Seminar 2 Graham Greene: The End of the Affair

1.Answer the questions:

1.Why do you think The End of the Affair is Modernist ?

Graham Greene 's novel has elements of modernism. It is a circular narrative that

ends roughly where it begins and goes back in time, and that kind of structure is
modernist. The novel begins with the lines, "A story has no beginning and no end.
The sense of of change is an essential part of the Modernist movement: "All human
relations shifted... and when human relations change there is at the same time a
change in conduct, politics, and literature.” With this understanding, The End of the
Affair can be seen as Modernist.

2.What are two questions left unanswered at the end of the book The End of the
Affair, by Graham Greene?

The two primary unanswered questions are whether Bendrix comes to truly believe in
God and whether Sarah is a spirit who is capable of performing miracles or if this is
merely the way her grieving loved ones have chosen to cope with her death.

3.What is the distinction between divine love and romantic love in The End of the
Affair?

The distinction between divine love and romantic love is the distinction that ends the
relationship between Sarah and Bendrix, as Sarah exchanges her romantic love for
the divine love that causes her to leave Bendrix, in spite of his profound romantic
love for her. What is more, a religious person cannot be adulterous, but Sarah was
adulterous so she had to change her life.

4.What is something Bendrix learned in The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene?

Bendrix has learnt something about his inner frailty and weakness as a human.

5.In The End of the Affair, is it possible for two characters to love each other with
both divine love and romantic love?

No.

6.What is an epiphany that Bendrix comes to in The End of the Affair?

In spite of his caustic manner for much of the novel, Bendrix does have a great
capacity for sentimentality. One of his major epiphanies is that he cannot write the
ending he wishes for his story, somewhat ironically because he is a novelist.
Moreover, The only topic about life to which he is indifferent is religion. Maybe after
Sarah’s death, Bendrix begins believing in God and Bendrix has learnt something
about his inner frailty and weakness as a human.

7.How can The End of the Affair be considered a realistic novel?

By pursuing the aftermath of the romance at the heart of the novel, Greene adheres to

a "realistic" sense that a person's death.

8.Do you think that Sarah and Bendrix were in love or lust?

The knowledge that they are in an adulterous relationship taints Bendrix and Sarah’s
potential for happiness, as they both long for a relationship marked by honesty and
openness. In the end, Sarah and Bendrix do come clean about their relationship—but
after centering their relationship around lies and deceit for so long, they find that they
can no longer have an honest relationship with each other.

9.In The End of the Affair, how are women portrayed?

In The End of the Affair, women are portrayed as highly desirable, deep spiritual

thinkers. Anyway, the novel was considered to be scandalous because of its realistic
and sympathetic portrayal of the adulterous Sarah.

10.How does the protagonist respond in her actions to the bomb, thus revealing her
self?

Alarmed by the blast, Sarah went to find Bendrix and discovered his lifeless body
trapped under a door. Frightened, Sarah ran back to Bendrix’s room where she
uncharacteristically prayed to God, making a deal that if God would let Bendrix live,
then she would end her affair and return to her husband.

Maybe she really loves Bendrix, she rather lives without him only he should live.

