Ian Mcewan's Atonement

Ian McEwan’s 1999 novel Atonement demonstrates the consequences of a false accusation as it progresses over three different time periods. Through a variety of literary techniques and devices, including intertextuality, symbolism, imagery, characterisation and metafiction, McEwan demonstrates the danger of an imagination that can’t quite see the boundaries of what is real and what is unreal. He explores the dangers of a falsified reality, while the suffering because of his protagonist Briony’s imagination is emphasised. McEwan effectively characterises Briony, demonstrating her growth as her character and loss of innocence as a consequence of her imagination. Through the exploration of these ideas, McEwan highlights the dangers of an imaginations
In Part One, Briony is unable to perceive the boundary between childhood and adulthood. McEwan makes this clear through his use of symbolism and a motif of writing. Robbie’s profane letter fuels Briony’s imagination and is ultimately the catalyst for the tragic events of the novel, while she cannot be “held back from” the “tempest of composition” as she writes her play. Using this motif, McEwan foreshadows the later events of the novel, and characterises Briony and her dangerous imagination. In Part One, McEwan uses perspective to show Briony as “the baby of the family”. This is contrasted in Part Three, where her loss of innocence becomes clear, with Briony expressing her regret for her actions. McEwan furthers this with his writing style, with Briony’s “Christian name being of no interest” to the administration of healthcare in Part Two. This emphasises the change from Briony’s childhood to the adult world. McEwan demonstrates a similar technique with Robbie; in Part One, he is referred to by his first name, but in Part Two he is Turner, symbolising his maturity and loss of innocence as well. McEwan also demonstrates a progression in writing style throughout the novel, with each of the three parts showing a different style. An excerpt from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is included as an epigraph. McEwan uses a conservative style, like Austen’s, as foreshadowed by the epigraph. To the reader, this creates a feeling of confinement, but is soon ended with the unexpected use of profanity in Robbie’s letter. This use of intertextuality is misleading, making the reader question the boundaries between reality and imagination. McEwan utilises a variety of narrative devices to demonstrate characterisation in Briony, and thus show her loss of innocence as a consequence of her