The Sense of an Ending

Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes, a Contemporary author publishes in 2004 The sense of an ending, a Forensic Memoir based on the recollection of events in Anthony Webster’s life experience. The novel is perceived as a Memoir since it evolves through two different time periods including Tony’s youth (past) and his elderly years (40 years later, in the present).  

Julian Barnes uses variations on past accounts by portraying Tony’s flashbacks as “those familiar memory loops” in order to work on the abstract concept named memory. Although the novel is also considered as a forensic memoir because from the sudden death of Veronica’s  (Tony’s first love) mother Sarah, Tony is invited to revisit his youth and resolve the crime of his past. The suicide of his best friend, Adrian.  

From the sensitive title, readers can feel that the novel is referred to an end, but which end? All readers, as human beings know that at some point in our life we will die, is this end making an allusion to the approach of humans towards death? The limit of life is death, the circle of life closes with death, death can be accomplished via various forms and procedures. You can die in a car accident, or when fighting in the world war, or from having cancer, or even from being infected by the coronavirus during the 2020 pandemic. 

Nevertheless, it is a phenomenon which cannot be avoided. Apparently Barnes refers to Tony sensing the end of his life when being an elder since he has put together his life, accomplished his goals and created his will. Thus, Adrian could also feel his life coming to an end when he committed suicide in the bathroom of his dorm when reading at Cambridge University, when the “bathwater was long gone cold behind a locked door”.  

Lit analysis and critique 

The novel can be analyzed with a selection of its events embodied in 4 main themes. The power of the mind creating memories which can be unreliable, time passing by constructing the history and philosophical reflections of the protagonists. 

First of all Barnes from the opening of the novel is introducing the theme of memory by recollecting in its art an autobiographical aspect since he writes through Tony’s self in the first person narrative with “I remember”. This emphasizes the concept that one’s personal memory consists of purely personal experiences, perceptions and thoughts.  

Originally, the symbol of memory is originated from Ancient Greece through “Mnemosyne” which represented the motherhood of inspirations, by giving birth to the 9 muses. The ancient Greek myth is linked with the water element since it says that if someone drank from Lethe (the river of oblivion), he could either remember or forget everything afterwards.  

In the opening of the novel, we can distinguish a strong presence of springs and fountains referring to this myth. For instance, Barnes lists three flashbacks related to the “waters” such as “- a river rushing”, or “the river is broad and grey” then “- another river” and “bathwater long gone cold”. It seems that the water is depicting an image of flow and fluidity, never ending, always moving forward with pressure. The fact that the water always flows is associated with time flying creating those memories.

Tony’s subconscious mind is creating these blur images to portray his memories, highlighted by the water element, he remembers the “bathwater long gone home behind a locked door” (1) and “steam rising from a wet sink as a hot frying pan” (2). These ordinary images are memories of people that have left, and solely remain alive in Tony’s memory. They can be seen as an introduction to the actual extraordinary events of the story.  

The first being Tony’s imagination of the crime scene: Adrian’s suicide (since he wasn’t present when he cut his wrists in the bathtub). The second referring to when Tony and Veronica visited her parents, it was a beautiful morning when everyone went out for a walk, Tony woke up and spent some time with Sarah (Veronica’s mother) in the kitchen. These flashbacks are employed as references to the main shocking, odd happenings linking the ordinary to the extraordinary and mainly proving that the work of memory is diachronic. Meaning, that Tony had to deal with flashback phenomena and the way his memory had transformed them over a period of time. When Tony retrospect in his past, he was able to share his “flashback memories” from the perspective that his mind had conserved these events. This showcases the conflict created between diachronic and synchronic. Tony does not carry the same behavioral response to Adrian’s and Veronica’s letter as a young Tony and older Tony, but the letter which is a concrete proof showcases the thesis that memory is diachronic- “conclusions are reversible”. 

