30 pages 1 hour read

Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

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Essay Topics

1.

How does the novel explore memory and its subjective nature? How does memory—and The Fallibility of Memory—influence the characters’ perceptions of themselves and their past actions?

2.

In what way is Tony an unreliable narrator? How does his unreliability shape the reader’s understanding of events?

3.

How does Adrian’s diary function as a motif for hidden truths, misconceptions, and the quest for understanding the past?