Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The End of the Affair, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Hatred
Faith, Acceptance, and the Divine
Jealousy and Passion
Adultery, Deception, and Honesty
Summary
Analysis
After moving into Henry’s house, Bendrix makes a more active effort to move on. Once while Henry is away for a few days, Bendrix brings a prostitute back to the house to see if he can enjoy sex again. However, Bendrix finds that he can’t enjoy sex with the prostitute and remarks sadly that he now has to give up something he’s always enjoyed. Bendrix pulls out some of Sarah’s childhood books to look at and states that sometimes lovers “long[] to be also a father and a brother” because lovers are “jealous of the years” before their loved one knew them. Bendrix comforts himself with looking at all the scribbles in Sarah’s books before putting them away.
When Bendrix seeks out a prostitute this time, it is not for revenge but to measure his own capacity for frivolous, meaningless sex, which he discovers he can no longer enjoy. Although the effort is a failure, it also shows Bendrix’s desire to find joy and pleasure outside of Sarah, which means that—at least emotionally—he wants to lead a happy life again one day.
Themes
