| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| Paul Roberts | The 19-year-old protagonist who falls in love with Susan. He later narrates the story, reflecting on his past love and mistakes. |
| Susan Macleod | A 48-year-old married woman with two daughters. She starts an affair with Paul but suffers from domestic violence and alcoholism. |
| Gordon Macleod | Susan’s abusive husband, who represents control and societal norms. He is emotionally distant and violent. |
| Martha & Clara | Susan’s daughters, both older than Paul. Martha takes care of Susan later in life. |
| Joan | Gerald’s sister and Susan’s sister-in-law. She is independent, practical, and somewhat controlling. |
| Eric | Paul’s friend, who is beaten in the street. Paul fails to stand up for him, reflecting his cowardice. |
The novel opens with a thought-provoking question:
"Would you rather love more and suffer more, or love less and suffer less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question."
Paul then contradicts himself by saying that this is not a real question because we do not have control over how much we love. If love could be controlled, then it would not be love at all.
Paul also states:
"Most of us have only one story to tell... But there’s only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine."
Yet, in the same passage, he acknowledges that people experience countless events, which turn into countless stories. This contradiction becomes a key theme in the novel. Paul tells his version of events, but the real story might be different. Like many storytellers, he may shape his narrative to portray himself in a certain way. Another example of his inconsistency is when he claims he is not keeping a diary, only to later admit that he is. The novel is skillfully woven using memory and unfolds through flashbacks.
There is comparison made between Thomas Hardy and Julian Barnes. While Hardy tells a complete story with philosophical reflections, Barnes presents only fragments of a story, focusing mainly on philosophical ideas. Each part of the novel has a unique narrative style, requiring active engagement from the reader. The flashback technique adds depth but can also be disorienting at times.
The novel includes this famous quote:
"Man's love is of man's life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence."
Barnes questions this traditional view of love through Paul and Susan. It is Susan who falls in love with Paul and makes him her third partner. Meanwhile, Paul never marries. He stays single, holding on to his love for Susan and feeling guilty about their past.
A Lacanian perspective is to this idea, humans have hidden desires that they try to fulfill through love. These desires may be linked to people, objects, or even abstract things. Susan's marriage reflects this concept. She does not receive love or intimacy from her husband, Gordon, so she seeks both in Paul.
However, love also comes with responsibilities, which Paul repeatedly fails to fulfill. He is unable to protect Susan from Gordon’s violence and eventually runs away from the Macleod household. Similarly, he does not help his friend Eric when he is attacked on the street and later considers himself a coward. When Susan grows old and cannot take care of herself, Paul once again avoids responsibility. Instead of looking after her, he leaves her in the care of her daughter, Martha.
- Trauma is memory
- Imperfection of memory
- Memory priority
- Memory and morality
"History is collective memory; memory is personal history; trauma is memory."
It compares The Only Story with the movie Memento, where the protagonist suffers from short-term memory loss and forgets everything within 15 minutes. The film raises an important question: if someone loses their memory, do they also lose moral responsibility for their actions? In postmodern times, history and memory have become more complicated. Every time we recall memories, we unintentionally alter them based on our emotions and biases. Even the facts we remember are often mixed with falsehoods.
This is exactly what happens with Paul’s narration. He keeps deceiving himself and the readers because of his guilt. Paul does not erase memories; instead, he reshapes them to suit his own needs. His unreliable narration reflects his remorse and his attempt to justify his actions.
The novel also explores the idea that every person has at least one significant story they cannot share. Paul, too, struggles to openly tell his love story. In reality, he is the villain of his own story. Instead of revealing the full truth, he tells it from his perspective to avoid facing his own mistakes. He cannot tell the real story because he knows he is the one to blame.
Paul’s mental state is marked by cowardice. He runs away instead of helping his friend Eric when he is attacked. The video also briefly mentions an American man and F-1 racer Max Verstappen, though their connection to the novel with the character of Paul.
Joan is the surviving sister of Gerald, Susan’s first husband, who passed away from leukemia. She is a confident and strong-willed woman who naturally takes charge in her relationships, especially with Susan. Despite her tough and witty personality, Joan is also practical. She is careful with money and pays attention to everyday expenses, such as fuel costs. This balance of humor and pragmatism shows both her intelligence and her sensible approach to life.
