Atonement Essay
In his post-modern novel, Atonement, McEwan dissembles the process of fiction writing, under the guise of romance, to reveal writers’ ambitions to protect secrets with the formation of lies; enticing the reader into their imaginative construction. Through the development of a self-reflective character of a writer in this meta-fictional text, he explores the desire to create fictional realities to both control and escape the harshness of an incomprehensibly chaotic world. By skilfully manipulating the imprecision of language, through differing perspectives, McEwan exploits the complicated link between knowledge and ethics, revealing the ephemeral nature of the human experience and the moral role of fiction.
The novel oscillates …show more content…
‘There was nothing left of the dumb show by the fountain beyond what survived in memory, in three separate and overlapping memories.’ is a veritable description of the understanding of subjectivity and the notion that ‘the scene could be recast, through Cecilia’s eyes, and then Robbie’s’, which illustrates the power and understanding that can be gained from obtaining a different viewpoint of an incomprehensible situation. This variable internal focalisation further demonstrates Briony’s genuine attempt to project herself into the thoughts and feeling of characters, searching for their view of her and broaden her observation, a task which she failed to perform on the night of her crime. Paralleling Briony’s own innocent, ‘honest’ opinion, Cecelia’s description of Briony, ‘but she’s such as fantasist, as we know to our cost’ and Robbie’s, ‘The impulse, the flash of malice, the infantile destructiveness’, depict the intensity of her crime. With her as the ‘author’, this acknowledgement of their suffering is crucial in her own personal search for …show more content…
The reality of the characters as the reader has seen them—in both a psychological and a concrete sense—is tainted by the newly gained knowledge of Briony 's authorship. Cyril Connolley’s suggestion for ‘the young couple to use her as a messenger’ demonstrates McEwan’s referential breaking of the author-reader contract. His use of authorial intervention is further exemplified in this direction to re-read part 1, as the description of Briony on the bridge, “a shape which, at first to be part of the pale stone of the parapet… the idea of a ghost”, meta-fictively foreshadowing the realisation of its fabrication by Briony in a later revision. Ironically, the one correction omitted by Briony was ‘Warfare, as we remarked, is the enemy of creative activity.’; thus, having read part 2 – centred wholly on warfare – the reader is brutally alerted to it’s construction through verisimilitude. Briony’s need to elevate Robbie’s life story, is emphasised through her apology ‘for not writing about the war’ – with its verisimilitude imitating her research and demonstrating her deep-seated need to atone. Through the inclusion of an editorial response, McEwan once again references the writing process to reveal the retrospective rewriting and
In his post-modern novel, Atonement, McEwan dissembles the process of fiction writing, under the guise of romance, to reveal writers’ ambitions to protect secrets with the formation of lies; enticing the reader into their imaginative construction. Through the development of a self-reflective character of a writer in this meta-fictional text, he explores the desire to create fictional realities to both control and escape the harshness of an incomprehensibly chaotic world. By skilfully manipulating the imprecision of language, through differing perspectives, McEwan exploits the complicated link between knowledge and ethics, revealing the ephemeral nature of the human experience and the moral role of fiction.
The novel oscillates …show more content…
‘There was nothing left of the dumb show by the fountain beyond what survived in memory, in three separate and overlapping memories.’ is a veritable description of the understanding of subjectivity and the notion that ‘the scene could be recast, through Cecilia’s eyes, and then Robbie’s’, which illustrates the power and understanding that can be gained from obtaining a different viewpoint of an incomprehensible situation. This variable internal focalisation further demonstrates Briony’s genuine attempt to project herself into the thoughts and feeling of characters, searching for their view of her and broaden her observation, a task which she failed to perform on the night of her crime. Paralleling Briony’s own innocent, ‘honest’ opinion, Cecelia’s description of Briony, ‘but she’s such as fantasist, as we know to our cost’ and Robbie’s, ‘The impulse, the flash of malice, the infantile destructiveness’, depict the intensity of her crime. With her as the ‘author’, this acknowledgement of their suffering is crucial in her own personal search for …show more content…
The reality of the characters as the reader has seen them—in both a psychological and a concrete sense—is tainted by the newly gained knowledge of Briony 's authorship. Cyril Connolley’s suggestion for ‘the young couple to use her as a messenger’ demonstrates McEwan’s referential breaking of the author-reader contract. His use of authorial intervention is further exemplified in this direction to re-read part 1, as the description of Briony on the bridge, “a shape which, at first to be part of the pale stone of the parapet… the idea of a ghost”, meta-fictively foreshadowing the realisation of its fabrication by Briony in a later revision. Ironically, the one correction omitted by Briony was ‘Warfare, as we remarked, is the enemy of creative activity.’; thus, having read part 2 – centred wholly on warfare – the reader is brutally alerted to it’s construction through verisimilitude. Briony’s need to elevate Robbie’s life story, is emphasised through her apology ‘for not writing about the war’ – with its verisimilitude imitating her research and demonstrating her deep-seated need to atone. Through the inclusion of an editorial response, McEwan once again references the writing process to reveal the retrospective rewriting and