Misperception In Ian Mcewan's Atonement

Words: 796
Pages: 4

Ian McEwan’s Atonement is mainly told from the perspective of twelve-year-old Briony Tallis. However later on it is revealed that the novel itself is only a recollection of her childhood memories, told from her perspective. She writes of her knack for theatrics and imaginative wordplay and attempts to direct her stage performance, “The Trials of Arabella”, with the forced cooperation of her cousins, as well as her questioning of humanity and its functioning. But she also recalls the flaws of her former self, in that she lacked awareness and on many occasions, namely the night of Lola’s assault, contrived self-deluding explanations for events as she lacked the maturity needed to understand them. At seventy-seven, she accepts that she is responsible for destroying the lives of Robbie, Cecilia, Lola and countless others through her false judgement. She seeks atonement by writing this novel about the ordeal, and by allowing the reader to witness the consequences of false judgement, helps develop the theme of perception/misperception. At the start of Atonement, before any major events take …show more content…
She has decided to possibly publish her novel based on everything that has happened in her life concerning Robbie, Cecilia and others. She remarks that “No one will care what events were misrepresented to make a novel,” (McEwan 350). This remark sounds hopeless, as if to point out how pointless it is for her to attempt to atone and seek forgiveness. This remark also enhances the fact of how much her misperceptions have ruined those chances. It is likely that because the reader can never surely know what happened, the reader will be unable to differentiate between the real events and the imagined events created by Briony. Regardless of this, the reader learns from Briony’s mistakes how dangerous it is to assume rather actually