An Analysis Of Atonement From The Perspective Of Narrative Ethics

Ian McEwan is a great literator in contemporary English literature.His works have been unanimously praised by critics and readers.In the early days of McEwan’s creative period,McEwan was nicknamed “Ian Macabre” because his works were haunted by the dark themes of violence,death and sexual promiscuity.In his following creative career,the style and themes of McEwan’s works have been changing gradually.Created in 2001,Atonement was a symbolic work in the medium term of McEwan’s creation.Since its publication,the novel has attracted many readers for its ingenious writing techniques,tortuous and moving storyline and also has caused a great stir in academia.This thesis tries to excavate the ethical problems hidden by McEwan under his writing techniques from narrative ethics,in order to reveal the inheritance and innovation in his creation.On the ethics of narrative story in Atonement,McEwan,starting from the behavior of different characters,reveals that it is the breakdown of family relations and the absence of father from beginning to end that leads to the defects of the character and foreshadows the development of the false accusation plot.By describing Briony and Robbie’s experience in the war,McEwan aims at exposing the choice of human nature and ethical dilemma in the context of war.On the ethics of narrative discourse in Atonement,the character and writer Briony,through the shifting of different narrative perspectives,hopes that readers can form their own ethical judgments about certain events.And the real writer McEwan reveals the ethical dimension of the whole novel to the reader through intertextuality.As to the hermeneutic ethics in Atonement,McEwan helps readers further understand his ethical positions through dynamic interaction among unreliable narration,the real author,as well as readers.In Atonement,McEwan,through the fascinating plot arrangement,utilizes the shifting of different focalization,the intertextuality among four texts,and the dynamic interaction among narrator,readers and author.It shows the postmodern context way of self-redemption in the specific social background and ethical situation around the World War II,that is,the uniqueness and difficulty of seeking atonement with narration.The novel,in some ways,enriches the social and ethical dimensions of redemptive novels.McEwan connects and juxtaposes great public events with the private life of ordinary people.In the course of the narration,readers can see the writer’s fervent concern for human nature and society.The novel’s ethical meanings and dimensions whip and mock the sin and evil,meanwhile also give full recognition and praise to truth and goodness in the conception of the characters’ destiny,and even explores the gray zone in human nature.