The End of the Party

1. The End of the Party

2. The Author (1) Graham Greene (1904-1991). a prolific English novelist, playwright, short story writer and critic whose works explore the ambiguities of modern man and ambivalent moral or political issues in a contemporary setting. His religion informs most of his novels, and many of his best works are explicitly Roman Catholic in content and preoccupations.

3. The Author (2) Greene's novels are written in a contemporary, realistic style, often featuring characters troubled by self-doubt and living in seedy or rootless circumstances. The doubts were often of a religious nature, echoing the author's ambiguous attitude to Catholicism. Throughout his life, Greene was obsessed with travelling far from his native England, to what he called the "wild and remote" places of the world. His travels provided him with opportunities to engage in espionage on behalf of the United Kingdom (Greene had been recruited to MI6 by the notorious double agent Kim Philby).

4. The Author (3) Many of his books have been filmed, most notably Brighton Rock (1947)and The Quiet American (1958, 2002), and he also wrote several original screenplays, most famously for the film The Third Man.

5. Characters protagonists: Peter and Francis Morton minor characters: Joyce and Mabel Mrs. Henne-Falcon third-person narrator

6. Setting The setting hardly matters, except for the darkened rooms of Mrs. Henne-Falcon’s home.

7. Plot It is the day of Colin Henne-Falcon’s birthday party. The twins Peter and Francis Morton have been invited. Francis doesn’t want to go because he shudders at the thought of playing hide-and-seek in the dark – a permanent fixture of Mrs. Henne-Falcon’s parties. Try as he might, Francis can’t evade the hide-and-seek. After the lights have gone out, Peter joins him in his hiding place, but the shock of his brother’s touch in the dark Francis is literally scared to death.

8. Thoughts at the end After Francis has died Peter continues to feel what he has always supposed is his brother’s fear. What can this mean? 1) It’s an afterlife thing. Francis is dead, but even in the afterlife he is full of fear, and Peter feels the fear across the grave. 2) It’s a psychological thing. Peter never could feel Francis’ fear, he only attributed his own fears to Francis. Now that Francis is gone, he will have to own up to his own fears.