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.

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

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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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…

7. 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.

8. 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

10. •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

11. 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

12. ● 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

13. 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
●

14. 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

15.  Plot presented by
Rinkal Jani

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. 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.

21. 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

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

23. He committed this
act
after his girlfriend
became pregnant.

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

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

26. 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

27. 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
MargararetSusieTony Webster

28. 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"

29. 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.

30. 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
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…”

31. 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 Tony’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

32. 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."

33. 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 FinnJunior Adrian

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

35. 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 ” .

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

37. 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..

38. 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.

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

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

41. 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

42. 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.

43. 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.

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. 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.”

47. 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.

48. Symbols in Sense of Ending
Fruitcake
Chips
Adrian’s
Diary

49. 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 o
f our lives, which is the opening sentence of Kermode’s book.

50. 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.

51. 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>.

52. Markowetz, Florian. A philosophical suicide - Julian
Barnes The sense of an Ending. 13 February 2018
<https://scientificbsides.wordpress.com/2012/06/0
8/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)

53. 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)