Even crushed against his brother in the Tube the average Englishman pretends desperately that he is alone.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Greer highlights the English tendency to maintain a sense of isolation even in crowded public spaces.
- In plain terms
- English people pretend to be alone even when squeezed next to others.
- What can you take from it?
- Social norms dictate how we act in crowded spaces.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do we value isolation in crowds?
- Is pretending alone a survival tactic?
Another view
It stereotypes a whole population based on one trait.
More from Germaine Greer
Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It had no mother.
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