When All Is Said

In the final section, Griffin tells the fifth and last story through Maurice’s last toast, to his wife, Sadie, and includes a final short chapter that acts as a conclusion, wrapping up all the sections into an overall ending. The novel’s structure suggests that the book has building to Maurice’s toast to Sadie. Sadie is woven throughout the rest of the chapters, and Maurice opens Chapter 6 by saying, “I’ve left the best ‘til last in every way” (212). This creates an atmosphere of finality, foreshadowing the conjoined acts of Maurice’s death and the end of the book. It also shows how Sadie defines Maurice’s life. She embodies The Relationship Between Love and Grief: Though she is not present as a ghost-like Tony or Molly, she is inextricably woven through all of Maurice’s important memories and emotions. His love for her is ever-present and so too is his grief once she is absent.

Maurice’s grief is tinged with regret: He feels that in life he took her for granted, encapsulating the themes of The Struggle to Communicate and Wealth Versus Human Connection. Griffin illustrates this by juxtaposing Maurice’s recollection of their courtship with his description of their life afterward. Maurice uses heightened, poetic language to describe his first memories of Sadie. He remembers in great detail her appearance and specific moments of their courtship, such as the first time he held her hand and their first kiss. These details encapsulate his infatuation and align with tropes of the romance genre. He wanted to treat her well and was embarrassed at taking her to the dance on his bike. He lay his jacket over it to try to protect her beautiful dress, showing that he believed that she deserved material comfort and luxury. The anecdote of the tea encapsulates how Maurice’s treatment of Sadie changed later in their relationship. The romance of the early courtship was replaced by the mundane everyday: Griffin uses tea, an inexpensive and commonplace drink, to reflect the long-term reality of life together. Maurice prioritized wealth at the expense of his connection to his wife: He was against having tea out because it was cheaper at home. This incident also shows their struggle to communicate. He knew that Sadie loved Earl Grey and that she enjoyed eating out but still thought she agreed with his policy up until shortly before she died when she finally said she wanted to have tea in the hotel after their Sunday lunch. Throughout Ireland and the British Isles, tea has a social and cultural significance: Sharing a pot is a vehicle for companionship and conversation and a token of care. However, when Maurice and Sadie got home, she only made tea for herself, so they used separate pots, symbolizing the divide between them. Griffin shows how prioritizing wealth above connection is intertwined with difficulty communicating and that both can interfere with a loving relationship.

Maurice’s regret regarding Sadie is mirrored by his complex feelings about the coin, which she always thought he should return. These are two elements of his history that haunt him, showing The Way the Past Shapes the Present. Griffin develops this theme through one final twist in the coin storyline, as Hillary reveals the true root of Thomas’s problems: Hugh Dollard, his father figure, hated Thomas and blamed him for everything as he was the product of Amelia’s affair with his brother. Maurice and the Dollards’ history is filled with secrets, but when he and Hillary finally manage to speak honestly, it frees Maurice from the ways that the past has trapped him. The two bond over their grief over their spouses and laugh together—they find that their shared humanity is greater than their inherited enmity, freeing Maurice from his obsessive hatred of the Dollards. Maurice also realizes that the coin is not to blame for everything that has happened. Emily says that Hugh would’ve hated Thomas regardless, so returning the coin earlier would not have helped. This knowledge frees Maurice from the sense that he is bound to Thomas by this object and that they are responsible for each other’s pain. Honesty also enables Maurice to respect Emily’s freedom: Her mother asks him to force Emily out of the hotel, believing her to be trapped there, but when Maurice actually asks Emily, she is proud of her achievements there. He leaves her his share of the hotel in his will so she can make her own free choice. Griffin therefore resolves this storyline by suggesting that though the past inevitably shapes the present, communication enables understanding and helps people to choose how the past impacts the present.

The conclusion of this storyline and the freedom it gives Maurice carries the story into the closing chapter. With closure on this important narrative in his past, Maurice is now able to figuratively move on. His other regrets relate to Kevin and Sadie, and in the final pages, he finds ways to live these out before he dies. He overcomes his struggles to communicate with his son by leaving a voice note, finally speaking to him openly. His battle over the last two years to read all of Kevin’s work despite his struggles with the written word is a gesture showing his love and respect for Kevin. He dies by suicide in the honeymoon suite that Sadie always wanted to stay in, showing that in the end, he wishes to prioritize her over money. He dances around the room, imagining he is with her, which echoes his memory in the opening chapter of dancing around their hotel room together at Kevin’s wedding when he promised her they would stay here someday. Griffin uses this repeated image to bring the narrative full circle, showing that Maurice’s love for Sadie is the force that has shaped his life and his death. The tableau of them dancing together illustrates their companionship despite everything, metaphorically showing that they have been partners throughout the dance of life.

As the first-person narrator, Maurice’s death necessarily aligns with the end of the story: The conclusion of the book figuratively reflects the conclusion of a life. His final words are addressed to Sadie, showing that, despite the other events and forces at play throughout his life, love is at the center of his story.