Joan is independent and resilient. Numbers of illustrations has been provided to prove it. She has the wounds of her father's and brother's death which leads her to do multiple sexual affair outside. Additionally, her affair with married businessman also turned out to be disaster. Then she gave up on human relationship and start having pets.
Video 6: Two Ways to Look at Life
There are two ways to look at life, or rather, two extreme perspectives with a range of views in between.
The first view compares life to being the captain of a ship. In this perspective, every choice, big or small, determines the direction of your life. Just like a captain steering a paddle steamer down a river, each decision matters. This idea emphasizes free will and personal control, suggesting that people shape their own destinies.
The second view sees life as a bump on a log. In this case, no matter what choices you think you are making, you are actually just drifting along, carried by forces beyond your control. Like a log floating down the Mississippi, you have no real control over your path. This view suggests that life is shaped by fate and external circumstances rather than individual choices.
Paul, the narrator, reflects on these two perspectives. Sometimes, he feels like he is in control of his life, making important choices. At other times, he feels powerless, as if he is simply being carried along by fate. His experience suggests that life is often a mix of both perspectives.
Video 7: Question of Responsibility
Responsibility and Cowardice: In what ways is the protagonist, Paul, presented as unreliable and cowardly? How does he avoid responsibility, and what are the consequences?
The video discusses the theme of responsibility in the novel. It begins with a quote that suggests the narrator must be careful in telling his story. This highlights the idea that responsibility is important, both in narrating events and in life. Responsibility can be seen in two ways. It can be a result of personal choice and control, or it can be shaped by larger forces beyond one's control.
A chain is used as a metaphor to explain this idea. Each person or event is like a link in a chain. If one link fails, the entire chain can break, just as relationships and life can fall apart when one part is damaged. However, the metaphor also raises a question: Is the broken link weak by nature, or was it simply overwhelmed by outside forces? This connects to the idea of blame. Instead of blaming just one person, like Gordon for his domestic violence, the video suggests that we must consider the entire chain of events. Everyone involved has some responsibility.
Paul Roberts, the narrator, reflects on his own role in life. He wonders if his mistakes were truly his fault or if they were caused by circumstances and other people, like Gordon. Blaming others is easy, but real self-reflection requires admitting one's own role in a failed relationship. In the end, the message is clear: Responsibility is not just about individual choices. It also involves recognizing the bigger picture and accepting our own part in any harm caused.
Video 8: Theme of Marriage
The novel criticizes the institution of marriage. It suggests that the story presents marriage as a false or flawed arrangement. A key quote in the discussion states that a true believer in love must be against marriage, implying that love and marriage are opposites. This challenges the traditional idea that marriage is a natural or inevitable part of life, like birth and death. Instead, the novel suggests that marriage can destroy true love and lead to unhappiness.
Marriage is compared to a jewelry box that turns precious metals into worthless ones or a broken boat that can no longer sail. These images suggest that marriage loses its value over time and becomes more about responsibilities than love. The discussion also highlights how many middle-class people remain in unhappy marriages, suffering in silence, as seen in the novel’s depiction of domestic violence and emotional struggles.
Unlike older works, such as those by Thomas Hardy, which questioned marriage in a time with fewer alternatives, today, live-in relationships and divorce provide more freedom. This reduces the cultural pressure to stay in unhappy marriages. The novel does not offer a moral lesson but presents marriage as an institution that does not always lead to happiness.
Personal Reflection: Consider the question posed at the beginning of the novel: "Would you rather love the more and suffer the more, or love the less and suffer the less?".
The novel deeply explores the question posed at the beginning: "Would you rather love more and suffer more, or love less and suffer less?" Traditionally, love has been idealized in literature and mythology, from Greek myths like Hyacinth to tragic romances like Romeo and Juliet. In these stories, love always clashes with duty whether religious, patriarchal, or societal. This age-old narrative is seen in Indian films like Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani, and Kalank, where love is often sacrificed for honor or tradition. However, this idea does not fully resonate with modern times.
