Atonement Literary Devices

Literary Devices and Use of Language


Symbolism and Parallelism

Ian McEwan is effective at using symbolism and parallels in his writing; the careful attention to detail makes the pacing of Part One phlegmatic initially, and the acceleration of events mimics the course of Robbie and Cecilia’s relationship. The vase plays a symbolic role as a reminder of the sacrifices made and the family relationship. The first crack coincides with the first major rift in the family, and the shattering of it during the war mimics the irreparable state of the dynamic within the family.  I thought the novel started very slowly and I didn’t enjoy the first few chapters as I found the author over described details and the writing was excessively flourished. The initial slow pace of the novel picks up and becomes more interesting when we become aware of the developing romance between Robbie and Cecilia

Setting

The setting is of a pre-World War II England; where tensions in Europe are on the rise, foreshadowing the events set in motion at the grandiose Tallis family estate. Whispers of the impending war, and the strained relationships in the household, contribute to the anxious atmosphere; in which the cancellation of Briony’s play leads her to seek out drama to release her from her summer boredom and restlessness.





Mood

MacEwan wants the reader to experience the tragedy and loss experienced by many during the war. He accomplishes this by describing some of the atrocities witnessed by the characters in graphic detail, viewed and experienced by many in the war; women and children being vaporised by bombs, grotesque injuries, and loss of life and limb and families torn apart by war. The cultural and social setting of the Tallis estate endowed it's inhabitants with behavioural expectations for its inhabitants to be prim and proper. Everyone in the household seems to live a tense and repressed existence

This is the face of irrepressible joy.



Irony 

In the double ending, in which we learn that Robbie and Cecilia die; the reader becomes disappointed that they didn’t get to be together and it was considered ironic because it's not what the reader was expecting. Briony’s choice to unite them in fiction was to give them the happy ending they deserved and because people prefer happy endings.