Introduction
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. In this Atonement, McEwan parallels the author with a God because of the similarity of their roles and their influence on people. 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. From this perspective, they can be viewed as God-figures who possess unlimited power to introduce any change (Bloxham 400). 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. 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. 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). However, it is not real, and reality is severe and painful, which pushes readers to the idea that there is no atonement for writers.
Christian Motifs
The title of the novel and its main theme indicate that Ian McEwan alludes to one of the central aspects of Christianity. Atonement is viewed as the way to attain forgiveness and reparation for an offense (Bloxham 399). Because all people are considered sinners, this concept becomes central to religion. 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). 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). 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. 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.
Close links to Christian philosophy can also be seen in the role God plays in the novel. McEwan describes a reality where God’s significance comes from his indifferent absence (Shah 40). 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. It means that the figure of God remains vague, it presents in the background but does not take an active part in heroes’ lives (Shah 40). A similar idea can be seen in Briony’s attempt to make a new reality by offering her vision of the situation. As a creator, she makes a new world with happy Cecilia and Robbie, but in real life, she is just a passive observer, and she cannot impact their destinies (Shah 40). That is why the act of creation can also be viewed as an act of atonement as it allows forming an imaginary world with no guilt in it.
Past and Atonement
Speaking about atonement and guilt, McEwan touches upon the theme of the past, which is important for the discussed topic. The whole story has three basic storylines that are related to different periods that are needed to understand the main characters better and realize Briony’s desire for atonement. McEwan wants to show that the past is an integral constituent of human life, and memory is one of the ways to remain in touch with history and some aspects of previous experience (Chalupsky 65). It is a phenomenon that affects individuals and pervades their lives (Chalupsky 65). For this reason, its importance in terms of the atonement and Christian motifs becomes undeniable. The feeling of guilt peculiar to Briony drives her imagination and the desire to create a new reality where her actions in childhood lose their significance as Cecilia and Robbie are together again, and they are happy. In this case, memory operates as “a uniquely personal mechanism” that helps Briony to act as a God and create new worlds, resting on the information about the previous one (Chalupsky 65). For this reason, atonement and past become closely interrelated.
Concerning the guilt and atonement, McEwan also introduces the theme of WWII as one of the greatest events in the past of people who lived in the 20th century. The main characters are affected by war, and, at the same time, it can be viewed as a way to atone for their sins. In reality, created by Briony, Robbie successfully escapes France and rejoins with Cecilia, which can be taken as an allusion to redemption (Bloxham 400). At the same time, war makes people think about their past and the sins they made, which means that it triggers Briony’s desire to reunite the couple and ensure that they will remain alive in the world created by her. Combining her thoughts of the past and her vision of the future, the main character tries to avoid guilt and manipulate her memories as an attempt to ask for atonement. From this perspective, the recollection of memories and creative writing becomes closely interrelated (Pastoor 301). McEwan shows that authors’ imaginary worlds exist in their minds even before a story appears, and they act as Gods as they can impact all characters living there.
In such a way, the ideas of past, sin, and guilt are placed together by McEwan in the novel. These three elements are critical for a writer as they impact his/her motifs and desires when creating a new reality and making their heroes act in a certain way. From this perspective, the past can be a source of sin and, at the same time, generate the endless feeling of guilt that can influence individuals in their decisions to start creating imaginary worlds with a positive atmosphere. That is why McEwan’s cogitations about creativity and associations between God and a writer can also be linked to people’s desire to escape the reality that is too difficult for them and act as creators of a new one, with better endings and happy moments (March 1330). Briony correctly realizes her fault and her contribution to the destruction of the couple’s future as her attempt to control the real world by accusing Robbie fails and contributes to the emergence of the feeling of guilt. Briony wants to control and structure chaos, which is impossible in the real environment “The world, not one she could make, but the one that had made her” (McEwan 57). For this reason, she starts writing, as it is the only way to form a new reality that can help her to feel better.
Individual Perspective
At this point, McEwan also introduces the theme of an individual’s perspective on events and how it shapes his/her reality. The majority of events in the story are presented through a point of view, peculiar to a certain character (Marsh 1327). For instance, from Cecilia’s perspective, Robbie is an innocent and loving man, while Briony’s biases, assumptions, and misunderstandings associated with the scenes at the fountain and letters contribute to the formation of his corrupted image. The given juxtaposition results in the emergence of critical conflict that ends with tragedy and multiple suffering. In such a way, McEwan emphasizes the fact that every person is capable of creating his/her reality even if it rests on wrong assumptions or incomplete representations (March 1330). The individual’s perspective also impacts the acts of creativity, which can be related to the theme of religion and God. Using her representations, Briony continues to tell readers a story of a happy reunion and Robbie’s justification. It is her perspective that comes from the feeling of guilt and the desire for atonement. Being a godlike figure for her world, she remains impacted by her irrelevant ideas and representations, which results in the introduction of a new reality with happy heroes. However, it remains isolated and cannot be considered a true act of redemption.
