Ian McEwan’s Atonement explores the highly enthralling themes of war and the subsequent horrors, corruption, and the power of language and story-telling, a theme prevalent internationally or otherwise in every piece of literature. McEwan utilises and vast plethora of techniques and literary conventions in order to allow a deeper insight into these predominant themes.
McEwan uses techniques including imagery and pathos to powerfully illustrate his Realist view of war. Within part II and III, the verbose language of part I is replaced by a highly juxtaposed blasé tone. Succinct and methodical in its depiction of horrors, such as the “leg in a tree”, and the lack of literary structure such as the absence of chapters alludes to the breakdown …show more content…
McEwan emphasises the corruption that escorts war, the boy found being buried on the side of the road personifies this corruption. Unable to “pause for ceremony” Nettles and Mace, burry the boy hurriedly while the “crimson stain… [on] his white shirt spread”, being juxtaposition between white and red, symbolising the growing corruption of the war, while being powerful imagery a point also illustrated by Robbie’s wound leaking “not blood”, war internally corrupts pure individuals. This corruption of is similarly personified by the Tallis house. In part I, the house - while being “ugly” - was blossoming with natural elements, contrastingly in part IV the house’s vines “lost to disease”, and the gardens now a golf course. Briony’s dementia coupled with the changes to the house imply that soon Briony’s accusations, Lola’s rape, and Robbie and Cecilia’s precious moments will soon be erased from history, highlighting the fallibility of memory. This loss of truth, corrupting the validity of Briony’s atonement. Furthermore, Lola and Marshall’s acrimonious relationship corrupts the sanctity of all relationships within the text. Briony’s Arabella was “rewarded with a wedding”, ironically the only marriage in Atonement, is the union of Mr and Mrs Marshall. The wedding described as “a crime”, is riddled with irony, Lola “all in white” and her hair in a “single childish plat”, ironically contrasting that Marshall stole all innocence and purity from Lola long ago. The Quincy twins wearing their “school uniform at half-mast” contrasting the positive connotations of a wedding with that of a funeral. Corruption whether within war, memory, or relationships is expressed using the aforementioned techniques in order to convey McEwan’s message that even the morally purist, can be
McEwan uses techniques including imagery and pathos to powerfully illustrate his Realist view of war. Within part II and III, the verbose language of part I is replaced by a highly juxtaposed blasé tone. Succinct and methodical in its depiction of horrors, such as the “leg in a tree”, and the lack of literary structure such as the absence of chapters alludes to the breakdown …show more content…
McEwan emphasises the corruption that escorts war, the boy found being buried on the side of the road personifies this corruption. Unable to “pause for ceremony” Nettles and Mace, burry the boy hurriedly while the “crimson stain… [on] his white shirt spread”, being juxtaposition between white and red, symbolising the growing corruption of the war, while being powerful imagery a point also illustrated by Robbie’s wound leaking “not blood”, war internally corrupts pure individuals. This corruption of is similarly personified by the Tallis house. In part I, the house - while being “ugly” - was blossoming with natural elements, contrastingly in part IV the house’s vines “lost to disease”, and the gardens now a golf course. Briony’s dementia coupled with the changes to the house imply that soon Briony’s accusations, Lola’s rape, and Robbie and Cecilia’s precious moments will soon be erased from history, highlighting the fallibility of memory. This loss of truth, corrupting the validity of Briony’s atonement. Furthermore, Lola and Marshall’s acrimonious relationship corrupts the sanctity of all relationships within the text. Briony’s Arabella was “rewarded with a wedding”, ironically the only marriage in Atonement, is the union of Mr and Mrs Marshall. The wedding described as “a crime”, is riddled with irony, Lola “all in white” and her hair in a “single childish plat”, ironically contrasting that Marshall stole all innocence and purity from Lola long ago. The Quincy twins wearing their “school uniform at half-mast” contrasting the positive connotations of a wedding with that of a funeral. Corruption whether within war, memory, or relationships is expressed using the aforementioned techniques in order to convey McEwan’s message that even the morally purist, can be