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Comparing The Outsider In Bent And A Single Man

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Does homosexuality determine a character's outsider status?

Throughout literature, the themes of homosexuality and the outsider have often been linked, unsurprising considering as of June 2015, seventy-three countries still have laws criminalizing homosexuality. In both Martin Sherman’s Bent and Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, the theme of the outsider is intrinsic to the plot, frequently linked with the theme of homosexuality, though for different purposes and to different extents.

In A Single Man, the theme of the outsider is immediately obvious from the offset, the novel beginning with a disembodied voice, showing a severe lack of identity. However, the isolation revealed is that of George from himself, not of him from society, …show more content…

It is called George.”, linking, for the first time, George’s body and George’s being. Ominous as this sounds to the reader, it does not reveal anything particularly unnerving, or at least nothing more unnerving than the theme of time and failure introduced in this section. It is simply establishing that our protagonist is the disembodied voice, and that it takes time for him to remember, revealing his fragile mental state. Already, the theme of the outsider is clear. However, as the reader later finds out, though this appears unlinked to his sexuality, it is actually due to his inability to cope with the grief of his partner, Jim. Whilst the loss of a partner is not a singularly unique experience, George does not tell his acquaintances that Jim has died - a part of him he has to, or chooses to, hide it, because of how he has been treated in the past, and how he fears being treated in the future. George’s homosexuality is not mentioned until he has “reached the bottom of the stairs”, where “nearly every morning” he is reminded (of Jim’s death), but the instability of his coping mechanism, or lack of, is undeniably linked to his homosexuality, because he can not talk about his loss, so he does …show more content…

Rudy, arguably the most likeable character, makes some attempt in the first scene to steer the conversation away from the unpleasantries that Max is determined to hear, the sole attempt to disguise, or deny, the sinister and manipulative nature of Max, and the sinister and unavoidable context of Nazi Germany. Compared to George, who epitomises the themes of loss and failure, forming a pitiful, if selfish presentation of a character, Max is unlikable from the offset, and unashamedly so. Clearly, this could establish him as an outsider, as he is vindictive and selfish, unapologetic about destroying Rudy’s plants, and threatening “I’ll do it again.” Whilst Max’s persecution and separation from society is initiated because of his homosexuality, similar to George, he is isolated beforehand. Bent’s plot, however, progresses rapidly after the introduction of the characters, whereas A Single Man takes place over one day, and therefore continues the slow pace throughout. This, however, seems appropriate considering that A Single Man deals explicitly with the themes of failure and time running out, and so the slow pace echoes George’s uneventful and lonely life, and his fear of simultaneously time moving too fast and time being too slow. In Bent, the rapid progression of plot echoes the journey Max and Rudy, and then singularly Max, experience. It also establishes, like A Single Man, the theme of

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