The Sense of an ending

Here I am sharing presentation on The sense of an ending by Julian Barnes. Submitted to Dr. Dilip Barad, Department of English M. K. Bhavanager Uni.

1. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes Group Members: Mital Raval Rinkal Jani Mansi Parmar Drashti Nagla Group work on

2. Introduction of the Author, key facts and character’s introduction presented by: -Drashti Nagla

3. Introduction of Author Julian Patrick Barnes is born in19 January 1946. He is an English writer. Barnes won the Man Booker Prize for his book The Sense of an Ending in 2011. He has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. In addition to novels, Barnes has published collections of essays and short stories. In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres .

4. Key Facts: full title: The Sense of an Ending Author: Julian Barnes type of work: Novel Genre: Literary fiction, Psychological Thriller, Memory novel Language: English time and place written: 1960s suburban London, England and present time date of first publication: August 4, 2011 Publisher: Jonathan Cape (UK) Knopf (US) Narrator:  Tony Webster point of view: First Person Point of View Tone: Enigmatic, Mysterious, Ambiguous , Lyrical

5. Tense: Past, Present setting (time): 1960s, present setting (place): England Protagonist:   Tony Webster major conflict: Webster’s divorce with Veronica and the latter’s remarriage with his friend, search for the reason of Adrian’s suicide rising action: Three school friends, one of whom is Tony Webster is joined by a fourth, Adrian Finn, much cleverer than other group members Climax:  Tony learns that Adrian commits suicide falling action: Webster re-established contact with Veronica to re-evaluate the past Continue…

6. Continue… Themes: Meditation on ageing, Class Conflict, Inconsistencies between Shared Histories / memories, Conflict between Eros and Thanatos- sex and death, Existentialism. Motifs: Repetition,  Regret, Suicide, Damage Symbols: Diary, Chips,  Fruit Cake, Foreshadowing.

7. Characters of the Novel: Tony Webster Veronica Mary Elizabeth Ford Adrian Finn Sarah Ford Margret Susi Eleanor Marriott T. J. Gunnell Old Joe Hunt Phil Diction Caolin and Alex Jack

8. Tony is the narrator of the novel. He was retired arts administration and lives alone. ● Tony is at the center of the novel around whom the other characters are revealed. ● Tony Webster receives some amount and document from his ex-girlfriend’s mother, he re-established contact with Veronica and tries to solve the puzzling questions. ● Tony makes some conscious observation about class, sex, repression and intellectuality. ● He had career and a single marriage, a claim divorces. He certainly never tries to hurt anybody. ● Tony had a reasonably good relationship with Veronica. Tony still doesn’t understand her. ● Tony webster that consolation comes formed the Sense of life lived it not thrillingly than at least without blame. Tony Webster

9. Veronica Mary Elizabeth Ford ● she is spiky and enigmatic ex-girlfriend of Tony. Her character was very complicated. ● Later on she dated with Adrian who was Tony’s intelligent friend. In the second part Tony tried hard to get some clues from Veronica about Adrian’s dairy in possession of Sarah Ford. ● veronica’s mother would not be happy with Veronica’s closeness with Tony Webster. ● Veronica’s family members are like that alcoholic father, lustful mother, a complex sister, and a brother who doesn’t all his mother, as mother. ● Tony’s original relation with Veronica but he still can’t understand her. Veronica Mary Elizabeth Ford

10. ● Adrian is described to be a quite and an intelligent man and always thinking. ● Even though he was really happy with Sarah, during his weakness and lust made him guilty. ● Veronica and Adrian were seriously in love but Sarah managed to seduce Adrian and he enjoyed his relationship with Sarah even though he also still loved Veronica. ● His dairy was in possession of Sarah Ford Veronica’s mother. ● Adrian did suicide for which he gave philosophical reason. Adrian Finn

11. Sarah Ford ● She was a mother of Veronica Ford. ● Indirectly lead Adrian to have more meaningful or more important relationship with Sarah. ● Sarah jealousy of her daughter relationship with Tony Webster. ● Sarah Ford to have a more manful, passionate relationship with Adrian that lead to the formation of a another life, a baby. ● When Sarah Ford died that time she gave 500 pounds to Tony in her will and gave her personal dairy too. Minor characters ●

