A Study Of Atonement From The Perspective Of Spatial Narrative

Atonement is one of the important works of famous British writer Ian McEwan.There are plenty of critical theses concerned with this novel.However,researches related to spatial narrative are rare,which leaves some space for further exploration.Therefore,this thesis focuses on the interpretation of protagonist's crime and atonement from the spatial narrative perspective.By combining the spatial narrative theory of Gabriel Zoran and Henri Lefebvre,the thesis analyzes the formation of the crime and the atonement process mainly in three dimensions:topographical space,social space and psychological space.Topographical space provides the background information for the development of the plot and foils the atmosphere in Atonement.Social space is mainly manifested in terms of class bias which is one important reason contributing to the crime.Psychological space influences the protagonist's emotion and personality,and is mainly reflected by her psychological change during the process of atonement.Such analysis enriches the spatial narrative structure of the whole thesis.Through the interpretation of the whole novel,it can be concluded that space elements are vital to convey the meaning.On the whole,this thesis is a sort of new attempt,to deliver a relatively clear interpretation about the formation of the crime and protagonist's atonement process.Through the novel Atonement,McEwan reveals the depravity of human nature and self redemption under the social and historical background.