Moreover, the author evokes that memory can be unreliable through the use of Tony as an unreliable narrator. Anthony Webster behold his own perception of the world, where his eyes embody the eyes of the reader. Elder Tony appears as a sophisticated and peaceful man, who has his own store of old cameras, not involved in any form of conflict- rather, the store implies a form of passivity. The first-person narration carries a form of empathy created by the reader towards the character of Tony. The reader strives to research the reasons why Tony behaved the way he did without blaming him. Because of the intimate connection created between the reader and the narrator, when finding out about the vehement letter Tony sent to Adrian and Veronica, his arrogant behavior, the ironic tone of the letter and intertextuality used by Barnes the reader discover another part of Tony’s personality. The empathy relation for the narrator cannot be contested. From one side the narrator loses credibility in the eyes of the reader which diminishes his reliability of describing events. The reader retains his empathic point of view for the narrator and puts himself in the shoes of Tony. Why did he act the way he did? What are the causes? Consequences? We may say that memory isn’t only an abstract concept but also a more complex psychological process of our brain, “a mechanism which reiterates truthful data with little variation”.  

Tony’s vision says that “what you end up remembering isn’t the same as you have witnessed”, meaning that a certain procedure really exists selecting and deforming events in order to assemble the memories. Tony only remembers several “approximate memories which time has deformed into certainty”. Memory, is directly linked with the way one felt the last time he membered the occurring event.  

Time is used as a factor of unreliable memory, here personified as a creature having the power to mold the recollection of events.  

Consequently, time is presented as an essential tool, a social and personal implication of memory, which “holds us and molds us”. Tony’s loneliness in his elderly years underlines how time has a social and personal impact on human beings. In the novel, time is presented as passing by, always fleeting and creating memories. It is depicted with “clocks and watches assure us passes regularly”. Thus, the “clocks” and the “watches” are symbolizing the concept of time since with these materialistic objects we realize that we are caught up in a ticking bomb that elapses every twenty-four hours. Watches are an attempt of the human to have control the time. Truth is, this is purely fictional, no one can have control over time because it elapses and never turns back. Hence the conflict between the objective and subjective time.  

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Barnes symbolizes time again using the “watch” presenting it as an “objective time” since it is a universal concept. Tony says that “There is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist”.  

Here the character evokes his personal experience with time’s “malleability”. Tony never wore his watch following the norms of society, facing the world but rather facing the inside of his wrist. This rebuttal towards the norms of society and logic put forward a conflict between Tony and time which is directly linked to memory. Tony, through this act attempted to make time subjective rather than objective and isolate himself towards the rest of the world.  

Throughout the evolution of time, people change. Human relations eventually evolve. Leading one to grow closer or further from another.  

Difficulties in relationships come in waves such as the love story between Tony and Veronica in the novel. In their younger years, when Veronica first kissed him, Tony said that “it was the beginning of the end of [their] relationship”. This antithesis highlights the introspection towards Tony’s and Veronica’s relationship. It is as if Tony had an instinct of what was going to occur in the future, just like Robson’s suicide was a hint towards Adrian’s suicide.  

Furthermore, History has a forefront position in the novel. Memory cannot be examined without the contestation of history.  

According to Tony, “History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation”. It appears that History can also be unreliable since it is based on the “imperfections of memory” but has to be proved with “documentation”; meaning a certain trace making history available. These traces are bringing that information into our current stream of consciousness. Therefore, evidence can be used in order to support a false claim. A concrete example is the memory of the Second World War from the point of view of Marechal Petain and Charles De Gaulle. Both were claimed as reliable sources and they both proved with documentation and supported their claims but only one of them was rightful. Memory in order to be truthful and reliable must be supported with documentation but documentation isn’t always reliable. The “truth” is only known by the survivors and still, there are multiple facets of the perception of one same event. That does not mean that there is only one righteous interpretation and everyone else is wrong. Everyone has one life, but everyone interprets it differently- personal versus general.  

Everything changes all the time, “παντα ρει” meaning that there is fluidity. Throughout time there are plural variations of events, stories and people such as the change in Tony and Veronica’s relationship between the 40 years they had not connected physically but surely did mentally otherwise their reconnection wouldn’t have been so difficult. Thus, even if a lot had changed, their emotions for each other remained the same. The fact that the strong emotions between Tony and Veronica remained the same even if it was hater and neglect from Veronicas side and not two young lovebirds, is a proof of passion that never left and linked the two persons for the rest of their lives. Veronica wasn’t able to forgive Tony because she did not forgive herself in order to forgive others and first and foremost her mother and Adrian. Veronica lived a life full of remorse. Adrian’s suicide, or rather her mother’s son with her boyfriend stigmatized her for the rest of her life and wasn’t able to move on. Not forgiving Tony is a way of keeping Veronica linked to her past. At the end of the novel there is a shift of empathy and pity felt by the reader towards Veronica. The reader empathizes both Veronica and Tony. Should Veronica be blamed for dumping Tony with his best friend? Or should Tony be blamed for being aggressive and impolite? 

