A Single Man: A Novel

As George approaches the college where he works, he passes through a disadvantaged neighborhood where Black and Hispanic people live. He explains that these people are not his enemies, and he does not hate them; on the contrary, he believes he understands them. The college is surrounded by dormitories still in development. George pulls into a massive parking lot and counts the cars he recognizes as belonging to students of his. He walks into the main office, greets the secretaries, and checks in. As George ventures across campus, he observes the students passing by and compares them to products being “processed, packaged and placed on the market” (32). He finds a student with whom he regularly speaks in the cafeteria, a man named Russ Dreyer. As they walk to class together, George observes two shirtless men playing tennis and becomes aroused, losing track of his conversation with Dreyer. In this moment, George realizes his alternate self, the “talking head” (38), was speaking for him the moment he arrived at work. It alarms him to think that he is losing himself more and more to these alternates.

George describes his classroom’s structure and the way the students always avoid sitting in the front (with the exception of his regulars).