Theme: of guilt forgiveness and attonement

the entire plot concerns layers of guilt. Briony devotes her life repenting a crime
she committed. Whether Briony achieves her atonement by writing her history –
remains untold and inconclusive.

Whose story is this?

McEwan draws out the debate – who is capable of delivering a complete story about
what really happened. All authors are subject to their own interpretation of the
events, and it is this in-empirical signs that cause the influence and impact the
prejudiced 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.

Example 1:
Briony’s inaccurate incrimination of Robbie, which makes her believe that Robbie is
responsible for raping Lola
The biases drive the characters superstitiously as they commit assumptions and
therefore experience limitations of knowledge.

• Class –
- A “scandalous” love affair between the wealthy, well-bred Cecilia Tallis and
a low-class Robbie Turner. Though Robbie has enjoyed proximity with and favour
(educational sponsorship) from the family, he’s nevertheless, an outsider. And this
status contributes to the uncompromising isolation he experiences.
- McEwan states that an individual’s social status has little correlation with
moral and intellectual world.

• 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.