Memory, Morality, and Identity in Modern Fiction
Memory and Subjectivity in The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending examines the fallibility of memory and the subjective nature of history. The protagonist, Tony Webster, grapples with the realization that his recollection of the past is a flawed “patchwork.” The novel investigates the theme of “self-preservation” through the protagonist’s selective memory, which serves to protect his ego from the uncomfortable reality of his younger self’s cruelty. This is most evident when Tony Webster is confronted with a letter he wrote to Adrian Finn, which he had entirely forgotten.
Adrian Finn serves as the intellectual catalyst for the novel’s inquiries, famously stating that “history is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.” The narrative highlights the “great unrest” that occurs when an individual is forced to reconcile their curated personal history with the objective, often damaging, truth. Through the character of Veronica Mary Elizabeth Ford, the text demonstrates how others hold the keys to a truth that Tony Webster has spent a lifetime avoiding. The conclusion emphasizes that “blood-money” and regret are the ultimate results of a life lived in “average” unawareness. Ultimately, Barnes suggests that time does not fix memory, but rather complicates its accuracy.
Social Complicity in Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These functions as a critique of social complicity and institutional power. The narrative follows Bill Furlong, a coal merchant whose discovery of a young woman, Sarah Furlong, locked in a convent coal shed forces a confrontation with the “moral apathy” of his community. The novel examines the tension between economic stability and ethical responsibility in 1980s Ireland. Bill Furlong is warned by Eileen Furlong to mind his own business to ensure their family’s security and social standing.
Keegan utilizes a sparse prose to emphasize a town where “the instinct to survive” outweighs the impulse toward mercy. The text highlights how “the things that were gathered and stored” represent both material safety and the emotional weight of suppressed truth. Through Bill Furlong’s eventual act of quiet heroism, the novel interrogates the cost of breaking the silence that sustains systemic injustice. The character of Mrs. Kehoe acts as a foil, representing the communal pressure to maintain the “status quo” at any cost. Keegan’s work illustrates that the most significant acts of “mercy” are often those that risk the most. The ending suggests that while the individual may suffer, the soul is “at light” when choosing the right path.
Racial Identity and Memory in Recitatif
Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, published in 1983, is a seminal work of postmodern literature that functions as a controlled linguistic experiment. By deliberately withholding the racial identities of Twyla Benson and Roberta Fisk, Morrison forces the reader to confront the social codes used to categorize race in America. The story spans several decades, grounding the personal evolution of the characters within specific historical contexts, including:
- The Civil Rights Movement
- The “busing” protests of the late 1960s and 1970s
The narrative structure mirrors the musical definition of its title—a style of delivery in which a singer adopts the rhythms of ordinary speech. This reflects the “ordinariness” of the encounters between the women, which are nonetheless charged with the tension of racial and class-based hierarchy.
The shifting power dynamics between Twyla Benson and Roberta Fisk are dictated by their socioeconomic status; at different points, one character holds a position of relative privilege, complicating the binary of oppressor and oppressed. Central to the text is the theme of memory and the “erasure” of shared history, specifically regarding the character of Maggie, the disabled kitchen worker at the St. Bonaventure orphanage. The conflicting memories held by Twyla Benson and Roberta Fisk regarding Maggie’s race and the circumstances of her mistreatment serve as a metaphor for the instability of the American racial narrative.
The Unresolved Legacy of Maggie
Morrison uses Maggie to examine how marginalized groups can become “vessels” for the frustrations and projections of others. Historically, the text aligns with the Black Arts Movement’s shift toward examining the structural impacts of racism. However, Morrison departs from traditional protest literature by removing “racial signifiers”—such as hair texture—and replacing them with cultural codes like food or musical tastes. This analytical approach reveals that race is a social construct rather than a biological reality.
The lack of resolution regarding Maggie ensures the reader remains in a state of critical inquiry. The characters’ mothers, Mary Benson and Roberta Fisk’s mother, represent the internal failures and external pressures that shape the protagonists’ early identities. As the story progresses through the historical era of “integration,” the physical distance between the women reflects the deepening divides in American society. Even their final meeting during the Christmas season fails to provide a definitive answer to their shared past. The text argues that memory is not a factual archive but a tool for negotiating identity in a racially stratified world. Ultimately, Twyla Benson and Roberta Fisk remain trapped in a cycle of questioning, proving that the “truth” of race is often a matter of perspective. Morrison’s rejection of explicit labels forces the reader to acknowledge their own complicity in stereotyping. The prose remains objective and clinical, avoiding sentimentalism in favor of a rigorous structural critique. By the end of the narrative, the “recitative” of their lives remains unfinished and socially fragmented.