Fictive Atonement
Using the unreal nature of reality created by Briony, the author also introduces the theme of fictive atonement. The main character’s attempt “to fictively remember and redeem the tragic consequences” of the past can be viewed as a failed attempt to avoid the feeling of guilt and inability to impact all her actions that resulted in horrible outcomes (Shah 40). However, influenced by the recognition of her sins, Briony wants to make everything to save Cecilia and Robbie and reunite them. Unfortunately, in the real world seized by the War and other difficulties, she is unable to do it.
Moreover, she does not make any attempts to do it because all her efforts are focused on the creation of an imaginary reality where two people are reunited and live happily. It means that McEwans offers the theme of fictive atonement that exists only in the head of the writer who is responsible for the creation of his literary world and the heroes who live there (Pastoor 300). It can be viewed as an attempt to apologize and create at least a fictional image of happiness. Still, Briony herself does not believe in its idea, “It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point.” (McEwan 286). However, she was not able to act differently because of the need to do at least something to avoid guilt and suffering.
The Author and God
In such a way, all factors mentioned above bring readers to the idea of similarity between God and the author. Using Briony to show his minds, McEwan asks, “How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?” (McEwan 286) It means that the author emphasizes the fact that both God and a writer are creators who bear responsibility for their actions, and, at the same time, can influence their worlds regarding their representations and motifs that can affect their decisions. Briony is a god for her small fictional world created with the only purpose to justify her deceit and guarantee that Cecilia and Robbie will be happy.
However, under these conditions, both God and the author face a similar problem related to atonement that is stated by Briony “There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her” (McEwan 286). From the Christian paradigm, only God has the power to forgive people, which means that there is no option to guarantee atonement for god as there are no creatures who can be asked for it “No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists” (McEwan 286). In her fictional world, Briony becomes a supernatural creature with absolute power, and she acquires the opportunity to influence the lives of people who are important to her. It can be seen as her salvation, but, at the same time, it also becomes the greatest tragedy of a novelist as there are no forces that can forgive her. Being closed in her imaginary world, the author can enjoy a happy end that exists in his/her brain or works, while the real world remains unchanged, and no atonement can be achieved in this way.
From this perspective, the act of creativity itself acquires the top priority. Facing death and speaking about her all life, Briony concludes that “the attempt was all” (McEwan 286). It can also be viewed as McEwan’s attempt to outline the basic idea of art and the work of an author. Being gods for their worlds, they cannot hope for forgiveness even if they create realities with this only purpose. They are not subjected to anyone as they are godlike figures, but this idea loses its relevance, and the attempt, or the desire to become atoned, or redeem, acquire the top priority as the main determinant of creativity and people’s lives.
Conclusion
Considering the arguments mentioned above, the novel Atonement can be viewed as McEwan’s cogitations about the nature of creativity and the godlike figure of the author who possesses an absolute power in worlds created by him. This comparison to some higher creature fits the storyline and Briony’s character as she also acts as the creator. Feeling guilt for her sins, she tries to create the world with a happy end and hopes for atonement. However, using this hero to convey the main message, McEwan shows that there is no atonement for authors as there are no judges who stand higher than them in their realities. This idea becomes central for the whole novel, which is full of Christian motifs and allusions. The author rejects the traditional concept of sin and, instead, offers his vision presupposing the similarity of a novelist and a God who is both responsible for people, and who, unfortunately, cannot hope for redemption.
Works Cited
Bloxham, Laura J. “Atonement by Ian McEwan.” Dialog: A Journal of Theology, vol. 47, no. 4, 2008, pp. 399–401. Web.
Chalupsky, Petr. “The Attempt Was All – The Theme of Memory in Ian McEwan’s Atonement.” Ars Athena, vol. 1, no.2, 2009, pp. 63-75, Web.
Marsh, Huw. “Narrative Unreliability and Metarepresentation in Ian McEwan’s Atonement; Or, Why Robbie Might Be Guilty and Why Nobody Seems to Notice.” Textual Practice, vol. 32, no. 8, 2018, pp. 1325-1343.
McEwan, Ian. Atonement. Vintage, 2002.
Pastoor, Charles. “Authorial Atonement in Ian McEwan’s Atonement and Sweet Tooth.” Christianity & Literature, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 297-310.
Shah, Bruno. “The Sin of Ian McEwan’s Fictive Atonement: Reading his Later Novels.” New Blackfriars, vol. 90, no. 1025, 2009, pp. 38-49.