In other words, the inability of loving people to unite, the horrors of WWII, and the death of main characters occur under the passive eye of the creator, who can be considered responsible for all challenges and sufferings they have to overcome. McEwan describes a reality where God’s significance comes from his indifferent absence (Shah 40).

Rejecting the traditional perspective on sin, McEwan makes Briony a creator of her reality, or a God-figure, who attempts to acquire atonement for her guilt and fails to do it in real life.Ĭlose links to Christian philosophy can also be seen in the role God plays in the novel. The further development of the plot, happy end, and the unexpected epilogue with the reveal of the real fates and tragedy makes this allusion even stronger. For this reason, he introduces his own story of Briony who can be viewed as a sinner from the religious perspective, and, at the same time, her deceit makes her guilty for destroying the lives of two people, which cannot be accepted by society regardless of religious motifs (Pastoor 299). However, McEwan rejects the traditional and Christian understanding of sin formally considered a rebellion against the creator or an act of disregard of the basic postulates of faith (Shah 40).

Because all people are considered sinners, this concept becomes central to religion. Atonement is viewed as the way to attain forgiveness and reparation for an offense (Bloxham 399). The title of the novel and its main theme indicate that Ian McEwan alludes to one of the central aspects of Christianity. However, it is not real, and reality is severe and painful, which pushes readers to the idea that there is no atonement for writers. Cogitating about this issue, Ian McEwan offers a real story of deception, guilt, and imaginary happy end as an attempt to let “lovers live and to unite them at the end” (287). At the same time, there is another question, whether a writer, as a human being, and God can atone themselves for their guilt of making people suffer by creating realities where main heroes enjoy a happy end. The comparison of a real author and God creates a strong link with Christianity and its philosophy, and introduces themes of forgiveness, guilt, and atonement, as critically important parts of human lives. From this perspective, they can be viewed as God-figures who possess unlimited power to introduce any change (Bloxham 400).

It means that all authors remain responsible for the characters they created and the sufferings they have to experience to convey the main message of the creators. In this Atonement, McEwan parallels the author with a God because of the similarity of their roles and their influence on people. Ian McEwan is one of the novelists who touches upon the nature of art and creativity as the act of forming a new world and influencing people who live there.

Atonement by ian mcewan