. These memories frame Jim as compassionate and fun-loving. George recalls their close bond and memories of Jim wanting to adopt neighborhood animals. Jim was not afraid to live life as his true self and to be in a relationship with George despite societal views of being gay at the time. He was also in the Navy and served in World War II. Both of these facts allude to Jim being a brave and unencumbered individual. George’s other Jim-related memories are filled with fun, such as their times travelling and drinking at The Starboard Side bar.

Jim’s continued presence in George’s life is a symbol of his grief, loneliness, and inability to escape the past. Memories of Jim follow George throughout his day and permeate every action and thought. He wakes up each morning with the re-realization that “Jim is dead. Is dead” (4). When George goes into the kitchen, he remembers cooking with Jim. He visits Doris in her dying state to remain connected to Jim, and lives in a house much too large for one person because he lived in it with Jim. After Jim died, George was unable to cope or move on, refusing to let go of the love of his life, the only person who seemed to accept him for who he was. When George goes through periods of low self-esteem or loses control of his anger, he imagines what Jim would say. With no active role whatsoever, Jim controls every aspect of George’s life; he feels desperately incomplete without his partner.

Kenny brings out George’s lust and youthful joy—and thus represents his sexuality and youth. He first appears in George’s class; when George is ranting, he notices Kenny watching him and smiling. He is uncertain if Kenny is laughing at him or marveling at him. After class, Kenny catches up to George, and George walks Kenny to the school bookstore. Kenny buys George a pencil sharpener as thanks—which the latter interprets as a romantic gesture. Later, a hopeful Kenny finds George at The Starboard Side post-leaving Charlotte’s house. After a pleasant evening together, Kenny invites himself over to George’s house.

Kenny ignites emotions in George long suppressed since Jim died. He is clearly curious about George and his ideas—however, he seems uninterested in pursuing anything serious. Kenny feeds into George’s arrogance regarding his intelligence and wisdom. He insists on calling George “Sir,” and when George asks him not to, he explains that he enjoys authority and respect being clear-cut concepts. It is evident that Kenny agrees with George’s stance on minorities when he says, “What’s so phoney nowadays is all this familiarity. Pretending there isn’t any difference between people […] If you and I are no different, what do we have to give to each other?” (128). Kenny looks up to George and initially confuses this with attraction. When the house situation becomes real (i.e., George asks about sex), he realizes he is in over his head and leaves.

For George, Charlotte serves as a link to the past and symbolizes the way it can cling to a person and hold them back from living in the present. She is the first person with whom George interacts when he wakes on his last day: Charlotte calls George while he is in the bathroom and invites him over. George initially declines, sensing that she is already half-drunk, but decides to take up on the offer when loneliness hits him after class. He and Charlotte spend a few hours getting drunk and reminiscing about their old lives in England. Charlotte becomes deeply upset at the thought of being alone before “sob[ing] herself into a calm” (112). She is chronically depressed, lonely, and without companionship except for George. She drinks heavily and lacks self-control, which becomes most evident when she throws herself at George at the end of their evening together. This act also shows her misinformed view of George’s sexuality, as she assumes he must be attracted to women. Charlotte was friends with both George and Jim, and when Jim died, she became George’s main source of support. She is not stable, however, and hinders George’s progress in moving on from Jim’s death by constantly calling him back to the past.

Doris provides a connection to Jim and serves as a stark reminder of the inevitable nature of death. She is terminally ill and as such, lives in a hospital. When George visits, Doris is half-conscious, and apathetic. She remains this way until he leaves, uttering few words. George and Jim met Doris by chance one day; Doris incited Jim’s curiosity, and the two of them took a trip to Mexico. George resents Doris for this, believing that “Doris was Woman the Enemy” (75) and refers to her as “Bitch-Mother Nature.”

George maintains a relationship with Doris because, despite his resentment of her, she knew Jim. As a result, losing Doris would feel like losing a part of Jim. But when George sees her at the hospital, “she is a different creature altogether” (74) and no longer resembles the Doris that Jim knew. George realizes this and feels another thread tying him to Jim cut. Doris’s impending death also pushes George to contemplate when it will be his turn to lay where she lies.