Crime And Expiation-the Ethical And Narrative Interpretation Of Atonement

As one of the most prominent authors in contemporary British literary world, IanMcEwan (1948-) has produced plenty of brilliant works. In his works, he alwaysdiscusses many themes related to ethics and morality actively, such as, violence,growing, death and lust and so on. Since the publication of Atonement in2001, it hasbeen widely recognized by the critics and numerous common readers. McEwaninstructs the readers to appreciate different ethical scenery with his superb narrativeskills.The novel has distinct structure, composed of three parts and an epilogue. Theyoung daughter, thirteen-year-old Briony with great writer’s talent, mistakenlyaccused her sister’s lover (Robbie) of raping her cousin---Lola. Robbie was throwninto prison. Three years later, Robbie was released from the prison and participated inthe war. Briony became a nurse of Red Cross. Meanwhile, she began to create novelto write down the story of them. When she met her sister and Robbie again, sheconfessed deeply. The pity is that the meet is only Briony’s nice fiction. Old Brionyrevealed the truth that the lovers had already died in the wartime in the end.On the theoretical basis of ethical literary criticism, this paper interprets theethics in and out of the text from multiple levels through expounding the applicationof various narrative strategies in the novel. The ethical interpretation of the ethics inthe text mainly concerns Briony’s crime and atonement, humanity and war ethics,while the other focuses on the explanation of the ethical relationship among McEwan,Briony and the readers.The thesis consists of five chapters:Chapter One introduces the basic information about the novel and the novelist,summarizes domestic and overseas studies on it and puts forward the significance andmethodology of the research.Chapter Two analyzes the ethical line under the narrative strategies---Briony’scrime and expiation. First, discourses upon the collaged narrative time and the “bookin book” narrative structure stringed by the ethical line. Then, explains that Briony’scrime is actually her difficult choice in ethical dilemma with the analysis of zero,multiple and internal focalization. Next, elaborates Briony’s expiation, including her realistic efforts and literary creationfor expiation.In Chapter Three, Section One concludes the view that humanity is complexafter having in-depth exploration of the formation of Briony’s crime. Thus, theauthor’s ethical appeal of facing up to the complexity of humanity can be excavated.Section Two dissects the cruelty of war from Robbie and Briony’s perspectivesrespectively, and then interprets the appeal of keeping the world in peace and atoningfor the crime of war.Chapter Four analyzes the ethical relationship among McEwan, Briony and thereaders. The ethical implication of the unreliable narration of Briony is to short thedistance between the readers and her, promoting their understanding of her ethicaldilemma and choice. The real author---McEwan has control of the characters’destinies behind the spokesperson---Briony to express his ethical thoughts, and in themeantime he hopes that the readers can obtain their own ethical thoughts in thereading process.Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis. With narrative strategy being theanalytical perspective, the paper makes ethical interpretation of Atonment which is notin the purpose of exploring whose crime it is. What’s significant is to stimulate thereaders’ deep thinking of self-existence and the “crime and expiation” of the wholehuman society.