Attire

His neat dark clothes, his white dress shirt and tie (the only tie in the room) are uncompromisingly alien from the aggressively virile informality of the young male students. Most of these wear sneakers and garterless white wool socks, jeans in cold weather, and in warm weather shorts . . . .

                                                          - A Single Man (p. 57)

This is George's outfit being described at his job as a professor, and describing what the male students are wearing. I find this passage kind of sad in a way because George is the only one wearing a suit and tie. Because I know at one point in history it was a given that absolutely everyone would be wearing their Sunday's best for something as little as school. But I guess school back in the late 1800s early 1900s was a rarity to most children, it was a special thing that they would dress up for. And nowadays its just more of an annoyance for most kids/teens to go to school, and they decide to come to school in their pajamas. And I'm not saying we should all look like were going to the Oscar's everyday, its just that we live in a physical and judging world and the first things someone judges when they see you is your appearance so why not make yourself look presentable no matter what your style is?