Even though the novel is a retrospection in Tony’s life through his narration of events with a closure at the end of the novel as his active life comes to an end. Julian Barnes, leaves a deeper meaning that catches the reader’s attention which leaves him wondering if one’s life closure is a closure upon the events that have occurred? Living or dead, Tony’s and Veronica’s bond will forever be alive. 

 Philip Larkin’s poem ‘An Arundel Tomb’ (1957), conveys the image of two statues holding hands. Through time, people’s perception of these statues may vary since generations, customs and societies’ mentalities change. After all, the “love” between the statues will remain. The position in which the statues are placed: holding hands in their Tomb is beyond powerful than anyone’s judgement. Holding hands is an act of affection. Hence, Philip Larkin’s words are as engraved as the love of the statues: “Our almost-instinct almost true, What will survive of us is love.”  

Plural events in the novel are rightfully contestable but Adrian’s diary was the only proof that can be certainly paralleled with events that actually occurred. The occurrence of a suicide cannot be contemplated.     

History appears as a pause for philosophical reflection for Tony and his friends while they attend school. In the class of Mr. Old Joe Hunt, the boys were always invited to put forward their personal interpretation of the historical facts flourishing it with a philosophical point of view.  

For example, their critique on the world war was that the defeated never say they lost and that “History is the lies of the victors”, so History can never be reliable since every side of the story has its own version of truth. One day, one of their classmates “passed away during the week-end”, it was Robson, he committed suicide and left a note to the table reading “SORRY MUM”. Eventually in History class the boys decided to analyze that harmful event. They came to the idea that “his action had been unphilosophical, self-indugent and inartistic: in other words wrong”. 

During this analysis of Robson’s suicide in History class, Adrian had the time to reflect on what is suicide and what could possibly lead Robson to commit it.  

Albert Camus is the epitome of existentialism. Adrian shared with the class that “Camus said that the only philosophical question is suicide”.  

A sudden unmoving silence invaded the room but it is only afterwards in the novel, when Adrian dies, that the reader makes the parallel between the two suicidal events. Potentially, the repetition of events, Robson’s suicide was to introduce the main event Adrian’s suicide as hints to the reader. 

Adrian was portrayed as the charismatic child of the novel. Hence, as Albert Camus claimed, “There is but only one true philosophical question and that is suicide”. Adrian, since infancy was trying to solve problems (hence his academic excellence) but the only one he couldn’t solve was the problem of his life and deeds.  

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Parallelism with The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald  

“The Beautiful and Damned” by F. Scott Fitzgerald explores and portrays New York café society in the American Eastern elite during the Jazz Age before and after the Great War in the early 1920s.  The novel tells the story of Anthony Patch during the Jazz Age. It is plotted in New York. Antony Patch is a socialite and presumptive heir to his grandfather’s fortune. The main character pretends to be a writer but along with his wife Gloria they find great pleasure in classicism and partying. Their whole relationship is centered around money. Yet they soon run out of money, and their marriage deteriorates. If only to find that money doesn’t buy happiness and they end up detesting each other.  

One could be quickly driven to think that Tony Webster (young) and Anthony Patch would never have anything in common. Truth is the plot of the novels in which they star in might not be alienated but there is something more profound that connects the two main characters.  

