Atonement - Afshah- G - March 23

Atonement. By: Ian McEwan

Several years after the police inquiry, which on Briony’s evidence results in Robbie’s imprisonment, the novel’s second section focuses on a few days of Robbie Turner’s experiences during the war in May 1940, leading up to his arrival at the evacuation from Dunkirk. Refracted through Robbie’s thoughts, part two, parallels the confusions of part one, with that of the riot of the British Expeditionary Force in France. The second part of the novel jumps ahead a few years, as seen, focusing on Robbie Turner, now soldiering in France; in fact, fleeing from the Germans. These war scenes that were put into the middle of the novel, seemed very superfluous and boring to me. It seems as if McEwan is just presenting his own opinion of war. Because of this, it changes the pace and narrative of the story. For example, part one is a development of the short story she tries to get published. Part two builds upon that, portraying Briony writing with a style of her own. Could this be McEwan’s way of showing us Briony’s development as an author?

Secondly, since McEwan went on to add mostly background material on Robbie’s experience at the war and his thoughts, I felt it slowed down the story. This is particularly true in the second portion of the novel, which leaps ahead to the early days of World War II. Robbie is in the British Army, in its infamous retreat to Dunkirk, while Briony and her sister Cecilia are nurses in London. Briony encounters the death of many individuals from the war which is a means of foreshadowing yet to come in the story. Thus, McEwan’s portrayal of this painful period in history is fantastic.

However, to make that specific section not as boring, McEwan sticks with Robbie, allowing only a few more details to come out that reveal what happened in the intervening years, and in due course that too works. Too me, Briony comes across as very unsympathetic. She devotes a part of her book to Robbie’s war-time experiences, accepting that she’s to blame for him being in France. But what about her own sister, Cecelia, whom she supposedly loves. Cecelia’s thoughts and experiences are only conveyed to us via Robbie’s thoughts, especially when both Robbie and Cecelia write letters to each other. Cecelia hardly has a voice of her own in the book.

Briony, having to write about Robbie’s time in Dunkirk is all part of her atonement. Had she not lied and said that she saw a “maniac” rape Lola then Robbie would have been a successful doctor or a high ranking medical officer, if he chose to enter the war. It’s Briony’s ability to craft the novel herself that she allows Robbie and Cecilia to live on despite the truth and this allows Briony to come close to fulfilling her atonement.

Since her entire novel is indeed an atonement, this part of the novel could be looked at as a part of her atonement. By showing what Robbie went through because of her, she compounds her own guilt and thus adds to her atonement.