The Human Condition, Yin And Yang And Atonement

The novel Atonement, written and masterfully crafted by Ian McEwan’s in 2001, is a testament to the concepts of the human condition and the Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang.

The story of Atonement and its characters, portray the fundamental characteristics of the human condition including, “The Need to be loved…” (“The human condition.” Merriam-Webster, (Web, 2 Feb. 2020.) Through a sequence of events, the characters in Atonement try to find the balance between the cosmic influences of good and evil, some as scribed never find it.

As a common literary theme, the author typically creates a character that commits an evil act, detailing the consequences of the act and the subsequent feelings, actions, and thoughts of the characters involved. All, to create a state of equilibrium to atone and achieve atonement.

The romanticism of this notion is exemplified by Briony Tallis’s play, “The Trials of Arabella” of which the reader is introduced to early in the book and finally acted out in the epilogue.

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In terms of the story/plot distinction, the detailed, dynamically calculated and alternating “story” (in fine omniscient narration fashion narrated by the fictitious, self-serving, and boundaryless Briony) is about both, “…the sequence of events that Briony describes herself” and her metastasizing “plot” depicted “… in the sequence of events that is described in the body of the novel…”

If we choose to believe that the story is the version that ends with Briony declaring her plans to retract her testimony and Robbie and Cecilia living happily ever after, then we might choose to believe that Briony has achieved a sense of atonement.

On the other hand, if we believe Robbie dies in France and Cecilia drowns while seeking refuge in Balham underground station, their lives and love not allowed to survive, then does Briony not achieve atonement? It is a difficult question. Just as Briony Tallis the author, struggles with the truth, blurring reality with her perceptions of reality and scribing truth-bending fantasies till it suits her liking, McEwan is placing the reader in the same difficult spot.

Is it our right and responsibility to judge the actions and childish nature of a child and hold he/she to an adult standard? Briony is barely a teenager when the reader (consciously or unconsciously) judges her actions and holds in contempt. I don’t believe that it is the task of the reader to decide whether Briony Tallis achieves atonement, but perhaps this is the entire point to the story? How would we judge ourselves in this same position? Should the offenses of a 13-year-old have to be atoned for as an adult? With all due respect for the consequences, Briony was a child when she gave her false statement. This statement stemmed from her reliance on fiction, rather than the truth about her cousin’s rape. Regardless, if it was my opinion that her offense, needs to be atoned for, there is little in the book that offers Briony my support in her quest, least of all a story of fiction that supposedly is to be released after the death of all the implied characters of whom actions, support no admission of guilt for the crime.

Undoubtedly, guilt and regret need to be steppingstones on the way to atonement. There are several examples in the book where the reader might believe Briony Tallis feels guilt, realizing the consequences or her actions and feels some regret. However, she never really reveals deep soul-searching anguish, she never seeks a higher power or begs on her knees for forgiveness from Robbie, Cecelia or a higher power. There is no revelation of empathy. Briony seems to not cast any moral judgment on herself, her false statement and the horrible consequences thereof, but only coldly presents the reader with the facts as she recalls them. In fact, in a case of flash-forward homodiegetic description of the author, six decades after her false witness, the reader is told that “her fiction was known for its amorality” (p 38), indeed her vary persona. The reader cannot accept any of the truths presented as facts, realizing how easily Briony Tallis can undermine our reliance on and belief in her, by describing how easily she can write and re-write any part of the story. She seems to do so without any scrape on her conscience, only appealing to her liking and imagination.

Briony Tallis is portrayed as a self-centered, self-serving narcissist, completely lacking in empathy for the real suffering of the people around her. Briony had many opportunities to reveal the truth but was afraid of the possible consequences to her as it might hurt her authorship or stain the admiration of her readers. She is not concerned with righting the wrong she has inflicted on other people, but only concerned with how the revelation of the truth might influence reputation or the possible libel suits from the Marshall’s. Thus, atonement is decided upon and easily persuaded by her editors, because, “… as a matter of legal reality, … my forensic memoir could never be published while my fellow criminals we alive” (p 349).

The story is about the sum of all the plots and events as a whole, regardless of the novel being divided into distinct parts. McEwan makes use of ellipsis between the parts, disregarding both time and events that he might deem of lesser importance and leaving a lot unsaid. He is allowing the reader to create their version of events between parts and this influenced the way that I perceived the characters. I spent a lot of time thinking about the entire Tallis household, the relationship between Cecelia and Robbie, Cecelia’s relationship with her parents, Robbie’s suffering in jail and how this must have affected his loving and supporting mother, of which is an entirely different story.

The crime of Briony, providing a false statement to the police concerning the rape of her cousin is the seed of the entire book(s). Atonement could be considered a hypothetical biography, written by and about a hypothetical author, writing various versions of events in the lives of the characters in her book. Like Yin and Yang, the author is constantly trying to find the balance between the elements of good and evil. By rewriting her perception of how each character views situations and how she can rewrite a happily thereafter ending for her characters, altogether is, in itself, a way to atone for the crime she committed. Like Yin and Yang, the parts of the novel are simply complementary and opposing elements. (“Yin and yang.” Merriam-Webster. (Web, 2 Feb. 2020.) From the reader's perspective, there is a constant tussle with Briony’s lack of morality throughout the Novel’s constant theme of trying to decipher from whose point of view are we hearing from. We are drawn to ask ourselves, who is telling us the story? Whose truth are we listening to? What is the truth?

Briony is an extremely unlikeable character, ambitious, lacking empathy and extremely conceited. Her conceit reaches a crescendo in the last pages of the book where Briony, now speaking in the first person, likens herself and her power, as an author to God “how can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to. Or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her.” (p350). The irony of the consequences of her actions is not lost on the reader when Briony at 77 unemotionally returns to the proud upper-class Tallis family home which by now has been lost by the family and converted to a hotel all to atone for nothing.

The final chapter reveals how extremely conceited, self-serving, and lacking conscience Briony is. She did not write the happy ending in her fictional novel to atone for her sins, she did it in self-interest, in the spirit and craftsmanship of literature. Moreover, she congratulates herself for letting her lovers live and provide them with, “a final act of kindness…. I gave them happiness” (p351). She is not changing the story to atone; she is changing the story because it makes her look better as a writer. Moreover, she wishes she could conjure up Robbie and Cecilia still alive, still in love, and attending her birthday party, having long ago forgiven her and in her mind, she hints to yet another version of her story saying that “It’s not impossible.” (p351).