Atonement - the Unrealiable Narrator

The inevitability of the protagonist’s actions is that both are shown to be guilty in their adulthood. The reader learns that Briony becomes a nurse and gives up a chance to go to Oxford and the class privileges that result from it. The reader learns that “the purpose of becoming a nurse was to work for her independence” as well as learning what Robbie is going through in the army. We later learn that the narrative has been written by Briony and some parts have been fictionalised such as the meeting with Robbie and Cecilia so she can try and put right what she could not do in life. Like Atonement Stephen in Spies feel guilty about the death of Uncle Peter and revisits The Close in which he grew up to atone. This is where the narrative takes place, “you can’t go back everyone knows that” implying that “everyone” knows that it was his fault. This is an interesting comment made by Stephen because surely Stephen and the reader know that it is Keith’s father who is to blame ultimately for the discovery and death of Uncle Peter after Stephen and his confrontation over the picnic basket. Both protagonists, we learn have been putting the idea of properly confronting and trying to amend (as best they can) their actions off until the latest time possible. The reader learns that Briony falsities the ending and meeting of Cecilia and Robbie in the final chapters where she is close to forgetting all of her memories through

In his novel, “Acceleration,” Graham McNamee, uses the lives of several characters and their environment as a canvas to convey the importance of redemption and closure of guilt in one’s life.

Atonement was written by Ian McEwan in 2002. The novel tells the story of thirteen year old Briony Tallis and her journey to reach atonement for the mistake she made in her childhood that sent Robbie Turner to prison, who later is identified as an innocent man. Ian McEwan takes Briony on a journey during which she goes through guilt, deceit, coming of age, and the struggle to reach atonement for that all began on the hottest night of the summer of nineteen thirty-five, when she sent an innocent man to prison, which spanned a period over sixty-four years.

In the novel Atonement, McEwan juxtaposes the unique but conflicting ways that his characters perceive and understand their world. McEwan intentionally

Forgiveness is a necessary part of human existence, although it is rarely easy to give, and sometimes hardest to give to ourselves. The Kite Runner illustrates humanity's tendency, and even willingness, to dwell on past mistakes. The opening sentence sets this theme with "I became what I am today at the age of twelve," as Amir unapologetically relates how he believes one action at that young age defined his entire life. However, as the novel progresses, the reader comes to the conclusion that it was not one action, but a series of choices and events that created Amir's persona as an adult. By holding onto his guilt and fear of discovery, Amir could only bury his past for short periods of time before his own conscience uncovered it and the

In the novel, the author, Jon Krakauer, documented the journey of a young individual named Chris McCandless who went on a treacherous journey which led a tragic ending. In pursuit of a lifestyle that differed from society, McCandless encountered several people who aided and advised him. The errors in his choices are what ultimately led to his demise leading to public scrutiny.

Atonement, by Ian McEwan, explores the theme of love through a variety of techniques such as symbolism, metaphors and repetition delve into various aspects of love, such as misspent, newfound and unavailable love. Uniquely, McEwan intertwines these techniques with foreshadowing and imagery to convey complex emotions such as love, guilt and jealousy. Additionally, the theme of reality and the imagination is established through repetition and Cecilia’s characterisation.

Redemption is a core concept within Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and the protagonists of both tales suffer through numerous trials and tribulations in order to receive their absolution. The two authors create worlds which feature supporting ideas to enable the development of the characters and their search for redemption. Regret is common to both texts which is advanced by means of narrative perspective and stage directions, freindship is also used in conjunction through dialogue and characterisation, and finally religion plays a role through symbolism.

"Atonement" by Ian McEwan Atonement comes from an "at onement", the idea being that penance and suffering allows us to be "at one" with God or ourselves. The central theme of atonement is that of seeking forgiveness. This is manifested through the characters and their actions. In the book "Atonement" by Ian McEwan, the act carried out by Briony sets of a chain of events, for which either atonement is sought or society seeks atonement from. Briony's character is described as being compulsively orderly, "She was one of those children possessed by a desire to have the world just so."

Though set in entirely dissimilar countries at different points in history, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’ and Hannah Kent’s ‘Burial Rites’ possess significant comparisons. Both for instance, are fictionalized historical novels following the tribulations of a female protagonist convicted of murder and both have been widely acclaimed for their incredible literary style which merges classic poetry, epigraphs, folklore and historical articles with fiction. The most striking parallel between each novel that can be drawn, however, is the way in which authors masterfully craft the stories of untrustworthy, cunning and deceptive criminals to elicit sympathy from their audiences. Readers of the novel and secondary characters alike are gradually pulled into sympathising with ambiguous and untrustworthy female leads, Grace Marks (Alias Grace) and Agnes Magnusdottir (Burial Rites). Despite the heavy suspicions of others and a lack of evidence to support their claims of innocence, these characters present artfully manipulated features of their defence stories to provoke empathy, sympathy and trust from those within the novel, and those reading it.

This attitude towards the facts – and Briony’s editing of the truth despite her claims that she has “regarded it as [her] duty to disguise nothing” (369) – is the very thing that prevents her from achieving atonement. For one thing, Briony admits that she is “too old, too frightened” (371) to not give

The accusations against him, brought by Briony Tallis, held him responsible for the violation of her cousin Lola. Robbie reflects on this, as Briony plans to refute her statement to the police, “The intricacies were lost to him, the urgency had died. Briony would change her evidence, she would rewrite the past so that the guilty became the innocent. But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren’t enough people… to…gather in the facts.” (188) Robbie’s loss of security and his future took away the childlike carefreeness he displayed before the accusation. Briony’s conscience weighs heavily on her as she moves from a naïve implication to the realization of the consequences.

To begin, in part one of “Atonement” we learn who each character is through the perspective of different characters. Alongside we get the unique perspective of several scenes that take place. One very important scene is the fountain scene where Robbie and Cecilia are filling a vase with water and Robbie causes the vase to slip out of Cecilia’s hands breaks some pieces falling into the fountain. Cecilia acts fast and removes her clothing in order to retrieve the vase piece. Meanwhile, you have Briony wondering her room and happens to see the two conversing and is shocked to see Cecilia remove her clothes. Briony begins to assume things instantly “ The Triton fountain, and standing by the basin’s retaining wall was her sister, and right before her was Robbie Turner. There was something rather formal about the way he stood, feet apart, head held back. A proposal of marriage. Briony would not have been surprised. She herself had written a tale in which a humble woodcutter saved a princess from drowning and ended by marrying her. What was presented here fitted well. Robbie Turner” (36). Here Briony is only able to see the interactions between Robbie and Cecilia but she can’t necessarily hear anything but, it doesn’t impede her

Briony Tallis: Briony Tallis is the protagonist of Atonement. Though Briony has two older siblings, Leon and Cecilia, they are both at least ten years her senior. Therefore, Briony grows up virtually as an only child and as a result is quite self-centered. Briony is introduced to readers when she is working on her play The Trials of Arabella. Through Briony’s writing process and inner thoughts, readers are made aware of her obsession with order and control. This obsession combined with her self-absorbed mindset fosters Briony’s unaware naïveté. Briony believes that she understands everything that occurs around her, when in reality, she cannot understand adult concepts and ideas that do not yet pertain to her. It is this obliviousness that leads to her rape accusations against Robbie—Briony is unable to see the love between her older sister Cecilia and Robbie, the servant’s son. Once Briony matures, she begins to realize the depth of the consequences of her actions, and throws herself into atoning her “sins.” In doing so, she writes her own novel involving a couple that represents Robbie and Cecilia, and feels that she can relieve herself of guilt by admitting to her wrongdoings and rewriting the fates of the two lovers. However, the novel simply paints Briony’s naïveté in a new light—though she has grown up, she is still unaware of the dire

Ian McEwan's novel Atonement is a story about two lovers separated by the second World War, although published 60 years after the fact in the year 2001. The story is a postmodern novel that features an unreliable narrator, the protagonist Briony, and therefore the entirety of the novel is questionable. Uses of other texts within Atonement aid in the foreshadowing of the story as well as developing an understanding of the plot as well as considering parallels to other literature.