12. Minor characters ● Margret : Tony’s ex-wife ● Susie : Tony and Margaret’s daughter ● Eleanor Marriott : She was a Solicitor ● T.J. Gunnell : He was a lawyer ● Old Joe Hunt : He was history teacher ● Phil Diction : English teacher ● Caolin and Alex : School friends of Tony and Adrian . ● Jack : He is Veronica’s brother

13. Plot presented by Rinkal Jani

14. The Plot… “The sense of an ending explored the way in which writer use “Peripatetic” – the unexpected twist in the plot to force readers to adjust their expectations…” - Justin Cartwright “ its being something of a ‘ Bildungsroman ’…It’s not a traditional coming-of-age novel ” - Whispering gums

15. The Plot… Who recalls how h and his clique met Adrian Finn have tat school and vowed to remain friends for life When the past catches up with Tony he reflects on the paths he and his friends have taken The sense of an ending is narrated by a retired man named Tony Webster

16. The Sense of an ending Novel divided in Two part (A) Part one (B) Part two

17. Part one The first part begins in the 1960s with four intellectually arrogant school friends, of whom two feature in the remainder of the story: Tony and Adrian Tony is in his teens and twenties and focuses on his three male friends and his first serious girlfriend Veronica. Tony primarily comprises a few scene from his life, From school days, weekend visit to veronicas home.

18. Part Two Tony is confronted again with some of the major incidents from his youth and is forced to reconsider his sense of self. The most important of these incidents concerns… the suicide of Adrian, Receive a letter from Mrs. Sara ford and from Veronica, Three meetings with veronica Revelation of Secret Getting the real sense

19. vowed to remain friends for life Tony Webster Adrian Finn

20. He committed this act after his girlfriend became pregnant. Robson’s Suicide

21. The boys graduate and separate. Tony got a girlfriend. After some time she took him to meet her family. Veronica Ford

22. Veronica soon breakup with Tony and have relation with Adrian, Tony’s friend. Tony Webster Veronica ford Adrian Finn

23. Tony received a letter from Veronica's mother more or less congratulating him for ending the relationship. later received a latter from Adrian requesting his permission to date Veronica When they are in the last year , Tony received a latter from Adrian requesting his permission to date Veronica, But in actually it was veronica who said Adrian to wrote a letter to Tony. Mrs. Sarah Ford Adrian Finn

24. After breakup with veronica, He met Margaret, got married, had a daughter named suisi and got divorced . He come to know by that Adrian had Committed suicide by cutting his wrist in water bath. He met his old friend Alex and come to know that Adrian was happy or in love before his death Margararet Susie Tony Webster

25. Solicitor Elinomeriot 500 pounds and two documents one is with Veronica (Adrian's diary) He mailed Veronica through Jack to get diary but Veronica responds with the phrase "Blood Money"

26. Blood money The right definition of 'Blood Money' is the money paid by the murderer to victims family as an act of penance. Veronica who sees her mom responsible for Adrian suicide refers the money Sarah left to Tony, Adrian's friend and most likely to be the last surviving kin of Adrian as blood money.

27. Equation 1: Sara who has an unhealthy relationship with Veronica( jealousy) causes her to have a more passionate relationship with Adrian that lead to the formation of an another life, a baby . Equation 2: Anthony who had a meaningful relationship with Veronica, who started to date Adrian after breaking up with Tony, indirectly lead Adrian to have more important relationship with Sara which lead to the formation of a baby B=S-V+/x A1 A2+V+A1xs=B? He get a letter which is distributed page from the diary of Adrian. Its telling about some formula, It ends incompletely as “If Tony…but tony doesn't get any sense…”

28. After several attempts he get a result veronica as coming to meet him. Tony ask her about diary but she told she burnt it. She gives Tony a letter, a letter with full of harshness, A letter which he himself sent to Adrian in his youth. Tony realizes how malicious and unpleasant it was , He feels remoras and guilt on his act of adolescence, so he sent apology email to veronica bust she replies mysteriously. Then T ony’s journey to visit veronica location in North London, where she drives him to see a group of mentally handicapped men being taken for a walk by their care worker , one of whom she points out to him. Tony does not understand the significance of this and Veronica leaves him with no explanation .   Over the course of several weeks, Tony revisits the location until he is able to relocate the man Veronica showed him in a pub Meeting with veronica

29. He called veronica by her middle name “Mary” Tony greets the man saying he is a friend of Veronica's which leads to an upset response from the man. Tony recalls the memory of Adrian from the man's facial features. He e-mails Veronica an apology, saying he didn't realize that she and Adrian had a son together. Veronica only responds with the reply "You don't get it, but then you never did."

