Hello everyone,
Thhis blog post is a response to an activity assigned by Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. This worksheet is part of the study of the contemporary novel The Only Story by Julian Barnes.
Video 1: Plot,Summary & Characters
Introduction:
'The Only Story' is a novel wrtitten by Julian Barnes
Published year: 2018
Genre: Memory Novel
Stting: 'Stockbroker Belt' outside london, 1960s
Narrator: Paul Roberts
Summary of the video:
This video introduces the major characters of the novel and provides a plot summary for the viewers. The Only Story is a recently published novel by Julian Barnes, released in 2018. The novel is divided into three parts and begins with the classical definition of the novel, as given by Dr. Samuel Johnson in his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language.
The major characters of the novel are Paul Roberts, a nineteen-year-old protagonist, and Susan Macleod, his forty-eight-year-old beloved. Susan is married to Gordon Macleod and has two daughters, Martha and Clara, who appear to be older than Paul. The story revolves around the love affair between 19-year-old Paul and 48-year-old Susan Macleod. The novel is narrated from the perspective of an older Paul Roberts, who reflects on his past and recounts his only love story with Susan. Through his memories, we are taken back fifty years in a flashback, where the story unfolds. Additionally, this novel shares a connection with Barnes's earlier work, The Sense of an Ending.
"Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question"
The story begins with a question. The novel is less about the love story between Paul and Susan and more about philosophical reflections on love, life, and suffering. It starts when Paul, a 19-year-old boy, joins a country club to play tennis. There, he meets Susan Macleod, a fellow tennis player. By sheer luck, they are paired together for a mixed doubles match, and from that point, they begin to develop feelings for each other. Paul starts dropping Susan home every day in his car, and over time, their relationship deepens. Eventually, they move in together in London. However, their relationship soon begins to deteriorate. Susan starts drinking excessively and lying to Paul. Meanwhile, Paul matures into his mid-thirties and begins distancing himself from Susan. Seeking new opportunities, he moves abroad for work, leaving Susan behind. As time passes, Susan ages and develops dementia. Paul, weary of the responsibility, decides to leave Susan in the care of her daughter, Martha, who agrees to look after her alcoholic mother. Since the novel is told from Paul’s perspective, we only see his version of events one that may be biased or incomplete.
In the end, Paul attends Susan in the hospital, but he does so without any visible emotion. Instead of worrying about Susan's condition, he finds himself preoccupied with his empty petrol tank, highlighting his emotional detachment from Susan and the life they once shared.
2. Narrative Method and Technique
2.1 Non-linear Narrative Structure
Barnes rejects linear chronology in favour of a fragmented structure. The narration moves constantly between present reflection and past experience, shifting from the narrator’s old age to his youth and then returning again to later stages of life. These temporal jumps imitate the workings of memory, where recollection does not unfold in orderly sequence but emerges in fragments, repetitions, and revisions.
The protagonist often begins an episode in the present, interrupts it with a recollection from decades earlier, and then revisits the same event later from a different emotional or moral perspective. This technique reinforces the sense that memory is unstable and that truth is continually reinterpreted.
2.2 Shifting Narrative Voices
One of the most striking formal features of The Only Story is Barnes’s use of multiple narrative voices within a single text. The novel moves between:
- First-person narration (“I”), which conveys personal memory and self-explanation
- Second-person narration (“you”), often used as self-accusation or moral interrogation
- Third-person narration (“he”), which creates emotional distance between the narrator and his younger self
This unusual blending of narrative modes destabilises the reader’s trust in the narrator. The shifts suggest psychological fragmentation and moral uncertainty, as though the narrator cannot fully own or face his past actions. By constantly altering perspective, Barnes forces readers to question not only what is being remembered, but also why it is being remembered in that particular way.
3. The Novel as a Memory Narrative
At its core, The Only Story presents one story told from one consciousness. Other characters never speak directly; their inner lives remain inaccessible. Everything the reader knows about them is filtered through the narrator’s memory, which may be selective, defensive, or distorted.
This narrative strategy raises a central question that runs throughout the novel: can memory ever be trusted as truth? Barnes suggests that memory is shaped as much by guilt, fear, and self-preservation as by fact. As a result, the novel demands an active reader who reads against the narrator’s version of events.
4. Major Characters
4.1 Paul Roberts (Narrator and Protagonist)
Paul Roberts is both the narrator and the central character of the novel. At the time of narration, he is approximately sixty-nine or seventy years old. The love affair that defines his story begins when he is nineteen.
Later in life, Paul becomes a businessman and a partner in a cheese-making company. His professional success contrasts sharply with his emotional and moral failures. Throughout the novel, Paul presents himself as thoughtful, reflective, and deeply engaged with ideas of love and responsibility. However, his repeated confessions of cowardice and avoidance undermine his self-portrait.
