Thinking Activity :" Sense of an Ending "

 Hello readers! 

This blog is related to the thinking activity: "The Sense of an   Ending " 

This activity given by Dilip Barad sir head of the  English  Department  MKBU.click here  sir's blog  link   film  Adoption click here .   " The Scene of  an Ending " click here 

"The Scene of  an Ending "  Is written  by Julian  Barnes click here  biography of  Julian  Barnes  .

Question: 1  Explain how through the memory of Tony Webster, Julian Barnes justifies the universal truth that ‘one cannot know what one does not know’.

The style of the writer is ‘Memory Novel ‘or ‘Suspense Thriller’ or ‘Psychological Thriller’ This novel is mainly centered on the characteristics of 21st century writing. The Sense of an Ending is about "memory and time”. The book opens with a short list of memories. That memory is a part of the narrator's past experience. Not all of which the as yet unnamed narrator actually saw. Immediately we’re on warning, if one of these memories is imagined rather than real, can any of them be trusted? As the narrator says, “what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.”Here Let’s define what is memory??

As per classroom discussion, we have seen that memory is a mixture of Event and time. As more events and accidents occur during some time period, those events – accidents become more powerful and that is stored much more effectively – strongly in the memory of humankind. If there are fewer accidents and events that memory is less effective and stronger. More accident or Event that makes more effective and strong memory

Most of the thing of this novel is narrated by Tony Webster. Somehow it is a question of plot that how many things he narrated from his memory turn out to be real. As a memory played vital role in the developing of plot, Julian Barnes here justifies the Universal Truth that “One cannot know what he does not know”  with the reference of Tony Webster that he never understand the words of Veronica, When Tony asked Veronica bout the Money at that time she replied with very tragic answer “Blood Money”.  When Tony asked about other things at that time Veronica also replied with unaccepted answer: 

The Sense of an Ending is a novel which has an element of psychological approach. This novel deals with the theme of the psychological situation of the human mind. Each coin has two sides the same way human nature has two sides, good or bad. This novel represents this thing through the character of the novel. In the first part of the novel, the reader can find Tony as a good, responsible fellow. He is very responsible towards his duty. But as the second part is opening the reader can find tony with some gray shade. There are some holes in his character; at some extent he is responsible for the damage of Veronica’s life, Suicide of Adrian. These accidents can be interpreted by the reader as his own sense, though the novel has no detail about any clarification about these accidents, the reader is free to narrate and explain all accidents that happen in the story and he can interpret it as his own way.

The writer describes Veronica’s life with a different triangle. She sacrificed her life for her step brother, she lost her love. The writer mentioned unreliable narrative style. Tony is the perfect narrator for this novel. But all the narration depends on Tony’s memory, so there is a doubt that all the things and incidents are real or not. Maybe he created his own story. Life of Pie is the example of unreliable narrative style. As a bing narrator Tony has never seen the life of Veronica, so he can not feel the problem of her, so he has not any description regarding the Life and Damage of Veronica’s life. Tony has narrated Veronica with some gray shades but as the reader moves towards the end of the Novel they find that the character of Veronica emerges with high morality and responsibility because she has spent her whole life, Losing his Boy Friend, Mother. She was living with the child of her x-boyfriend and mother. She has ruined her whole life with her x-brother. So, whenever Tony asked Veronica she replied: “You still don’t get it. You never did, and you never will. So stop even trying”.

The first is the narrator's name is Ton, memories of his years of studies, and school days at school and his early years at university. Here the reader can experience the early life of Tony and his experience through the narration of Tony. So it could be interpreted that Tony had hidden some reality or he has not put a gray shade of his personality, just because it is based on Memory of Tony. He is not ready to show his gray shades of his past.

“The memory becomes a thing of shreds and patches. It’s a bit like the black box airplanes carry to record what happens in a crash. If nothing goes wrong, the tape erases itself. So if you do crash, it’s obvious why you did; if you don’t, then the log of your journey is much less clear.” (Page - 105)

During the study there were three friends, a narrator himself  Tony Webster, Colin and Alex. Now a new boy, Adrian, joins the school and becomes a key member of Tony’s small clique of friends. Adrian Finn, who is much cleverer than any of them. They consider themselves philosophers, intellectual rebels, they look to great art and literature for inspiration and they are convinced as was I and as no doubt were many reading this that they have insights that the old and adult world never knew or has long since forgotten. They look down on those around them with all the haughty certainty of adolescence, and they look forward to lives which whatever they may be will not be like their parents, or so at least they hope.

There are many such questions which are not answered in the novel but reader can interpret with his own sense:

v Why does Mrs. Ford have Adrian’s Diary?

v What was the intention of Veronica to write Blood Money?

v Why only one page of Adrian’s Diary allowed seeing Tony?

v What is the meaning of Veronica’s statement: You still don’t get it. You never did, and you never will. So stop even trying”.

v What is the meaning of the mathematical equation:

Ø b = s – v x/+ a1

Ø a2 + v + a1 X s = b

As, Per reading of this novel, one can say that this novel is based on memory which Tony recalls all the event of his past and that narration is generating a story which is called “Sense of an Ending

Question: 2  How do you understand memory and history with reference to your reading of this novel.

After reading this novel the understanding related to history and memory both have changed. I used to think about memory that it will at some extent be forgotten but never distorted. After reading this novel I really feel that we also have those distorted memories, which we want to store as something which has actually not taken place. By doing that we are cheating ourselves and others also. So memory and history both are connected. History is written from memory. Now we have seen in this novel how distorted memory can be stored by an individual. If historians take their statements into consideration, we can not trust history either. In the novel Tony says history is not lies of victors or self delusion of defeat, history is the memory of survivors. It is told by them who have not gone to fight from either side and they have survived. They don’t even have first hand experiences of the things. So these people will remember history in different ways. We can not trust them without any evidence. So we should not trust anything without evidence, not the person and not even the history.

Thank you….