The Sense of An Ending Creative ProjectKylie McCalmont

3v3 Quick Summary

The Sense of An Ending-Tony’s Webster's idea of how old friend and enemy Adrian Finn died

• Tony writes letter• Adrian commits suicide• Veronica exposes truth

Guiding AP Prompt

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represented something or that creates a range

of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or

enlarge literal meeting. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay

analyzing how the symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of

the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the prompt.

Thesis Addressing Prompt

In The Sense of the Ending, Julian Barnes asserts how time and memories can be easily distorted using Tony’s tainted perspective of his dark past after 40 years. A distortion represented by the

fluidity of water that allows time be manipulated, creating a fantasy out of reality.

Literary Symbol: Water

Symbolizes• Fluidity of time and

memories• Pace- fast or slow• Can condensate-

clouds memories• Ability to change

(solid, liquid, gas)

Quotes-First Sentence of Novel

• “A river rushing nonsensically upstream” and the latter, “another river, broad and grey”. (Barnes 1)

• “shiny inner wrist” (Barnes 1)• “steam rising from a wet sink.”

(Barnes 1)

Ultimate Theme (Essence)

Facing RealityIs this real life or is this just fantasy?

“And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to

remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but---mainly---to ourselves.” (Barnes

105)

Fluidity • “approximate memories which time has deformed

into certainty.” (Barnes 4)• Time and memories can be distorted

• “Half throw the hot frying pan into the wet sink. Water fizzed and steam rose at the impact.”• The tendency for a memory to change

Pace of Time • “And yet it takes only the smallest pleasure or

pain to teach us time's malleability. Some emotions speed it up, others slow it down; occasionally, it seems to go missing - until the eventual point when it really does go missing, never to return.”(Barnes 1-2)

• Severn Bores• “Thoughts of damp and cold vanished as the river simply

seemed to change its mind, and a wave, two or three feet high, was heading towards us, the water breaking across a whole width.

Take a Closer Look

Can you identify this?

Take One Step Back

What about this?

Creative Symbol

Eyeball with Water Colors• Water colors• Fluidity

• Veins • Clarity

• Eye • Sight and perception

“And I thought of a cresting wave of water, lit by a moon, rushing past and vanishing upstream, pursued by a band of yelping students whose torch beams crisscrossed in the dark.” (Barnes 163)

Works Cited

Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Print.