Both perceive women as an accessory for self-pleasure and looks.  Anthony enunciated that “ A woman should be able to kiss a man beautifully and romantically without any desire to be either his wife or mistress” and Tony on the other hand enunciated when imagining what Veronica would have said to Adrian about Tony: “He took my virginity and then immediately dumped me…so really the whole thing felt like rape”. In both cases these men are represented as self-centered personas afraid of being committed to another and only indulge in their own satisfaction. Surely, Anthony and Tony did not perceive Veronica and Gloria as their equal. This superficial connection that both of these couples had, was nurtured via the passion or need that brought these people together- it wasn’t healthy love attraction but rather money in Anthony’s and Gloria’s case and sex without real feelings in Tony’s and Veronica’s case. Anthony and Gloria, constantly look for money to solve their problems, even when they become unhappy, they turn to their lavish lifestyle to make it all better. Veronica and Tony broke up because it didn’t work out between them and then threw themselves into each other to cover their needs after they had broken up. Toxicity between these couples was a dominant factor, yet the blame shouldn’t be solely attributed to the men but also to the women that accepted indulging in this situation. 

“Things are sweeter when they’re lost. I know that now because once I wanted something and got it…and when I got it, it turned into dust in my hand”. Could you have guessed from which of the two novels this quotation comes from? Truth is, it’s hard to tell. Tony from one side was devastated at his unrequired love from Veronica because otherwise he wouldn’t have gone ballistic at the news of Veronica dating Adrian “I would pretend, especially to myself- that I didn’t mind the slightest”. Actually, this quote is depicted from the novel “The beautiful and damned”. This quote is destinated to Dorothy Rycroft with whom Anthony had an affair. In both cases, the main characters refused to give those women freedom while they were perusing their lives with other women. Anthony and Tony are found to be arrogant self-centered men (who hide guilt and remorse): in both novels there are two main events who exemplify this statement: Tony’s response to the letter recalling to Veronica as “damaged” which is proof of his troubled behavior and the climax of Fitzgerald’s novel which ends with Dorothy showing up at Anthony’s New York apartment. He attempts to attack her with a chair but passes out.  

Anthony Patch and Tony Webster, carry a rather philosophical perception towards life in a quest of attempting to understand it: 

Tony Webster, “Sense Of and Ending”: “We live in time, it bounds us and defines us, and time is supposed to measure history , isn’t it But if we can’t understand time, can’t grasp its mysteries of pace and progress , what chance do we have with history- even our own small, personal, largely undocumented piece of it?” 

Anthony Patch, “The Beautiful and Damned”: “Life is so damned hard… It just hurts people and hurts people, until finally it hurts them so much that they can’t be hurt ever anymore. That’s the last and worth thing it does.”  

The point of view of Fitzgerald and first-person narration allows the reader to empathize with the main character and understand his motives. Similarly, the tone in “The Sense of an Ending” is from self-preservation to confessional mode. That said there is a candid quality to the way Tony renders his own narrative, which is the process by which we are fooled into believing him.  

I believe that Fitzgerald’s quote perfectly describes how Tony felt betrayed by Veronica and Adrian. It hurt him to an extent where he didn’t accept to recognize his broken feelings and immediately kept himself busy with work in order to get over it. As a matter of fact, he never got over Veronica, Tony never felt real love with his future acquaintances. While he was traveling in America, he met a girl Annie with whom he spent three months and he referred to their separation as “easy come easy go”. He couldn’t be hurt ever anymore. The relationship that he had with his future wife and the mother of his children was passive as well and their marriage did not work out. Anthony and Veronica carry a burden which has troubled their psychology and will never be as happy and fulfilled from loving another ever again.  

Both “The Beautiful and the Damned” and “The Sense of an ending” carry a mystery behind the apocalyptic title. “The Beautiful and Damned” is an oxymoron- “beautiful” meaning pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically and damned meaning condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell. Everything that shines is not gold. “The Beautiful and Damned” is a scattering chronicle of a dying marriage and a hedonistic society where beauty is all too fleeting.  “The Sense of an Ending” credits its title to Frank Kermode’s fictional artwork published in 1967. The cryptic meaning behind the title is “making sense of the ways we try to make sense of our lives”. Tony has a desire to embrace the extraordinary lurking within us.  

“Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes is a promising novel which is philosophically inclined and questions the integrity and reliability of the narrator. The reader gets up close and personal with the narrator in order to attempt to understand the logic behind the evolution of Tony’s life and relation with the characters. Memory is proven to be diachronic but as whole, even though contemporary,the novel is synchronic and hence this is why it can be paralleled with the all-time classic novel “The Beautiful and Damned” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.