2. Read through this extract from Book 3, Chapter 2 of Graham

Greene's The End of the Affair (1951) several times before attempting
the questions which follow it.
Plot summary: Sarah Miles, a childless housewife married to a civil
servant, and Maurice Bendrix, a novelist who is an acquaintance of her
husband, have been having an affair since the beginning of World War II
in 1939. A bomb falls on Maurice's house in 1944 when the lovers are
together. Believing him dead, Sarah makes a rash promise to God
that forces her to subsequently abandon Maurice without an explanation.
Here is the fragment of her diary which narrates what she thought and did
after the explosion.
"I knelt down on the floor: I was mad to do such a thing: I never even had
to do it as a child –my parents never believed in prayer, any more than I
do. I hadn't any idea what to say. Maurice was dead. Extinct. There wasn't
such a thing as a soul. Even half-happiness I gave him was drained out of
him like blood. He would never have the chance to be happy again. With
anybody I thought: somebody else could have loved him and made him
happier than I could, but now he won't have that chance. I knelt and put
my head on the bed and wished I could believe. Dear God, I said –why
dear, why dear?– make me believe. I can't believe. Make me. I said, I'm a
bitch and a fake and I hate myself. I can't do anything of myself. Make me
believe. I shut my eyes tight, and I pressed my nails into the palms of my
hands until I could feel nothing but the pain, and I said, I will believe. Let
him be alive and I will believe. Give him a chance. Let him have his
happiness. Do this and I'll believe. But that wasn't enough. It doesn't hurt
to believe. So I said, I love him and I'll do anything if you make him alive.
I said very slowly, I'll give him up for ever, only let him be alive with a
chance and I pressed and pressed and I could feel the skin break, and I
said, People can love without seeing each other, can't they, they love You
all their lives without seeing You, and then he came in at the door, and he
was alive, and I thought now the agony of being without him starts, and I
wished he was safely back dead again under the door."
a) Neither Sarah's parents nor Sarah herself are believers, yet belief comes
to her spontaneously at this critical moment. Just after Sarah's death, her
mother tells Maurice that Sarah had actually been christened as a Catholic
when she was two, but was unaware of this. Does Sarah's behaviour in this
passage suggest that her sudden conversion stems from that forgotten
ceremony or is her conversion prompted by other causes?
With the conversion, she became the child of God. Because of her parents,
she could not learn about God, but maybe with time, there were an inner
feeling that she would like to be a good, religious person. There is a phrase
„There are no atheists on a crashing plane”. I think that Sarah seeing that
Bendrix was dead, she turned to God because she knew that only God
could save him.
b) Maurice's happiness matters so much to Sarah that she is ready to
abandon him if another woman could make him happier. In contrast,
Maurice is fiercely possessive and jealous. Does Sarah's capacity for self-
sacrifice correspond to a sexist cliché, namely, that women naturally tend
to sacrifice themselves for their man or children? Is it believable?
Maurice is presented as the rational part of the couple, whereas Sarah is
irrational and impulsive. We might consider this characterisation as a
stereotypical presentation of gender differences.

c) Is Sarah's promise the fruit of authentic belief or mere superstition? Has

a real miracle taken place or is she simply being superstitious and, in
addition, masochistic?
For this question, Greene didn’t answer. I think that it depends on the
reader. A religious reader would think that it is a miracle while a non-
religious one would think that it is not.

d) Graham Greene once said that without religion and without the
corresponding sense of morality the novel was not possible. Discuss.
I’m a religious person, so for me, it is evident that God exists. In my
opinion this novel shows that everybody could be a religious person if he
or she regretted his or her sins. What is more, that without religion and
without a corresponding sense of morality the world would be a world
without clear-cut moral rules.

Graham Greene: The End of the Affair

1.In Graham Greene’s “ The End of the Affair” Bendrix says it was
strange to see Henry on the Common that night?
Why does was it strange to see Henry on the Common that night?
 a) Bendrix had not seen Henry in years.
b) Henry lives miles away from the Common.
c) It is raining and he has no umbrella.
d) It is raining and Henry had always liked to be comfortable.
2. How did Bendrix originally meet Sarah?
a) He met her in a bar.
b) He was researching Henry's profession for a book.
c) He was researching the life of a Minister's wife.
d) He met her at a party.
3. What concern does Henry have about Sarah that he shares with
Bendrix?
a) Henry believes Sarah is very ill.
b) Henry believes Sarah is having an affair.
c) Henry believes Sarah is stealing money from him.
d) Henry believes Sarah may leave him.
4. What does Bendrix agree to do to help Henry?
a) Visit a private investigator.
b) Visit a lawyer.
c) Follow Sarah.
d) Talk with Sarah.
5. Sarah Miles leaves her lover for
a) religion
b) a book club
c) a dancing club
d) to take up interior decorating
6. Maurice Bendrix discovers why his lover left him
a) reading her diary
b) consulting with a psychic
c) playing 20 Questions
d) playing golf

7. What food does Sarah eat while dining out with Bendrix, even
though she knows Henry dislikes them?
a) green peppers
 b) onions
c) Brussels sprouts
d) tomatoes
8.What 'newspaper word' would Maurice hate to be associated with
Sarah?
a) coincidence
b) mysterious
c) miracle
d) scandal
9."A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that
moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look
ahead" is the first line of Graham Greene’s novel?
a) The Quiet American
b) The End of the Affair
c) The Power and the Glory
d) The Heart of the Matter
10.  Set in London during and just after the Second World War, the
novel examines the obsessions, jealousy and discernments among the
relationships of the three main characters.A reader may be surprised
by the appearance of:
a) extraterrestrials
b) incandescent light
c) lasers
d) robots
11. What was Bendrix's first name?
a) Arthur
b) Henry
c) Robert
d) Maurice