Betrayal in McEwans Atonement Essay -- Literary Analysis

In McEwans Atonement ventures into the lives of the Tallis sisters and the complexities that naivete and selfishness can inflict. Briony Tallis perjury against Robbie Turner, in her cousin Lolas criminal rape case, disrupts the Tallis family dynamic and the budding romance mingled with Cecelia Tallis and Robbie. Brionys maturation and realization of her wrongdoing implores her to pass away a nurse during WWII. In Atonement, McEwan depicts a family in turmoil everywhere the lies of young Briony during World War II. The imagery and symbolism deliver Brionys characterization through her attempts to serve penance for her perfidy with symbolism and imagery. Brionys limited point of view effects the tone of the novel through an unreliable eyewitness account of what she witnessed and the course credit of her mistakes.Atonements symbolism of innocence shows Brionys fresh navet and her blameless intentions. The symbolism of lost innocence non only affects Briony, but Cecilia and Ro bbie as well. Robbie and Cecilia venture into the world of adult sex together, but are interrupted by Brionys curiosity. attend to the debauchery at hand, Briony skews her testimony to the police in regards to her realise of Lola and her rapist at the temple, Events she herself witnessed foretold her cousins calamity. If only she, Briony, had been less innocent, less stupid. Now she saw, the strife was too consistent, too symmetrical to be anything other than what she said it was. She damned herself for her childish assumption that Robbie would limit his attentions to Cecilia. What was she thinking of? He was a lunatic after all. (158) Briony thought of the obscene note written to Cecelia as a warning to what Robbie was capable of, although the note w... ...Rpt. InContemporaryliterary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 269. Detroit Gale,2009. publications Resource Center. Web. 09 Dec. 2011.Mathews, Peter. The Impression of a Deeper Darkness Ian McEwans Atonement. face Stu dies in Canada 32.1 (2006) 147+. Literature Resource Center. Web.3 Jan. 2012.McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York Anchor, 2003. Print.Finney, Brian. Brionys Stand Against Oblivion The Making of fiction in IanMcEwans Atonement. Journal of Modern Literature 27.3 (Winter 2004) 68-82.Rpt. In Contemporary literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 269.Detroit Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Jan. 2012.Shone, Tom. White Lies Ian McEwans Novel Chronicles the Disintegration of anEnglish Familys Idyllic Life. The New York Times Book Review 10 Mar. 20028+. LiteratureResource Center. Web. 5 Jan. 2012.