Post 1

Since beginning The Sense of an Ending, I am pleased to know that this book is much easier to understand the most of the other novels we have read this year. That being said, however, I do see some similarities between this book and Notes from the Underground. It may just be that the ideas from Notes from the Underground are fresh in my mind, but I have to note the comparisons. One thing that I noticed in both works is the idea of belongingness. The narrator from Notes from the Underground, on some level, wants to belong in society, but there is still a part of him that is unwilling to change his beliefs and lifestyle in order to do so. Similarly, Adrian Finn exhibits the same characteristic. As explained in the book, “Adrian allowed himself to be absorbed into our group, without acknowledging that it was something he sought. Perhaps he didn’t. Nor did he alter his views to accord with ours” (7).

                One idea that was presented at the very start of the novel is the fact that time passes faster or slower based on how one is feeling. I completely agree with this idea. This also relates to the common phrase “time flies when you’re having fun”. When someone is undergoing an event that he or she finds boring, then time will seem to drag. Oppositely, something enjoyable will seem to make time pass faster than it normally would. I think what dictates this is the idea that focusing on something that is not enjoyable will cause someone to focus on the time that he or she is not enjoying, and will, in turn, cause the time to pass “slower”. I can definitely relate to this on some level. In school, for example, the boring classes that I take always seem to pass much slower than the classes that I enjoy.