Personal Struggles Within the Confines of the Soul

Personal Struggles Within the Confines of the Soul

Personal Struggles within the Confines of the Soul
Graham Greene’s writing style has been praised and criticized by readers and writers alike. The powerful messages that he portrays in his work have cultivated a new way of interpreting literature. “Graham Greene was in a class by himself [. . .] He will be read and remembered as the ultimate twentieth-century chronicler of consciousness and anxiety” (Gorra). This quote personifies Graham Greene’s revolutionary writing style into a majestic and unforeseen style of personal reflection. One of the major ideas that Greene frequently works into his writing is the personal struggle one encounters within the soul. This idea is portrayed throughout the novel The End of the Affair in ways such as love and hate, the meaning of God, love versus emphatuation, and determining the boundary between sin and non sin.
Bendrix runs into a plethora of trials and tribulations along his life path, but no key characteristic of Bendrix was any bigger than his struggle with being deathly afraid of being alone. “I imagined in those days that any suffering she underwent would lighten mine, and if she were dead I could be free” (Graham Greene). This powerful scene in the book shows the personal demons that Bendrix is going through due to the fallout of Sarah and his relationship. Furthermore, Bendrix has grown so accustomed to Sarah and her vixenesque ways that he feels the only way he can finally be happy is if Sarah meets her ultimate demise. This unusual thought process of Bendrix illustrates how his mind is obsessed with Sarah and everything she does, but nothing will ever satisfy that love and desire he has for her. Bendrix frequently uses the metaphor of being “trapped in a desert” (Biography) to convey the fact that this “desert” is so full of doubts and negative outlooks on relationships and people that no one can break through that barrier between his pessimistic thoughts and his eternal desires. This so called...

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