Ian McEwan’s Saturday: Politics and generations The attack of 9/11 was probably one of the most shocking scenario the world had ever faced. Its repercussions were seen later when United States started to talk about invasion of Iraq and end Saddam Hussein’s regime. Saturday by Ian McEwan is based in the time period after the 9/11 attacks and midst the talks of war against Iraq. The narrative is constructed around a mid-age neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne, who is based in London. His narration is about one particular day in his life, a Saturday. The same day on which United Kingdom saw its largest protest march. February 15 2003, marks the day when millions came out on the streets of London to express opposition against the looming Iraq war. Ian
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This is a fragment from “A move Abroad” which has been used in Richard Brown’s paper. Here I agree with McEwan about how a political novel should explore all the various experiences and not just stick with one side of the story. I believe he has been truthful to his word and has tried to capture the entire experience or we can say he has not left any stone unturned when it comes to exploring both the sides of the argument in his book “Saturday”. The book starts with Henry witnessing a plane crash from his house. What I found immensely surprising was that the very first thought that comes in his and his son’s mind is that the crash might be a terrorism act (McEwan, 31). His son, Theo, 18 years of age asks if the attack was by the jihadists (McEwan, 32). This scenario reminds us the constant fear and the negativity that the common people had after the attacks in U.S. This conversation here helps the story get into the subject of politics and generation. We can see that Henry does not quickly comment about the reason for the plane to go down, instead he urges his son to wait for the news to tell them more about the situation. Overall in the first chapter we see that Theo, who hails from the younger generation, has certain “fixed” ideas about terrorism but on the other hand, Henry seems to be more careful about what to say about certain
This is a fragment from “A move Abroad” which has been used in Richard Brown’s paper. Here I agree with McEwan about how a political novel should explore all the various experiences and not just stick with one side of the story. I believe he has been truthful to his word and has tried to capture the entire experience or we can say he has not left any stone unturned when it comes to exploring both the sides of the argument in his book “Saturday”. The book starts with Henry witnessing a plane crash from his house. What I found immensely surprising was that the very first thought that comes in his and his son’s mind is that the crash might be a terrorism act (McEwan, 31). His son, Theo, 18 years of age asks if the attack was by the jihadists (McEwan, 32). This scenario reminds us the constant fear and the negativity that the common people had after the attacks in U.S. This conversation here helps the story get into the subject of politics and generation. We can see that Henry does not quickly comment about the reason for the plane to go down, instead he urges his son to wait for the news to tell them more about the situation. Overall in the first chapter we see that Theo, who hails from the younger generation, has certain “fixed” ideas about terrorism but on the other hand, Henry seems to be more careful about what to say about certain