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Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The Sense of an Ending is set in England, divided between Tony Webster's youth in the late 1960s and his retirement decades later in the early 2000s. The cultural backdrop of 1960s Britain, a time of intellectual excitement and social change, frames Tony's adolescence, when he and his friends debate philosophy and history in their London boys' school. These classrooms form the novel's first setting, reflecting youthful idealism and intellectual bravado.
The countryside home of Veronica's family in Kent provides a striking contrast. Tony's awkward weekend there becomes a turning point, highlighting class tensions that run beneath the surface of his relationship with Veronica. The setting reinforces Tony's feelings of inferiority. Tony feels lower-class and judged by Veronica's comfortable middle-class family.
In the contemporary timeline, the novel shifts to Tony's solitary retirement in Britain. His life here is organized around routines and quiet reflection, emails with Veronica and lunches with his ex-wife. Modern details of the contemporary setting, like Tony's emails with Veronica, are contrasted with the letters and diaries of the analog world of his childhood. By alternating between these two settings, Barnes highlights the continuity of place alongside the many transformations brought by age, memory, and, ultimately, regret.
Related Themes:
