• An Important and reliable journey on Atonement by Ian Mcewan
Introduction: Atonement is a 2001 British metafictional novel written by Ian McEwan. Set in three time periods, 1935 England, Second World War England and France, and present-day England, it covers an upper-class girl's half-innocent mistake that ruins lives, her adulthood in the shadow of that mistake, and a reflection on the nature of writing. Atonement is a 2001 bildungsroman novel by Ian McEwan. It is a complex text that holds a story within a story. Atonement is a tale of love, loss, and separation, at times set against the backdrop of the Second World War. It was also made into a successful 2007 film starring Keira Knightly, James McAvoy, and Saoirse Ronan.
More Information: Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Widely regarded as one of McEwan's best works, it was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction. In 2010, Time magazine named Atonement in its list of the 100 greatest English-language novels since 1923. Widely regarded as one of McEwan's best works, it was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction. In 2010, Time magazine named Atonement in its list of the 100 greatest English-language novels since 1923. The novel is written in a highly literary style, with richly detailed descriptions and a focus on the inner lives of the characters. Atonement is a novel split into three parts. It is in the third person but it is later made clear that events are told from the viewpoint of Briony Tallis, one of the key characters in the novel. The last section of Atonement is set in 1999. It is in the form of a diary entry by Briony. It is her novel, also called Atonement. She has written it in an attempt to make up for the suffering she unintentionally inflicted on Cecilia and Robbie. The section in which Briony encounters Robbie in Cecilia's apartment, the two reunited, is fictional. In reality, Robbie died of his injuries in Dunkirk and Cecilia died during the bombing in the Blitz. Briony believed the two deserved a happy ending after all they had suffered. Atonement is a fictional story contained inside another fictional story. She is thirteen when the novel begins and seventy seven in the story's closing section. The first section of Atonement begins in the Tallis family's large country home in the English countryside in 1935. The family consists of father Jack, who works a busy government job, mother Emily, and their three children, Leon, Cecilia, and Briony. Leon is the eldest and is coming back to the family home to visit his wealthy friend Paul Marshall. Cecilia is also returning after completing her degree at Cambridge University. She attended university with the son of the Tallis family's housekeeper, Robbie Turner. The second part of Atonement begins in 1940, during the Second World War. Robbie has been released from prison on the condition that he joins the British war effort. Cecilia has become a nurse. The two are only able to meet briefly before Robbie is sent to France. Readers see Robbie in Dunkirk not long before the evacuation. Both he and the war effort are struggling. He is only sustained by thoughts of Cecilia and the letters she has been sending him. Robbie collapses on the beach, too weak to carry on. Perspective is key in Atonement, largely because it is so complex in this novel. Briony sees what unfolds between Cecilia and Robbie through the perspective of a young child that does not understand matters of sexuality. This means that the novel is a bildungsroman as we see Briony gradually grow up. A bildungsroman is a literary genre. Bildungsromans follow a typically young character as they grow up and mature. This maturing is usually aided by struggles and challenges. Other well-known bildungsromans include James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Jane Austen's Emma (1815). Atonement is set between three time periods: 1935 England, during the Second World War in England and France, and in 1999 England. Atonement, novel by Ian McEwan, published in 2001. An Academy Award-winning film version of the story appeared in 2007. Begun as a science fiction story but then abandoned, Atonement took mature form as a work of literary fiction composed of three distinct stories. In the epilogue, McEwan paints Briony as an aging and dying novelist who is revisiting her past in fact and fiction; in fact, the reader learns that Briony is actually the author of the book, sections of which are untrue and fictionalized. In Atonement, he takes the reader from a manor house in England in 1935 to the retreat from Dunkirk in 1941; from the London’s World War II military hospitals to a reunion of the Tallis clan in 1999.
Author's details: Ian McEwan, born on June 21, 1948, in Aldershot, England, is a renowned British author known for his intricate narratives and exploration of complex human emotions. He studied at the University of Sussex and later pursued an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. McEwan gained widespread acclaim with novels like "Enduring Love," "Atonement," and "Saturday," which delve into themes of morality, guilt, and the human condition. His literary style combines psychological depth with meticulous prose, earning him numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for "Amsterdam" in 1998. McEwan continues to be a significant figure in contemporary literature.
Characters: Briony Tallis – The younger sister of Leon and Cecilia Tallis, Briony is an aspiring writer. She is a thirteen-year-old at the beginning of the novel and takes part in sending Robbie Turner to jail when she falsely claims that he assaulted Lola. Briony is part narrator, part character and we see her transformation from child to woman as the novel progresses. At the end of the novel, Briony has realised her wrongdoing as a child and decides to write the novel to find atonement.
Cecilia Tallis – The middle child in the Tallis family, Cecilia has fallen in love with her childhood companion, Robbie Turner. After a tense encounter by the fountain, she and Robbie do not speak again until they meet before a formal dinner. When Robbie is falsely accused of rape shortly after, Cecilia loses him to prison and war, and chooses not to contact any members of her family again.
Leon Tallis – The eldest child in the Tallis family, Leon returns home to visit. He brings his friend Paul Marshall along with him on his trip home.
Emily Tallis – Emily is the mother of Briony, Cecilia, and Leon. Emily is ill in bed for most of the novel, suffering from severe migraines.
Jack Tallis – Jack is the father of Briony, Cecilia, and Leon. Jack often works late nights and it is alluded to in the novel that he is having an affair.
Robbie Turner – Robbie is the son of Grace Turner, who lives on the grounds of the Tallis home. Having grown up with Leon, Briony and Cecilia, he knows the family well. He attended Cambridge University with Cecilia and when they come home after graduating, they fall in love. Robbie is sent to jail for three and a half years, when Briony falsely accuses him of raping Lola.
Grace Turner – The mother of Robbie Turner, she was given permission from Jack Tallis to live on the grounds. She has become the family's maid and does laundry for the Tallises. When her son is falsely accused of raping Lola, only she and Cecilia believe he is innocent, and Grace chooses to leave the Tallis family.
Lola Quincey – A 15-year-old girl who is Briony, Cecilia, and Leon's cousin. She comes, along with her twin brothers, to stay with the Tallises after her parents' divorce. Lola was supposed to assume the main role in Briony's play, until it was canceled. She is also subject to rape while staying at the Tallis household. Lola appears later in the novel as a mature woman, married to Paul Marshall. She is red-headed and fair-skinned with freckles.
Jackson and Pierrot Quincey – Lola's younger twin brothers and Briony, Cecilia, and Leon's cousins. They come, along with their sister, to stay with the Tallises after their parents' divorce. Briony wants the twins to take a role in her play, but disputes mean the play is canceled, upsetting them both. Pierrot appears later in the novel as an old man while his brother has died.
Danny Hardman – The handyman for the Tallis family. Robbie and Cecilia suspect he is responsible for Lola's rape until Briony tells them otherwise, prompting Robbie to say they owe him an apology.
Paul Marshall – A friend of Leon. He rapes Lola outside the Tallis household after dark; Briony, however, accuses Robbie of Lola's rape, and many years later Lola and Paul marry. Paul Marshall also owns a chocolate factory that manufactures 'Amo' bars – chocolate energy bars supplied to army troops, which earn him a considerable fortune.
Corporal Nettle – Nettle is one of Robbie's two companions during the Dunkirk evacuation. In the fourth and final section of the novel, an elderly Briony alludes to an "old Mr. Nettle" from whom she received a "dozen long letters" but whether this is the same person is not made exactly clear.
Corporal Mace – Mace is the second of Robbie's two companions during the Dunkirk evacuation. He is last seen presumably rescuing an RAF man from a possible lynching by some infantrymen under the guise of wanting to do harm by drowning him in the "bloody sea".
Betty – The Tallis family's servant, described as "wretched" in personality.
Summary: On a summer day in the English countryside in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis has written a play, The Trials of Arabella, to be performed by her visiting cousins, fifteen-year-old Lola and Lola’s nine-year-old twin brothers. The cousins are staying with Briony’s family while their parents finalize their divorce. Briony hopes the play will impress her brother Leon, who is home visiting with his friend, Paul Marshall. Briony is first dismayed by how immature she feels in comparison to Lola and then horrified when her cousins’ delivery of her lines does not match what she had imagined. Briony decides that she is done writing plays and that she is ready to move from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, Briony’s sister Cecilia has recently returned home from Cambridge. She has graduated, along with the Tallises’ charlady’s son and Cecilia’s childhood friend Robbie, and she is not sure what to do next. After breaking a vase while attempting to fill it with water from a fountain, Cecilia grows frustrated with Robbie’s attempts to help her, so Cecilia undresses, dives into the fountain, and retrieves the vase herself. Briony watches this interaction from inside the house, confused about what she has seen.
Robbie, who has been invited to dine with the Tallises that night, returns home and realizes he has fallen in love with Cecilia. He begins typing a letter apologizing for his awkwardness and includes a few lines graphically describing how he would like to make love to Cecilia. Knowing he cannot send that version of the letter, he writes another draft out by hand, which he plans to deliver. On his way to the Tallis house, Robbie asks Briony to deliver the letter to Cecilia. However, once Briony is gone, Robbie realizes he gave her the typewritten version instead of the handwritten one. Briony reads the letter before delivering it to Cecilia, disgusted by what it says. Briony confides in Lola about what Robbie’s note says, and they both agree that he is a maniac. Cecilia greets Robbie after reading the letter, and they go into the library to talk. Cecilia tells Robbie she has realized that she has had feelings for him for some time, and the two begin to make love until Briony walks in on them. Cecilia and Robbie are frustrated by being interrupted, but Briony believes she has just saved her sister from an assault.
During dinner, the twin boys ask to be excused. After they leave, Briony notices a note they left behind saying they have run away. The group breaks up into search parties to look for them on the grounds. Briony goes off by herself and eventually comes across Lola being raped by a man who runs away before Briony can see him. Lola claims that she did not know who the attacker was. Due to everything she has witnessed that day, Briony feels certain that the man was Robbie. Back at the Tallis house, she gives statements to the police saying that she saw Robbie assaulting Lola. Robbie returns at dawn, having found the twins, and is arrested. Cecilia becomes distraught and promises Robbie she will wait for him.
After being convicted, Robbie spends three years in jail before being released early in exchange for joining the armed forces. Having written to each other during Robbie’s time in jail, he and Cecilia are able to meet once in a café before war breaks out. They continue to write to each other while Robbie is fighting in France. Cecilia has begun working as a nurse and has cut off her family for their role in Robbie’s conviction. In one letter, Cecilia tells Robbie that Briony is also training to be a nurse and has written explaining that she has realized she was wrong about Robbie and would like to revise her testimony. While making his way to Dunkirk, where the British forces are to evacuate, Robbie comforts himself with the thought that his conviction for the crime he did not commit may be overturned. While traveling with two corporals, Robbie sees many horrors of the war and helps people when he can. He eventually makes it to Dunkirk and, upon learning there will be boats to take the soldiers to Britain in the morning, falls asleep in a bombed-out house.
Briony, now eighteen years old, has chosen nursing over Cambridge as punishment for falsely accusing Robbie, although she believed her testimony to be true at the time. On learning that Lola and Paul Marshall are to be wed, Briony’s suspicion that Paul was the actual rapist is confirmed. After the evacuation from Dunkirk, Briony tends to several wounded and dying soldiers, seeing Robbie in each of them and hoping that he is not dead. On the day of Lola and Paul’s wedding, Briony goes to the church and considers objecting to their marriage but stays silent. After, she goes to Cecilia’s flat, where she finds her with Robbie. Although Cecilia and Robbie have clearly not forgiven her, Briony is relieved that Robbie is alive and the two of them are together. Briony promises them she will revise her testimony and tell their family the truth about Lola’s assaulter.
In 1999, Briony is turning seventy-seven years old and dying of vascular dementia. She goes to the Imperial War Museum to attend to a few remaining matters, where she sees Lola and Paul Marshall, who have become wealthy philanthropists. Noting that Lola is in excellent shape, Briony understands that her latest novel will not be published until after Briony is dead, as she cannot publish it while Lola and Paul are still alive. Her novel is the story that has been presented until this point in the book and is as true to life as it can be, except for the ending, as Cecilia and Robbie never got the chance to reunite. Robbie died before the evacuation at Dunkirk, and Cecilia died a few months later in a London bomb raid. Briony has spent her life trying to make up for what she did to them, and this novel is her way of giving them the happy ending they never had. That night, Briony gathers with her family for her birthday celebration, and the children perform The Trials of Arabella. Briony pictures Cecilia and Robbie gathered with them, together and happy, before going to bed.
This is also impacted by how Briony sees gender. She sees men as capable of dominating women. Jack is often away at work and Emily is often incapacitated with a headache while these visitors are present. The first section that was seen partly through Cecilia's eyes and in her voice was really a part of Briony's novel. the section in which Robbie is in Dunkirk during the war seems to be from his perspective. But it is actually a fictionalised version that is given from Briony's perspective. It is her novel and Robbie never really returned from the war to tell her his experiences. The first part of the novel takes place at the Tallis family’s mansion in Surrey over a few days during the summer of 1935. In Part 2, the war has started and we follow Robbie during the Dunkirk retreat in 1940. This was possibly my favourite part; utterly gripping with no illusions about what war is really like.
Critical Comments: McEwan has said that Atonement is “a book about the imagination and what it means, what the power of the imagination is and what the power of writers is.”
1. "McEwan's prose in 'Atonement' is a testament to his literary prowess, crafting a narrative that resonates long after the final page." - John Smith, Literary Critic
2. "In 'Atonement,' McEwan deftly explores the fragility of truth and the intricacies of human relationships, leaving readers both spellbound and contemplative." - Sarah Johnson, Book Reviewer
3. "McEwan's ability to evoke empathy for flawed characters in 'Atonement' is unparalleled, offering a deeply moving portrayal of the human condition." - David Brown, Literature Enthusiast
4. "Through 'Atonement,' McEwan invites readers on a journey of introspection, challenging them to confront the consequences of their own actions with unflinching honesty." - Emily White, Literary Analyst
5. "McEwan's skillful blending of history, romance, and tragedy in 'Atonement' creates a narrative tapestry that is as compelling as it is emotionally resonant." - Michael Thompson, Independent Critic
Theme: Class is another key theme in Atonement. Cecilia and Robbie's relationship is halted because of the accusations against Robbie that send him to prison. Although Robbie is quite welcome in the family, there is still a class difference. It is also important that almost everyone, with the exception of Cecilia and Robbie's mother, immediately believe that Robbie is guilty. Robbie is from a lower class which is more traditionally associated with criminality. Jack and Emily's class prejudices are noted in the novel. Paul Marshall, on the other hand, is the real perpetrator of the assault upon Lola. His wealth and status mean he is not even a suspect. He is able to eventually marry his victim, meaning he will forever avoid the consequences for his crime. In Atonement, it was Paul Marshall who assaulted Lola, not Robbie. The novel also turns out to be a fictionalised version of events, told by a much older Briony. Atonement is also a comment on literature. Atonement starts with an epigraph, quoting from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey [the audiobook doesn’t include this]. It sets the scene for the first part of the book. Like Catherine in Northanger Abbey, Briony Tallis is a young girl with an overactive imagination. In reality McEwan is explaining his ideas behind the structure of Atonement (beyond the novella), which from Briony’s point of view is what really happened in her life. In the acknowledgements, McEwan notes that he himself used journals and letters from soldiers and nurses to write Atonement.
Conclusion: Atonement is part of my project, reading the Best British Books. Another novel from this project is Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending, which is written 10 years after Atonement. Atonement is Ian McEwan’s finest achievement. Brilliant and utterly enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, England and class, the novel is at its center a profound–and profoundly moving–exploration of shame and forgiveness and the difficulty of absolution. Without giving away spoilers, it offers a reflection on the power of storytelling, the complexities of guilt, redemption, and the consequences of our actions. It leaves readers with a sense of reflection and contemplation about the nature of forgiveness and the e
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