A Single Man: A Novel

Beginning to dread the thought of going home to an empty house, George calls Charlotte and asks if she would still like to meet. She agrees, and while he feels relieved for a moment, he immediately begins to doubt his decision. George goes home to change. Mrs. Strunk comes to his door and asks him if he would like to come over for a visit—something she has not done for a long time. George voices his desire to do so the next day, but she remarks that she will have other friends over. He is instantly made aware of her concern over his being gay offending them. Nevertheless, he politely declines her invitation.

George lives a five-minute walk away from Charlotte, who lives on the hill above him. He makes his way there, observing the sudden decrease in quality of life compared to the street he lives on. Charlotte’s house is set apart from the rest, with its own staircase and dilapidated porch. George describes it as “marvellously remote from everywhere else in the world” (95). He finds Charlotte half-drunk and distraught over her estranged relationship with her son. As George comforts her, he thinks back to the moment when Jim’s uncle called him about Jim’s death. George reacted coldly, declined the funeral invitation, and never connected with Jim’s family again. Jim referred to George as a roommate among his family but made it well-known that the two were close. George turned to Charlotte in his grief, and Charlotte comforted him and helped him get back on his feet.

George and Charlotte drink and eat stew after the latter finishes sobbing. George notes to himself that if he died instead of Jim, Jim would be the one sitting with Charlotte. The two start to get drunk, and Charlotte asks George if he prefers living alone, hinting at the idea of them living together. George ignores the comment and moves on to a story about his and Jim’s past trip to England. He tells Charlotte about the house he grew up in despite her hearing about it several times before—an old Victorian in the suburbs of Manchester. George describes the night he and Jim went to a local pub, one Jim “fell wildly in love with” (109). Jim loved England, George’s old house, and the people there so much that he dreamt of him and George living there one day. Charlotte asks George, “Do you think—I mean—if Jim [hadn’t died]—would you really have bought it and settled down there?” (110). George has no answer, and the mood changes instantly. As Charlotte gets more drunk, she starts musing about leaving as nobody needs her.

George wants to tell her that he needs her but does not see it as appropriate to say to a friend. Charlotte dreads the idea of returning home without her husband as her sister will shame her, describing it as “going back to the place where [she] turned off the road” (113). She concludes that she cannot leave George alone, citing that Jim would have wanted her to stay. Charlotte becomes increasingly flirtatious with George and calls him “darling” (114). George tries to leave, but Charlotte kisses him romantically before finally letting him go; he implies this kiss wasn’t the first. George is completely drunk by the end of the night and stumbles his way out the door.