Paul frequently admits that he ran away from confrontation, danger, and responsibility. These admissions, combined with his tendency to rationalise his choices, mark him as an unreliable narrator whose memory is shaped by self-justification as much as by remorse.
4.2 Susan Macleod
Susan Macleod is the woman at the centre of Paul’s “only story.” She is forty-eight years old when the affair begins, married to Gordon Macleod, and the mother of two daughters, Clara and Martha, both of whom are older than Paul.
Susan’s inner life remains largely silent in the narrative. Readers learn about her only through Paul’s recollections and interpretations. Over time, Susan develops severe alcoholism, becomes a habitual liar, and eventually suffers from dementia, leading to her institutionalisation.
A crucial moment in the novel is Susan’s brief revelation of childhood sexual abuse by her uncle, Humphrey. This disclosure provides psychological context for her emotional instability, sexual withdrawal, and later addiction. However, Barnes does not dwell on this trauma, emphasising instead how women’s suffering often remains marginal and unspoken.
4.3 Gordon Macleod
Gordon Macleod is Susan’s husband. He is depicted as violent, abusive, and emotionally brutal. Gordon represents patriarchal authority and domestic violence, and his presence intensifies the moral complexity of Paul’s relationship with Susan. Paul repeatedly avoids direct confrontation with Gordon, reinforcing his pattern of cowardice.
4.4 Martha and Clara
Martha and Clara are Susan’s daughters and are older than Paul. They remain largely in the background of the narrative, yet they carry the heaviest burden. As Susan’s condition deteriorates, Martha in particular becomes her primary caregiver. The daughters silently absorb the consequences of Paul’s abandonment, though their perspectives are never directly voiced.
4.5 Eric
Eric is Paul’s friend and functions as a moral mirror in the novel. In an early incident, Paul runs away when Eric is attacked, later disguising his fear as an attempt to get help. This episode establishes a recurring pattern of behaviour that Paul later repeats in his relationship with Susan.
5. Central Themes
5.1 Love and Responsibility
Barnes dismantles romantic idealism by presenting love as ethically demanding rather than emotionally fulfilling. Paul’s failure lies not in loving Susan, but in refusing responsibility when love required care and courage.
5.2 Memory and Unreliability
Memory in the novel is selective and defensive. Paul’s narration attempts to justify his actions, forcing readers to question the truthfulness of his account.
5.3 Cowardice and Moral Failure
Paul repeatedly runs from danger, confrontation, and responsibility. His life is marked not by dramatic wrongdoing but by consistent avoidance.
5.4 Trauma and Silence
Susan’s childhood abuse explains much of her later suffering. Barnes treats trauma indirectly, making its presence more unsettling and realistic.
The Only Story is not a romance but a post-romantic exploration of love’s ethical cost. Through fragmented narration and unreliable memory, Julian Barnes exposes how love without responsibility becomes a form of exploitation. Paul’s final insight offers no redemption, only recognition: when love is abandoned, it does not disappear—it returns as lifelong remorse.
Video 2: Joan | Character Study
Joan is the surviving sister of Gerald, Susan’s first husband, who died of leukemia. She comes across as a confident and strong-willed person, naturally taking charge in her relationships, especially with Susan. Her self-assured nature is clear through her casual authority and humorous banter, which subtly reinforces her position in the social hierarchy among her friends. Despite her tough and witty exterior, Joan is also practical, particularly when it comes to managing everyday expenses, as seen in her interest in calculating fuel costs. This mix of humor and pragmatism highlights both her intelligence and her careful approach to money.
Joan is independent and resilient. She never married and spent much of her life caring for her family, creating a self-sufficient and somewhat eccentric lifestyle. While she enjoys small pleasures like gin and cigarettes, she is mindful of her spending and lifestyle choices. Her reluctance to change such as dismissing walking despite its benefits reflects her desire to maintain comfort and control over her life. Joan is a memorable and well-rounded character, combining authority, wit, and practicality in a unique way.
Video 3: Memory Novel
This video focuses on the main four points which includes.
- Trauma is memory
- Imperfection of memory
- Memory priority
- Memory and morality
'History is collective memory; memory is personal history, trauma is memory'
The video draws a comparison between The Only Story and the movie Memento, in which the protagonist suffers from short-term memory loss, forgetting everything within 15 minutes. The film raises a crucial question, if memory is taken away, does moral responsibility for one’s actions also disappear? In postmodern times, the concepts of history and memory have become increasingly complex. Every time we revisit our memories, we unconsciously distort them, shaping them according to our emotions and biases. The very facts we store in our minds are often colored with lies. This is precisely the case with Paul’s memory and narration he keeps deceiving himself and the readers because of his remorse. For Paul, it is not about erasing memory but rather about reconstructing it in a way that serves his purpose. His unreliable narration reflects his guilt and his attempt to justify his actions.
