Ian Mcewan Loss Of Innocence Analysis

Words: 834
Pages: 4

Innocence being lost
“Part of grief is the loss of innocence. The loss of certainty that everything will always be as it has been” (Tanya Lord). When people do certain acts, they could lose their innocence depending of the act. In Atonement, the author, Ian McEwan uses Briony to demonstrate the stages during a loss of innocence. She goes through three major stages throughout the novel. She starts off with her innocence in tact, she then loses her innocence and then finally she starts to face the consequences of what has taken place. Throughout the story Briony starts off as a character who is innocent and does child like things. “Writing stories not only involved secrecy, it also gave her all the pleasures of miniaturization. A world
…show more content…
She now starts to lose her innocence. “In my dreams I kiss your sweet cunt, your sweet wet cunt. In my thoughts I make love to you all day long” (McEwan 80). This was written in a letter by Robbie turner that was addressed to Cecilia. Briony however had seen the note and decides to read it since she wants to nosey. After reading this letter Briony starts to have a complexity with all the new emotions that she is feeling. “The very complexity of her feelings confirmed Briony in her view that she was entering an area of adult emotions” (McEwan 106). This quote represents her leaving behind her childhood and entering a world of adulthood where she is faced with all these emotions that she doesn’t know how to explain them or put it into words. For these feelings were new to her but its not just how Robbie wrote the letter that worried her but on how vivid he had thought about these sexual acts. “But she had seen Robbie’s letter, she had cast herself as her sister’s protector, and she had been instructed by her cousin: what she saw must have been shaped in part by what she already knew, or believed she knew” (McEwan 115). After, seeing the letter that was addressed to Cecelia she decides that she will look out for her sister and protect