Hello friends
Welcome to my blog, here in this blog I am talking about the novel by Julian Barnes that is The Sense Of an Ending. It was a very interesting novel. After reading this novel I am sure you will don't have any rest at all. Because many more things in this novel are not clear at the end of the novel. So some of the paragraphs of the novel are not understable until you re-read it. This novel proclaims highly philosophical ideas.
What is the meaning of the phrase ‘Blood Money’ in Veronica’s reply email?
Veronica's mother Sarah Ford sends one letter to Tony Webster and gives him 500 pounds. When Veronica replies to Tony 's letter, she says " Blood Money ". But Tony as usual doesn't understand the meaning of the words. As we are in the memory of Tony Webster that's why we also don't understand the meaning and the context of the word. Tony wrote in his vicious letter:
"Even her own mother warned me against her. If I were you, I'd check things out with Mum…Of course, you'll have to do this behind Veronica's back." Considering what Veronica eventually learned about Adrian, she no doubt interpreted this as encouraging an affair between Adrian and her mother. Very likely, she believes that Tony did have
Adrian’s diary is willed to Tony by Sarah Ford. Why did Sarah Ford own it? Why was it in the possession of Veronica?
As we know in the last few pages that fourty year old Adrian was the son of Adrian and Veronica's mother Sarah Ford. So they both are in a relationship, that's why she owns the diary of Adrian.
Maybe Sarah sent the 500 pounds as a kind of thank you for introducing her to Adrian. This seems about the average amount of a small bequest of gratitude. Although she claims that she is "not sure [her] own motives," she intended Tony to have Adrian's diary, which would explain the situation.
Under the circumstances, we can say that, it is perfectly understandable that Veronica would not let Tony have it.
O How do you decipher the equation: b = s – v x/+ a1 or
a2 + v + a1 X s = b?
Adrian wrote two equations in his diary. Let's see what is the meaning of that equation.
b= s-v x/+a1
Baby = Sarah - Veronica × / + Adrian
This equation proclaims that Baby means young Adrian is the son of Adrian and Sarah ford without any kind of involvement of Veronica and Tony. This is a very simple interpretation.
a2 + v + a1 × s = b?
Tony + Veronica + Adrian × Sarah Ford = baby
This is a bit of complex elucidation that requires logic to understand. It means that young Adrian is the son that came into existence because of some crucial deeds of Veronica and tony. In the letter Tony advised Adrian to meet Veronica’s mother so he falls in love with Sarah and they have a baby. As we might assume that Sarah Ford has an affair with Tony and later on with Adrian also. These all the incidents through the baby came into existence. This is how I understand the equation.
o Was the mentally retarded middle aged ‘Adrian’, Tony’s friend who did not commit suicide and was suffering from trauma and thus gone mad, and was living with hidden identity?
This interpretation doesn't have enough evidence to think in this way. I don't find any single evidence that supports this interpretation. As we know that Adrian was a scholar in schooling. We also come to know about him in the memory of Tony Webster. Adrian was the intellectual he argued very well with his history teacher in the classroom.
Adrian had commited suicide with the rational resons.
" In
the letter he left for the coroner he had explained his reasoning: that 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. There was practically a QED at the end. "
( Julian Barnes)
But mentally retarded person is Sarah & Adrian's son, who is like this may be because of pregnency of Sarah at late age.
o Do you see any possible reason in the suicide of Adrian Finn?
Adrian was the bright student among numbers of students. He was the master of philosophy and logic. Often he debates with his master of history on various topics. In classroom they also talked about the Eros and Thanatos, and suiside and many philosophical topics. The theory of existentialism might work on Adrian and perhaps he decided to return unwanted gift that is ‘life’.
o In the light of new revelations, how do you read the character of Veronica? Instinctive, manipulative, calculating, stubborn, haughty, sacrificial, trustworthy, good Samaritan?
Veronica is Instinctive, sacrificial, trustworthy and a good Samaritan. Though here we find two Veronica in the novel.
The first image Tony created through his memory.
The Second part what she was doing ( behaviouring )
is not appropriate for the Veronica of the second part. We believe about Veronia whatever narrated by Tony in the first part. But when as a reader we directly come in contact with her then she is more caring, trustworthy, good samaritan, who is taking a lot of care of young Adrian. She is not calculative or stubborn, but rather more sacrificial.
What do you mean by Unreliable Narrator? Is Tony Webster classifiable as an Unreliable Narrator?
An Unreliable Narrator is an untrustworthy storyteller, most often used in narratives with a first-person point of view. The unreliable narrator is either deliberately deceptive or unintentionally misguided, forcing the reader to question their credibility as a storyteller.
Wayne Booth writes, "I have called a narrator reliable when he speaks for or acts in accordance with the norms of the work (which is to say the implied author's norms), unreliable when he does not."
In The Novel The Sense of An Ending Narrator war Tony Webster. In the first line of the novel suggest the unreliability of the narrator.
" I remember, in no particular order:"
(Julian Barnes)
Like that many times Tony tells us the things and later on he himself says that Is that exactly what happens ? This type of single question deconstructs the whole narrative.
Because we are in the memory of Tony Webster. In the second part we get more surity of narrator's unreliability. In the first part Tony only says that he had written a letter to Adrian & Veronica, but did not mention the ugliness of his letter. in part two when Veronica gives a letter to him, even he is shocked to read his own letter.
Reference :--
Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. Vintage, 2017.
Booth, Wayne C. (1961). The Rhetoric of Fiction. Univ. of Chicago Press. pp. 158–159.
Thank you.....
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