30. On revisiting the pub where he saw the man, Tony gets into conversation with the care worker , who reveals that, A man is a Junior Adrian and a son of Sara and Adrian – Brother of Veronica- Mentally ill Mother Father Mrs Sara Ford Adrian Finn Junior Adrian Revelation of secret

31. Title of the novel The Sense of an ending: -Presented by Mansi Parmar

32. The title “ The Sense of an Ending ” is borrowed from a text by Frank Kermode first published in 1967 subtitled “Studies in the theory of fiction” ,the stated aim of which is “ making sense of the ways we try to make sense of our lives ” .

33. 1)Ambiguity of title 2) Postmodern idea 3) The Title itself as symbol In the title three thing was shown

34. The Sense of an Ending is novel about the person’s memory of youthful days. The novella is divided into two divisions. That divisions are entitled as Part-1 and Part-2. The first part begins in the 1960s.It begins with four intellectually arrogant school friends. We are told two friends out of four. The first one is Tony Webster who is the narrator of the story and the second one is Adrian the most talented and intelligent among four. When they were in the last year of the college, a boy killed himself after getting a girl pregnant. The novel is not just person’s story; it is a story of a network of relationships between Tony Webster and Veronica but whose ending is this! That we cannot understand. Continue..

35. The Title of the novel The Sense of an Ending depicts ending of two lives Robson and Adrian and on the other hand it also suggests that this is an ending of journey of Tony too as he is very close to the ending of his life. Hence At last it can be clarified that the title of the novel is absolutely appropriate though it is difficult book to evaluate but up to some extent we can say that Julian Barnes has chosen relevant title. By the time one reaches the end, it is not just the novel but the title itself that inspires the reader; not just the end of a life but how a story is told.

36. Theme, and Symbol of the novel The Sense of an Ending. Presented by Mital Raval

37. Main theme of the novel Weakness of memory and aging. Memory v/s History. Eros and Thanatos Existentialism. Suicide / Death Class conflict

38. Weakness of memory. Through the narrative of the Tony Webster and his search for reason of Adrian’s death tries to justify this theme. Throughout the novel, writer tries to prove human memory and how it creates assumption on human mind. In the first part Tony tells his story of schooldays, all the events are in order and narrative has particular flow. But at the end of the first part narrative moves faster like “Time passes” section of the “To the lighthouse”. Second section is much important because in which Tony narrates the event of his past with different dimension and which are not so important according to his memory. “Well, in one sense, I can’t know what it is that I don’t know that’s philosophically self-evident. - By Adrian Finn

39. Memory v/s History One of the central ideas of the novel is Unreliability of history. “history is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation”. If human memory is partial than one cannot rely history or documentation done by man with his partial memory. Adrian with example of Robson, very beautifully describes history as unreliable and not truth. The novel also focuses on objectiveness of historian. Because, one cannot be objective, as he cannot come out from his personal assumption and cast of mind though he want to be.

40. Eros and Thanatos Eros and Thanatos means “sex and death”. Freud identifies two drives that are Eros and Thanatos. That both coincide and conflict within the individual and among individuals. Eros is the drive of life, love, creativity and sexuality, self satisfaction, and species preservation. Thanatos is Greek word, means death, it is drives of aggression, sadism, destruction, violence and death. The theme of Eros and Thanatos ran simultaneously in the case of Robinson and Adrian. “Thanatos weans again” Adrian spoke about Robson’s case. Adrian who is more intelligent, mature, serious became victim of the same thing and in his case also Thanatos weans.

41. Death This theme plays very strong role in the entire novel and being a central theme of the novel. There are four specific deaths that each have an impact on the novel. The death of Robson and Adrian Finn center around the sub theme of suicide and the value of human life. While the death of Mr. and Mrs. Ford have larger effects on the plot, especially regarding the will of Mrs. Sarah Ford.

