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Elizabeth Barron

Professor Jennifer Rodrick

Queer Studies 115

19 November 2017

There is more to being Lonely

In A Single Man written by Christopher Isherwood the main character is a middle-aged

homosexual professor named George, who recently lost his lover Jim in a fatal car accident. As a

result, George has lost his desire to live and does not feel human anymore. He refers to himself

in third person and as an old machine that gets tired to perform everyday tasks. There are a few

parts in the book which may convince the readers that George is going to commit suicide as he

feels that he is only playing a role in life. He feels this way due to Jims passing and because he

is not open about his sexuality which is why he does not live happily. Like many Lesbian Gay

Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals, George suffers from depression and loneliness as

the relationships he has with others seem temporary.

The book is written over the course of twenty four hours of Georges life. Throughout the

book it is seen that George does not associate intimately with many. He keeps his sexuality a

secret which impedes him from feeling free. He did not attend his lover Jims funeral because he

knew he would not be able to grief comfortably in front of Jims family. For this reason, George

runs and cries to Charlotte, referred to as Charley, who is Georges friend. Charley knows that

George is gay and accepts him. She knew Jim before passing away and reminds George often

when intoxicated, that he wanted her to take care of him. Even though she and George have

kissed while being drunk a few times they knew they were nothing more than friends. Because

they are friends, George does not want her to leave back to England to live with her sister when
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Charley tells him she might. Charley says she will get a sense of belonging if she were to move

back although at the same time she knows that she will be miserable living with her sister. This

supports the idea that the people in Georges life are temporary since Charley might leave him

and he will no longer have a friend there for him. This will only make him feel lonelier and

contribute to his depression.

Another person who is temporary in Georges life is Kenny. He is one of Georges

students who gradually starts to mean something to him. Kenny starts showing interest towards

getting to know George more. After Georges lecture, he initiates a conversation with him as

they walk to the bookstore. Once they get there Kenny asks him what he wanted to get from

there and George replies nothing. This surprises him so he offers to buy George a pencil

sharpener since he accompanied him just to continue the conversation. George blushes at his

genuine gesture because to him it seemed like he had been offered a rose (Isherwood, 81).

George kept the pencil sharpener in his pocket and carried on. Later that day, George goes to a

bar and sees Kenny there. George says what a coincidence it was to see him there because he

knows Kenny lives on the other side of town near campus. Kenny then admits that he is there

because he knew he would see George there; one of the kids told me youre in here a lot

(Isherwood, 151). This quote is important because after being analyzed it indicates that George

copes with his depression and Jims grief by drinking alcohol quite often. Moreover, after a

couple of drinks, Kenny and George started to be flirtatious although Kenny has a girlfriend.

George also takes the sharpener out of his pocket and Kenny says he already lost his. They then

leave the bar, go skinny dipping, and walk back to Georges house where Kenny ends up not

spending the night and leaves. This indicates that Kenny did not think much about giving the

sharpener to George as it did to him. Kenny did not care about the sharpener which can
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symbolize commitment, meaning he did not take their relationship seriously making him another

temporary person in Georges life.

This seems to be something repetitive that occurs to George as Jim had a girlfriend

named Doris who he cheated with. Jim and Kenny explored their sexuality with George as both

had girlfriends, but George did not treat them any differently. He still visited Doris in the

hospital since she was in the car accident with Jim and is now in the verge of death. George visits

her because she reminds him of Jim and their relationship that ended unexpectedly. George

would take her flowers and gifts, but by their short conversations it was clear that they were not

friends. He would also visit her because he felt pity for her knowing she could no longer

distinguish between a hallucination and what was real because of her medication. He would take

her hand to comfort her, but he says it was without there being affection in it. George explains

how holding her hand made him feel less embarrassed because of her sickness and the gesture

meant, We are on the same road, I shall follow you soon (Isherwood, 98). This quote

exemplifies that George might have wanted to commit suicide sooner than later because he felt

alone and without a purpose in life.

According to the National Alliance of Mental Health (NAMI), LGBT individuals are at

higher risk of substance abuse. It is reported that 25% of LGBT people abuse alcohol, compared

to 5-10% of the general population (NAMI). Referring back to the story, George was

automatically at higher risk of turning to alcohol because of the prejudice and lack of stable

relationships he held. This explains why he kept his sexuality a secret and on top of that Jims

death made him feel lonelier than before. As a result, he started drinking with Charley to the

point where he almost fell down as he was leaving her house once and started going to the bar
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quite often. Unfortunately, for LGBT individuals, like George, being intoxicated serves as a

short term escape to forget about the sadness they feel daily, therefore abuse alcohol or drugs.

Similarly, LGBT individuals are at a higher risk of physical and psychological problems

compared to heterosexuals. They try to relieve feeling isolated by turning to either drugs or

alcohol. However, their pain becomes a mental problem. As stated by the National Lesbian Gay

Bisexual and Intersexual Health Alliance, LGBT people are nearly six times more likely to

meet the criteria for a depressive episode (lgbtihealth.org). As the statistic shows, George was

prone to falling into depression much easier that the general population especially after his

lovers death. Recalling back to the book, in a scene George asked Kenny if he thought about

death a lot and Kenny said no. George goes on to say, The future--thats where death is

(Isherwood, 157). This quote demonstrates Georges thoughts of early death which are clear

signs of depression and a suicidal way of thinking. The way he physically describes himself

while looking in the mirror is also in a negative way; Staring and staring into the mirror, it sees

many faces within its facethe face of the child, the boy, the young man, the not-so-young

manall present still [] and, like fossils, dead (Isherwood, 10). He describes himself as

already being dead inside meaning he has lost all hope within himself to live happily. He also

makes certain comments relating to death as previously quoted to Kenny and Doris about the

future which is evident that he was going to pass away soon and he did. Although it seemed as if

George might have wanted to commit suicide by the physical and psychological signs of

depression he showed, he book ends with Georges heart giving up on him. He had a natural

death which was not caused self intentionally or by substance abuse of any kind. George passed

away on the floor of his own home from being broken hearted as he could no longer take what he

was going through so his heart gave up on him suddenly.

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As the image above illustrates, depression has different effects on the human mind and

body. George presented a combination of both physical and emotional symptoms like overall

sadness and lack of motivation which can be seen at the beginning of the story as he is getting

ready for the day. Other symptoms shown in the picture did not need to be directly said in the

book, but were still present. One of them being frustration. He may have been frustrated with the

fact that people would leave him and how he could not easily say he was homosexual. It was not

easy for him to come out especially in his work place where students and faculty could

unconsciously or not treat him differently.

In all, as seen in the story George was lonely and became depressed as he lacked having

lasting relationships with others. As a result, he started drinking more to forget about what he

was feeling and going through. Other LGBT members can relate to his situation in the sense that
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they fear the prejudice and harassment they devastatingly see other LGBT individuals receive

from society after coming out. They also do not choose to be depressed which is why they cope

with what they are feeling by ultimately abusing alcohol or drugs. However, George serves as

proof that sometimes it does not take substance abuse for a person to be dying inside. For this

reason, losing their lovers or people who support them greatly affects their physical and

psychological health more than it does to the general population.

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Works Cited

Isherwood, Christopher. A Single Man. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964. Print.

National Alliance of Mental Health, 2017. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017. https://www.nami.org/Find-

Support/LGBTQ

National LGBTI Health Alliance, 2016. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017.

http://lgbtihealth.org.au/statistics/

Scheller, Alissa. The Toll Depression Has on the Body and Mind The Huffington Post, 2014.
Accessed 20 Nov. 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/depression-
symptoms_n_5868190.html