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Book 2, Chapter 5
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
In the days after the air raid that nearly killed him, Bendrix held out hope that Sarah’s absence was temporary; once he heard that Sarah was in the country, he assumed her letters to him had been lost and she couldn’t make a phone call. Eventually, Bendrix remembered Sarah’s observation about people loving God their whole lives without seeing him and assumed that she had left him for another man. From that point on, Bendrix hated Sarah, although he also claims that he might have moved on if he hadn’t seen Henry in the Common.
Once again Bendrix is unable to find the connection between the things Sarah says about God and her actions. Instead of arriving at the conclusion that Sarah had accepted God and wanted to end a sinful relationship, Bendrix believes that Sarah has abandoned him for someone else. Rather than dealing with his pain, however, Bendrix funnels all of his emotions into hatred.
Themes
Returning to the events of the story, Bendrix says that Mr. Parkis’s next report revealed that Sarah was seeing a Richard Smythe and his sister, Miss Smythe. Bendrix decides he has to see Richard Smythe for himself. Mr. Parkis and Bendrix meet at a tea shop to discuss what Bendrix’s next step should be. Mr. Parkis warns that if Bendrix confronts Smythe directly then it could complicate the case, if it goes to court. Bendrix assures Parkis that he only wants to see Smythe, and he devises a plan to use Parkis’s son (Lance) to get into the apartment: he would knock on the door and pretend he was looking for someone else, then pretend Lance was sick so Miss Smythe would invite them in.
It is notable that as soon as Bendrix hears that Sarah is visiting Richard and Miss Smythe, his immediate thought is that Sarah must be having an affair with Richard, rather than considering that Sarah might be visiting Miss Smythe. This highlights the fact that Bendrix has already decided that Sarah is sleeping with another man and will only consider evidence that points to that conclusion.
Themes
