As the ostensible author of The End of the Affair Maurice Bendix is amazingly narcissistic. In a journey through the affair between Maurice and Sarah, it is impossible to not notice how selfish and self-absorbed the perceived author is. His recounting of the affair is laden with grandiose overtones and allusions to being God-like.
             From the very beginning Maurice's superior tone is evident-- he has been "praised for his technical ability," he "can be trusted," and he writes "against the bias" all on the first page of his novel. And although this is his version describing the end of the affair Maurice, as a "professional writer" "praised for his technical ability," should know better that to use a total of 33 examples of the first person narrative within the first two pages of his chronicle if he wants to be seen as unbiased-- and he does. Maurice himself say's, about his style of writing this piece, "I, I, I, as though this were my story, and not the story of Sarah, Henry, and of course, that third, whom I hated without yet knowing him, or even believing in him (35)."
             As I read this book for the third time more and more quirks about Maurice's character jumped out at me. I tried to make comparisons with my own life, my journal writing, and the loves I have experienced. In making those reviews I found that Maurice and I had one major difference in our styles of writing, my journal writing revolves much more around my love and what I am feeling than how others perceive me. This is just the opposite from what Maurice is doing. In recounting his first dinner with Sarah, Maurice, who should be talking about how beautiful she looked or what a great time he had instead, can only talk about how "cold blooded" he is and how "she thought... (He) was genuinely interested in her family life (10)." Maurice's narcissism is further ...