The novel also touches on the idea that all human beings have at least one deeply significant story they cannot share with anyone. In this sense, everyone is a subaltern there are always things we cannot speak about. Paul, too, struggles to openly share his love story because, in reality, he is the villain of that story. Instead of presenting the full truth, he shapes the narrative from his own perspective to avoid confronting his own failings. He cannot tell his actual story because he knows he is the one at fault.
Paul’s mental state is characterized by cowardice. He runs away instead of standing up for his friend Eric. The video also briefly discusses passing references to an American man and F-1 racer Max Verstappen, though their connection to the novel remains unclear.
Video 4. Narrative Pattern
The narrative structure of this novel follows a classical framework. The protagonist, Paul Roberts, is an unreliable narrator, and the novel employs a mix of first, second, and third-person narration. While Julian Barnes adheres to traditional storytelling techniques, he also incorporates postmodern elements into the novel. Themes of memory and history are intricately explored through Paul’s unreliable narration, highlighting the fluid and subjective nature of personal recollections.
Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question. You may point out – correctly – that it isn’t a real question.
Because we don’t have the choice. If we had the choice, then there would be a question. But we don’t, so there isn’t. Who can control how much they love? If you can control it, then it isn’t love. I don’t know what you call it instead, but it isn’t love.
Most of us have only one story to tell. I don’t mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there’s only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine.
Consider the novel's opening and the philosophical reflections on the first page how Paul, the narrator, contradicts himself. At first, he asserts that we all have only one story worth telling, yet in the same passage, he claims there are countless stories to tell. This self-contradiction becomes a crucial motif throughout the novel. Additionally, we tend to narrate stories in which we portray ourselves as heroes rather than acknowledging narratives that slip beyond our control. This is precisely the case with Paul. He recounts his love story, but it is possible that he presents only one side of it, while the actual reality might be entirely different. Similarly, Paul initially states that he is not keeping a diary, yet later in the novel, he confesses that he is indeed maintaining one. The entire narrative is intricately woven, employing the warp and weft of memory, and it unfolds through the flashback technique.
At the end of this video, a comparison is drawn between Thomas Hardy and Julian Barnes. However, while Hardy tells a story and embeds philosophical reflections within it, Barnes offers only fragments of a story, focusing primarily on philosophical musings.
Reading this novel was a profound experience. Initially, I expected a straightforward love story between two lovers, but as I progressed through the narrative, I realized it was much more than that. The distinct narrative style in each part is striking, demanding the reader’s active engagement. The use of flashback, while enriching, can also be disorienting at times.
Video 5. Question of Responsiblity
The video discuss about the theme of responsibility as it appears in the novel. It begins by highlighting a quote that suggests the narrator must be cautious when telling his story, implying that responsibility in narrating events and in life is a central concern. The speaker introduces the idea that responsibility can be seen in two ways, either as a matter of personal choice and control, or as something determined by larger, unavoidable forces.
Using the metaphor of a chain it is explained that each person or event is like a link in a chain. Just as a chain can break if one weak link fails under pressure, relationships and life can fall apart when a part of the whole is damaged. However, the metaphor also asks us to consider whether a broken link is weak by nature or simply overwhelmed by external forces. This idea extends to the notion of blame: rather than simply blaming one person for a failure such as Gordon’s domestic violence the lecture argues that we must look at the entire chain of events and recognize that everyone involved has some responsibility.
Paul Roberts, the narrator, uses this theme of responsibility to reflect on his own life. He questions whether he is to blame for his mistakes or if his circumstances and the actions of others, like Gordon, are more to blame. The lecture suggests that it is easy to assign blame to someone else, but true introspection requires admitting one’s own role in the breakdown of relationships. Ultimately, the message is that understanding responsibility means looking at the bigger picture and acknowledging that our lives are shaped by both our choices and the forces around us, and that we must take a hard look at our own contributions to any harm done.
Video 6. Theme of Love
The theme of love is undeniably central to this novel, as it revolves around the relationship between Paul and Susan. At 19, Paul holds a naive and immature perception of love, primarily tied to sexual gratification. He is unaware of the responsibilities that love entails. Love in the novel is closely intertwined with passion and suffering an important linguistic connection, as the Latin root of "passion" (patior) means "to suffer." Although the word no longer carries this meaning in everyday usage, the novel explores how love transforms into passion and ultimately leads to suffering, not just for Paul and Susan but also for their family members.
'Man's love is of man's life a thing apart
'Tis women's whole existence
This quote appears in the novel, where Barnes critiques the traditional notion of love through the characters of Paul and Susan. It is Susan who falls in love with Paul, making him her third partner, whereas Paul remains unmarried his entire life out of love for Susan and a lingering sense of remorse.
