The Sense of an Ending

by

Julian Barnes

Margaret Character Analysis

Tony’s wife, whom he meets through his job (in arts administration) and with whom he has one child, Susie. Margaret eventually leaves him for a restaurant owner, who in turn leaves her; she and Tony subsequently become friends. Although Tony claims that their relationship is fully platonic, and that Margaret would never want to get back together with him, that claim is contradicted in both explicit and subtle ways throughout the story. Indeed, it’s implied that Margaret’s affair was in part a desperate act, a way to get Tony to react more strongly and perhaps fight for her in a way he proves unable to do.

Margaret Quotes in The Sense of an Ending

The The Sense of an Ending quotes below are all either spoken by Margaret or refer to Margaret . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Memory, Manipulation, and Self-Deception Theme Icon
).
Two Quotes

And for a moment, she almost looked enigmatic. But Margaret can’t do enigma, that first step to Woman of Mystery. If she’d wanted me to spend the money on a holiday for two, she’d have said so. Yes, I realise that’s exactly what she did say, but…

Related Characters: Anthony (Tony) Webster (speaker), Margaret
Page Number: 84
Explanation and Analysis:
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Margaret Quotes in The Sense of an Ending

The The Sense of an Ending quotes below are all either spoken by Margaret or refer to Margaret . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Memory, Manipulation, and Self-Deception Theme Icon
).
Two Quotes

And for a moment, she almost looked enigmatic. But Margaret can’t do enigma, that first step to Woman of Mystery. If she’d wanted me to spend the money on a holiday for two, she’d have said so. Yes, I realise that’s exactly what she did say, but…

Related Characters: Anthony (Tony) Webster (speaker), Margaret
Page Number: 84
Explanation and Analysis: