Atonement By Ian Mcewan

In Atonement, Ian McEwan suggests the dangers of confusing our fantasies with reality; that we have become so accustomed to choosing to see what we wish to see rather than reality and this leads to destruction in our lives. Our refusal to accept or want to see reality creates a cycle in which we become alienated from others, just as Briony, Robbie and Cecelia did. Briony lives in her stories, Cecelia lives in her mind, and Robbie lives in his memories. Eventually they each end up alone and longing for a happy ending that is never given to them. As human beings we have a fundamental need for an answer. Even when we have limited information and perspective, we use our imagination to fill in the blanks in order to obtain an answer. Through gothic allusions and
As scholar Kathleen D’Angelo puts it, “readers are faced with a multiplicity of interpretations” (D’Angelo, 92). By creating a changing narration, McEwan shows his readers how easy it is to infer something when we have limited information. This causes us to rely on our imagination, the very thing that got Briony into trouble. To show the similarities between Briony and readers, McEwan first uses the “rape” of Lola. Never does McEwan explicitly state it was Paul Marshall who raped Lola. Never does he state that she was raped. We infer that she was raped, and we assume when Paul wakes up “uncomfortably aroused” after dreaming about his four younger sisters and his strange behavior at dinner, that he must be the one who raped Lola (57). While McEwan provides the reader with many strange examples that suggest it was Paul Marshall who raped Lola, the oscillating narrator makes it so the reader never knows exactly which character it committed the crime. – McEwan allows the reader to use our imaginations to make