42. Existentialism. With the Adrian’s philosophical ideas , the novel represents existentialist ideas. As Camus says, suicide was the only true philosophical question… Adrian, as existentialist, commits suicide in very young age. Even his way of killing himself is very significant in philosophical sense. He did not kill himself with out of mind but at very conscious mental state, he planned and performed.

43. Existentialist ideas in the novel “Life is a gift bestowed without anyone asking for it, that the thinking person has a philosophical duty to examine both the nature of life and the conditions it comes with; and that if this person decides to renounce the gift no one asks for, it is a moral and human duty to act on the consequences of that decision.” “My philosopher friend, who gazed on life and decided that any responsible, thinking individual should have the right to reject this gift that had never been asked for- and whose noble gesture re- emphasised with each passing decade the compromise and littleness that most lives consist of “most lives, my life.”

44. Class conflict. Class conflict was another important theme in this novel. This theme come in the novel through the character of Veronica and Tony Webster. Veronica was awkward girl so she was a misfit in her family, too self-conscious to dance in public. Tony once spent a weekend at Veronica’s family home. At that time he had felt uncomfortable, socially inferior, and he was hardly surprised when the enigmatic Veronica took up more prestigious Adrian. She was class conscious. She choose the batter option. This way class conflict is also one of the theme in this novel.

45. Symbols in Sense of Ending

46. Antakyalioglu, Zekiye. "The Sense of an Ending: Frank Kermode and Julian Barnes." 17 April 2013. Academia. 13 February 2018 <https://www.academia.edu/24058894/The_Sense_of_an_Ending?auto=download>. Bibliography this research paper Antakyaliogly focused on the different opinions of Kermode and Barnes on " what actually the sense of ending " what’s really an ending of sense in context of life. Kermode’s way of looking to time and memory narration. And Barnes way of looking is quite a different. The plot of the novel is well constructed with taking some illustrations from texts. The novel is not  about  Tony  Webster’s  life,  or  memories. Rather,  it  is  about  the  making  sense  of  the  ways  we  make  sense  of  our  lives, which  is  the  opening  sentence  of  Kermode’s  book. 

47. This research paper proposes to highlight the presentation of memory distortion in Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children which in turn alters and deforms the authenticity of narration and history. The narrators of The Sense of an Ending and Midnights Children experience the same where they try to recollect, record their individual history but experience lapse in memory. (Kumar) Kumar, M. Palani. "Memory in Julian Barnes’ the Sense of an Ending and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children." www.iosrjournals.org ( n.d .): pages 4.

48. In this article we see that the various themes of the novel and how it apply into the novel and also apply on the characters of the novel. The craft of the novel- writing is an important part of the text and it intertwines with the struggle between the truth and fiction. In this article we see that, the question of truth and the question of history are strictly related, as history can never be interpreted as completely true, if anything as a collection of evidences that flow into a not-fully-completed puzzle. (Rossi) Rossi, Alberto. Memory, Truth and Differance in Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending. 13 February 2018 <http://www.iperstoria.it/joomla/images/PDF/Numero_8/generale_8/Rossi_intestato.pdf>.

49. Markowetz, Florian . A philosophical suicide - Julian Barnes The sense of an Ending. 13 February 2018 <https://scientificbsides.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/the-sense-of-an-ending/>. In this website some theme related philosophical suicide of some character was given. In this website some theme related novel was like, history, memory and responsibility was given. While it was bringing some clarity into Adrian’s death. And in this website we can find brief summary of this novel. And give some of points like Connections and reflections, Responsibility, Memory versus documentation. (Markowetz)

50. Blackman, Andrew. The Sense of an Ending, Explained. 13 February 2018 <http://andrewblackman.net/2012/05/the-sense-of-an-ending-explained/>. In this website Andrew black man wrote a critical review on The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. In this website we find some kind of summary like that the big revelation is that Adrian had an affair with Veronica’s mother, and so the young Adrian is Veronica’s brother, not her son, as Tony had assumed. In short this post directly addresses the ending of the book. (Blackman) Barnes, Julian. Julian Barnes. 13 February 2018 <http://www.julianbarnes.com/index.html>. This is the official website of Julian Barnes. In which some basic introduction of his life and his work was given. (Barnes)