In The Only Story, Paul’s love for Susan does not lead to fulfillment but to suffering, pity, and anger. Instead of taking responsibility, he writes a joint letter to Martha and Clara to escape from his duties. At one point, he even desires a "French relationship," where an old lover arranges a new marriage for the younger one and then quietly exits the relationship but this does not happen in his case. The novel’s line,
"In my opinion, every love, happy or unhappy, is a real disaster once you give yourself entirely,"
reflects Paul’s experience. His love for Susan does not uplift him; instead, he falls—something that is symbolically represented in his dream sequences.
In the modern Indian context, love is still shaped by society, culture, and surroundings. Just like Paul and Susan suffer, we see similar fates in literature Sue and Jude (Jude the Obscure), Cecily and James Harthouse (Hard Times), Gatsby (The Great Gatsby), the Creature (Frankenstein), and Bimala (The Home and the World). Love in these stories does not bring happiness but instead leaves the characters broken and deeply wounded.
Imagine you are one of the characters from the novel (other than Paul). Write a journal entry from their perspective reflecting on the events of the novel.
Journal Entry – Martha Macleod
I don’t know why I’m writing this. Maybe because there’s no one to listen. No one who would understand.
Today was another day at the hospital, sitting by Mother’s bedside, watching her drift in and out of sleep. She doesn’t recognize me anymore. She barely speaks. The woman who once laughed, argued, and loved so recklessly is now just a shadow of herself. And I am the one left to pick up the pieces.
Paul, he left long ago. He loved her, or at least he thought he did. But love isn’t just passion and stolen moments. Love is staying when things get hard. Love is holding someone’s hand when they’re too weak to hold yours back. He never understood that. He wrote a letter instead of facing what was happening. He abandoned her when she needed him the most.
But it wasn’t just Paul. My father, Gordon, played his part too. His cruelty, his violence, the way he stripped away her confidence, bit by bit it all broke her. He made her feel worthless, like she was nothing without him. And when she finally found someone who made her feel alive, he made sure to crush that too.
Now, here she is. A broken woman trapped in a failing body. And I am the one who must be strong. I remember the asylum. The way she looked at me, confused, lost. And I hated her for it. I hated her for choosing a love that destroyed her, for leaving us with nothing but this burden. But she is my mother. And no matter how much it hurts, I will not leave her. I can’t.
Thank You.
Refernces :
Barad , Dilip. “Flipped Learning Activity Worksheet on The Only Story.” ResearchGate, Jan. 2025, www.researchgate.net/publication/388555499_Flipped_Learning_Activity_Worksheet_on_The_Only_Story. Accessed 08 Feb. 2025.
Barnes, Julian. The Only Story. Jonathan Cape, 2018.
Barad, D. (n.d.-a). EXPLORING NARRATIVE PATTERNS IN JULIAN BARNES’ “THEONLY STORY.” ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371874310_EXPLORING_NARRATIVE_PATTERNS_IN_JULIAN_BARNES'_THE_ONLY_STORY
Barad, D. (n.d.-b). SYMBOLISM OF CROSSWORD PUZZLES: ORDER, INTELLECT, AND EXISTENTIAL RESPITE IN JULIAN BARNES’S ’THE ONLY STORY. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372537102_SYMBOLISM_OF_CROSSWORD_PUZZLES_ORDER_INTELLECT_AND_EXISTENTIAL_RESPITE_IN_JULIAN_BARNES'S_'THE_ONLY_STORY
"Joan | Character Study | The Only Story | Julian Barnes." DoE-MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb 2022, https://youtu.be/st-w_099Yr0?si=OCoRA4CEEaHpXWq8
"Narrative Pattern | The Only Story | Julian Barnes." DoE-MKBU, YouTube, 1 Feb 2022, https://youtu.be/395rhgkig1w?si=mqvmqwWBRqOxByZ_
"Theme of Love | Passion and Suffering | The Only Story | Julian Barnes." DoE-MKBU, YouTube, 2 Feb 2022, https://youtu.be/7f7hCKtGkGI?si=gCVaaKw0ksJAn4OY
"Theme of Marriage | Critique of Marriage Institution | The Only Story | Julian Barnes." DoE-MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb 2022, https://youtu.be/SCrSyV2jXzI?si=iLvkpeE_LlO67jpC
"Two Ways to Look at Life | The Only Story | Julian Barnes." DoE-MKBU, YouTube, 3 Feb 2022, https://youtu.be/s7Wom7RAqI4?si=HIzHz0luge6GKnv8
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