The End of the Affair Essay | Critical Essay #1

The End of the Affair Critical Essay #1

Bussey holds a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies and a bachelor's degree in English Literature. She is an independent writer specializing in literature. In the following essay, Bussey maintains that Bendrix, the unsympathetic narrator of Greene's novel, is unlikely to reach the spiritual peace that his ex-lover, Sarah, attained before her death.

At the end of Greene's The End of the Affair, the narrator, Bendrix, seems unaffected by the profound spiritual transformation of Sarah, the woman he claims to love. Although he has read her diary and a moving letter she left for him before she died from pneumonia, he feels none of the spiritual urgency that she felt. Bendrix is a hateful man, and his hate overtly extends to God. Many critics contend that because love and hate are so close together (both are the product of passionate beliefs and indicate caring deeply one way or the other...
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