The Uncertainty Of The Theory Of Atonement

Uncertainty is an important concept in post-modernism context, which developed in the1970s. It adapt to the social development and became the dominant spirit character in the contemporary social. Uncertainty enmerged as to challenge the original social pursuit and values of the poses, which emphasize chaos, plural and self-centered, and set off a change of agitation in the modern context. McEwan, who grew up in such a society, engaged spiritual style into his creation. He buildes an uncertain text in the novel Atonement, reflected character behavior and the inner spirit of the uncertainty of the state. Finaly, he puts the uncertainty state to the whole social, and discuss the complicated human nature under the spirit.The dissertation discusses the surface features and deep cause of uncertainty from three aspects, such as text of the novel, character behavior and mental. All of them can be divided into three chapters:The first chapter mainly discusses the uncertainty in text. The whole novel presents a "story within a story" structure. This kind of complicated structure state is the result of the ending of metafiction and unreliable narration. Just because the uncertainty in text based for the the uncertainty of the character’s behavior.The second chapter discusses the reliability of protagonist Brioni’s sin behavior. Based on the text levels of division above for novel, this section mainly from the version of Brioni’s "Atonement", the diary of Brioni and the version of McEwan’s" Atonement" three story level analyse the reliability behavior of Brioni. Due to the "story within a story " structure, the reader will contact with different story level in the process of reading, and realizes internal conflict of Brioni with different narrator.The third chapter shows the uncertainty ethics from the psychological states of the characters. Brioni and Robbie are in the paradox between good and evil, and in the contradictions struggle between dividual will and the interests of others. Their survival circumstance is not unique, but a problem of all represents the uncertainty of human nature. This uncertainty is not only the normality of the social and human, also shows human rely on all kinds of means, to express for the eternal pursuit of the beauty.