Atonement by Ian Mcewan:

The entire plot concerns layers of guilt. Briony devotes her life to repenting a crime she
committed. Whether Briony achieves her atonement by writing a history and remains
untold, inconclusive.
Mcewan draws out the debate - who is capable of delivering a complete story about
what really happened. All authors are subject to their interpretation of the events and it
is this in-empirical science that causes the influence, impact, prejudice, perspective that
literature commits over human beings.

•Issue of perspective
The way an individual's perspective shapes his or her reality. Mcewan filters the reality
through a particular point of view and then he goes on to juxtapose the distinct and
frequently conflicting ways in which his characters understand and respond to the
world.
Briony’s inaccurate incrimination of Robbie which makes her believe that robbie is
responsible for raping Lola. The biases drive the character superstitiously as they
commit assumptions and therefore experience limitations of knowledge.

Class:
There is a ‘scandalous’ love affair between the wealthy, well-bred Cecilia and a low-class
Robbie Turner. Though Robbie has enjoyed proximity and favour from the family,
he’s nevertheless the outsider, and his outsider status contributes to the
uncompromising isolation he experiences. Mcewan emphasizes that an individual’s
social status has little correlation with one’s social and moral behaviour.

The theme of irretrievability\irrevocability:

As an aging Briony reflects on her past, she no longer sees the world with the tragically
narcissistic perspective she held as a child. In this way the reality of her life has been
irretrievably reshaped.