Page 55 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
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Fiction and Eschatology: The Politics of Fear in Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending 55
Veronica, yet later she returns to the story not as the final fulfillment of
existence, but as a necessary residue of restraint and reminder of failure.
Testament left by Veronica’s mother upsets Tony and he is trying to get in
touch with Veronica and look for answers to unresolved questions. The
crucial unresolved question is, of course, the question of the end, or the
question of what happened to the life that seems to him to be a missed,
a typical non-literary story. He is aware that his life has been missed, but
Veronica—who, contrary to his ex-wife, is enigmatic—reinforces this
feeling by claiming that Webster has never understood anything.
What is so specific about the thing Webster did not understand, in
addition to having missed the whole Life? The great revelation refers to
the fact that Adrian had a relationship with Veronica’s mother, and that
the young, mentally disturbed Adrian was not Veronica’s son, as Tony
has been hypothesizing all the time. He feels guilty because of his fu-
rious, arrogant and envious letter written after finding out that Veron-
ica had come into relationship with Adrian. This letter drove his friend
immediately into the bed of Veronica’s mother, and this, ultimately, like
in the case of Robson, led to his suicide. Tony feels guilty, but the issue
of moral responsibility is more complex than his own experience of the
whole situation. Tony wanted to hurt Adrian with a nebulous, insulting
letter, but he could hardly have guessed that the sentence “If I were you,
I’d check things out with Mum” (Barnes 2011, 90) would take Adrian
into her bed and that she will get pregnant and his friend will commit su-
icide. This is the angle from which it would be possible to criticize Veron-
ica’s character, although the narrator (and, above him, Barnes), somehow
fenced off the critical remarks by claiming that she is a mysterious wom-
an. However, it seems that her anger towards Tony Webster is exaggerat-
ed, and it is possibly some kind of Barnes’ irony towards the expectations
that we have from the novelistic plot since her concealing of information
from him does not serve anything but to extend the novel itself. Conse-
quently, one might expect her character to become more transparent be-
fore the end of the novel, but that does not happen. She accuses Tony,
but is she not partially responsible as well? Or her mother? Finally, what
about Adrian’s responsibility? The fact that Tony ultimately carries the
burden of responsibility tells a lot about him, and not about other char-
acters, which is consistent with his own view of himself in time—because
responsibility is also a change, an indication of the development of char-
acter. It also tells something of the nature of fiction, which is something
Kermode would probably say, had he not died in 2010 at the age of 91, and
Veronica, yet later she returns to the story not as the final fulfillment of
existence, but as a necessary residue of restraint and reminder of failure.
Testament left by Veronica’s mother upsets Tony and he is trying to get in
touch with Veronica and look for answers to unresolved questions. The
crucial unresolved question is, of course, the question of the end, or the
question of what happened to the life that seems to him to be a missed,
a typical non-literary story. He is aware that his life has been missed, but
Veronica—who, contrary to his ex-wife, is enigmatic—reinforces this
feeling by claiming that Webster has never understood anything.
What is so specific about the thing Webster did not understand, in
addition to having missed the whole Life? The great revelation refers to
the fact that Adrian had a relationship with Veronica’s mother, and that
the young, mentally disturbed Adrian was not Veronica’s son, as Tony
has been hypothesizing all the time. He feels guilty because of his fu-
rious, arrogant and envious letter written after finding out that Veron-
ica had come into relationship with Adrian. This letter drove his friend
immediately into the bed of Veronica’s mother, and this, ultimately, like
in the case of Robson, led to his suicide. Tony feels guilty, but the issue
of moral responsibility is more complex than his own experience of the
whole situation. Tony wanted to hurt Adrian with a nebulous, insulting
letter, but he could hardly have guessed that the sentence “If I were you,
I’d check things out with Mum” (Barnes 2011, 90) would take Adrian
into her bed and that she will get pregnant and his friend will commit su-
icide. This is the angle from which it would be possible to criticize Veron-
ica’s character, although the narrator (and, above him, Barnes), somehow
fenced off the critical remarks by claiming that she is a mysterious wom-
an. However, it seems that her anger towards Tony Webster is exaggerat-
ed, and it is possibly some kind of Barnes’ irony towards the expectations
that we have from the novelistic plot since her concealing of information
from him does not serve anything but to extend the novel itself. Conse-
quently, one might expect her character to become more transparent be-
fore the end of the novel, but that does not happen. She accuses Tony,
but is she not partially responsible as well? Or her mother? Finally, what
about Adrian’s responsibility? The fact that Tony ultimately carries the
burden of responsibility tells a lot about him, and not about other char-
acters, which is consistent with his own view of himself in time—because
responsibility is also a change, an indication of the development of char-
acter. It also tells something of the nature of fiction, which is something
Kermode would probably say, had he not died in 2010 at the age of 91, and
