Friday Reaction

            Julian Barnes develops the second part of the book based off the first part. Without learning about Tony’s childhood, adulthood and life as a retiree, then this part would have no meaning to the readers. The two parts even reflect some of the points that Tony reiterates in his narration, the youth can’t wait for their lives to get started while the elder look back on their lives and try to make sense of the nostalgia. Teenagers can’t wait for the next best thing to happen to them, whether it is middle school, high school, college, a career, marriage, and children. Elders look back at all of these stages and see it fixated in a moment of time that they aren’t able to get back. Most of the perceived memories are lost in space, while the others that were most significant remain to be analyzed. The transition from the first part of the book to the second part of the book symbolizes the readers’ transition from seeing Tony’s life through the perspective of a youth to seeing it through the perspective of an elder. We start to look back at Tony’s life and his interactions with women, philosophers, and everyday life through the context of him trying to obtain Adrian’s diary. I think that I will see Tony’s life a lot differently than when I read it in the first part. After the first few pages in the second part, I love contemplating the outcomes of living one’s life already having experienced it. What would I do differently and what would I remain the same. I think the closest way to perceive that mindset and control over your life is by considering how you would see yourself in the future looking back at the current situation from that future point.