A Lacanian interpretation is also embedded in the video. As humans, we have repressed desires that we seek to fulfill through our love objects whether they are human, non-human entities, or even abstract things. In pursuing these love objects, we attempt to fill the void or lack within our lives. This idea is particularly evident in Susan’s marriage, she does not receive love or sexual fulfillment from Gordon, but she finds both in her love object, Paul.
However, love also brings responsibilities, that Paul repeatedly fails to fulfill. He is powerless against Gordon’s domestic violence towards Susan, unable to confront him, and ultimately flees from the Macleod household. Similarly, he does not intervene when Eric is attacked in the street, later considering himself a coward. As Susan ages and becomes incapable of taking care of herself, Paul ultimately abandons his duty once again by handing her over to her daughter, Martha, rather than taking care of her himself.
Video 7. Theme of Marrige
The video explains how the novel criticizes the institution of marriage. It explains that the story questions the idea of marriage by showing it as a fake or sham arrangement. The discussion highlights a quote suggesting that someone who is a true believer in love is naturally against marriage, implying that love and marriage are opposites. In the view presented, marriage is not the ultimate goal in life as some traditions suggest (just as birth and death are inevitable) but rather an institution that can end true love and lead to unhappiness.
It compares marriage to several everyday objects and situations a jewelry box that mysteriously turns precious metals into base metal, or a disused boat that is no longer seaworthy. These metaphors suggest that marriage, over time, loses its value and becomes a source of routine responsibilities rather than a celebration of love. The speaker also points out that many middle-class people suffer in silence in unhappy marriages, as seen in the case of domestic violence and other struggles within the novel.
While older works like Thomas Hardy's novels questioned marriage, today there are alternatives such as live-in relationships and divorce, which allow people more freedom and less cultural pressure to remain in unhappy unions. The novel does not offer a moral judgment but simply portrays marriage as an institution that may not fulfill its promise of happiness, leaving the reader to consider the complexities and responsibilities that come with it.
Video 8. Two ways of Looking at life
There were two ways of looking at life: or two extremes of viewpoints, with a continuum between them. Life is described in two very different ways. The first view is that life is like being the captain of a ship. In this view, every choice you make whether big or small steers your life in a particular direction, just like a captain deciding which way to guide a paddle steamer down the river. Each decision is important because it determines one path while closing off others, emphasizing the power of free will and personal control.There were two ways of looking at life: or two extremes of viewpoints, with a continuum between them.
Life is described in two very different ways. The first view is that life is like being the captain of a ship. In this view, every choice you make whether big or small steers your life in a particular direction, just like a captain deciding which way to guide a paddle steamer down the river. Each decision is important because it determines one path while closing off others, emphasizing the power of free will and personal control.
The second view, however, sees life as more like a bump on a log. Here, no matter what choices you might think you’re making, you’re actually just being carried along by forces beyond your control, much like a log drifting on the mighty Mississippi. In this perspective, life unfolds through inevitable currents and eddies that you cannot steer, suggesting that many events are predetermined.
Paul, the narrator, reflects on these two ways of looking at life and even suggests that sometimes his life feels like it is a mix of both. At times, he experiences the freedom of making choices, and at other times, he feels like he’s simply being pushed along by fate.
9.Creative Response
Write a short piece exploring how one of the themes in the novels relates to contemparory society.
Today, love is everywhere on screens, in dating apps, in endless social media feeds. Yet, the intensity that Paul experiences with Susan reminds us that love is not always neat or convenient. In a world obsessed with practicality, instant gratification, and “safe” relationships, truly consuming love still exists but it’s often messy, controversial, and isolating. People fall deeply, sometimes dangerously, in ways society doesn’t approve of. Paul’s story mirrors modern dilemmas: the clash between passion and expectation, the risk of heartbreak, and the human desire to live fully in a connection, even if it defies norms. Love hasn’t changed; only the rules around it have.
Refrences:
Barad, Dilip. Exploring Narrative Patterns in Julian Barnes’s The Only Story. ResearchGate, July 2023,
Barad, Dilip. Symbolism of Crossword Puzzles, Order, Intellect and Existential Respite in Julian Barnes’s The Only Story. ResearchGate, Aug. 2023,
Barnes, Julian. The Only Story. Jonathan Cape, 2018.
“Introduction | Character | Plot Summary | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 31 Jan. 2022,
“Joan | Character Study | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb. 2022,
“Memory Novel | Memory and History | Memory and Morality | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 2 Feb. 2022,
“Narrative Pattern | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 1 Feb. 2022,
“Question of Responsibility | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb. 2022,
“Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb. 2022,
“Theme of Love | Passion and Suffering | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 2 Feb. 2022,
“Theme of Marriage | Critique of Marriage Institution | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb. 2022,
“Two Ways to Look at Life | The Only Story | Julian Barnes.” Department of English, MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb. 2022,
Thank You!
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