Atonement by Ian McEwan: Book Study Guide

Atonement Introduction

Atonement, published in 2001, is a book about screwing up.

It's by Ian McEwan—a serious and critically acclaimed big-deal novelist who won the Booker Prize, so when he writes about screwing up, you can be sure it's not your garden variety oops-I-washed-my-jeans-with-a-pen-in-the-pocket kind. The stakes are a whole lot higher—and by higher, we're talking falsely-accusing-your-sister's-boyfriend-of-a-horrible-crime-and-ruining-her-life higher. This is the kind of screw up that you don't come back from.

The screwer up here is Briony Tallis, a dreamy, upper-class 13-year-old control freak who we first meet in England before World War II. Briony wants to be a writer because—she figures—they get to control the whole world. When you write, after all, your characters do what they're told to and speak when spoken to. You can make up a character, give him an awful name like Beluga Throckmorton, and then make the poor guy do all of your homework. And you know what? He has to listen to you on account of living inside your brain and all. Dude's got no other choice.

Instead of putting Briony in control of the world, though, her imagination ends up spreading chaos and misery and guilt and zombie attacks. Okay, not zombie attacks—it's not really that kind of book. But on the other hand, Cecilia—the sister whose life Briony ruins by falsely accusing her boyfriend—does experience such intense romantic tragedy that she had to be played by Keira Knightley in the 2007 film adaptation. That's right: Keira is sad and it's all Briony's fault. No wonder she feels horrible. You would as well—and you deserve to after the horrible way you treated poor old Beluga.

What is Atonement About and Why Should I Care?

Ian McEwan's Atonement is a novel that does a lot of thinking about novels. You can see why this would interest McEwan since he's a novelist and all. But many of you probably aren't planning to write novels. Many of you probably don't even want to write novels. So why should you care about Atonement?

The thing is… while many (okay, most) people don't necessarily write novels, everybody makes up stories. For instance, you might look at Atonement—all 300 pages of it—sitting there glaring at you, and imagine how someday you'll get to the last page and then toss it across the room or beat it with a stick or go have a candy bar. You might imagine what it would be like to win that soccer game you have tomorrow, or just to be done with the test you're studying for next week. Or maybe sometimes you might even imagine what it would be like to talk to a cute classmate you're a bit shy around (you know the one). These imaginings are your story, your novel, the one—to paraphrase McEwan—that is writing itself around you (1.13.27).

We tend to think of what we imagine as being stuck inside our head. What Briony finds in Atonement, though, is that what's in your head can get out and start walking around. Sometimes this is totally cool, but sometimes it's really, really bad. Let's say, for example, that your brain tells you that your history exam is next week, when in actuality it's this week. You might find yourself feeling pretty bummed, not to mention cross with your own brain. Or what if you decide that you have absolutely no chance of winning your soccer game this weekend? Well then you might not even try—and so the not winning of your imagination becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in reality. Our imaginations don't only focus on ourselves, though. For instance, let's say you can't find your copy of Atonement anywhere. The friend you lent it to last weekend assures you that she put it back in your locker on Monday, but your little brain doesn't quite believe her so you decide to stop speaking to her. Whether you're right about the book or not, the inner-workings of your brain have just totally impacted the lives of both you and your friend.

Imagining doesn't always mess things up, though. Sometimes thinking about getting to know that cute classmate can lead to actually getting to know that cute classmate. And sometimes, too, you need imagination if you're going to fix the problems your brain has caused. How can you atone, or make up for, what you've done if you can't first imagine doing right?

Atonement, then, isn't just about big honking books. It's about the stories in our heads and how they get out and spread trouble—and occasionally good cheer—on their own. Atonement isn't just for novelists, but for anyone who has a head and has to live, one way or the other, with the things banging around inside it.

Atonement Resources

Websites

Ian McEwan's Website
Webcentral for all things McEwan-y. Lists of books, bibliography and criticism, a calendar showing when Mr. McEwan will appear at a book signing near you—plus a really earnest, rugged author photo that is earnest and rugged even by the standards of author photos.

Movie or TV Productions

Atonement (2007)
The 2007 movie is a condensed but mostly faithful adaptation. A couple things are changed, and some bits are left out—we don't really hear about Jackson's bed wetting, for example, and Briony's motives for accusing Robbie are much less clear than they are in the book. But much of the dialogue is taken straight from the page, and it's clear director Joe Wright tried to get the spirit of the book whenever he could. We missed the pig chase, though.

Articles and Interviews

"Life Was Clearly Too Interesting in the War"
A 2002 interview by the Guardian newspaper, focusing on McEwan's historical research for Atonement. As a bonus, see McEwan get all huffy when the interviewer tells him his books aren't very emotional. (How could you not cry at the end of Atonement? Sheesh.)

"The Opening Is Almost Perversely Ungripping."
Geoff Dyer gives an enthusiastic review of Atonement in the Guardian. But if you had trouble getting into the novel, it's nice to know that Dyer doesn't think it's your fault.

"Ian McEwan Is Often Mistaken for a Major Novelist. "
This, on the other hand, is an honest-to-goodness takedown, arguing that McEwan is overrated and too wedded to scare moments and pulp shocks. It discusses his work as a whole, but Atonement gets mentioned.

"How Best to Saw Through a Human Thigh Bone"
An enthusiastic review of Atonement in the New York Times which compares and contrasts it with McEwan's earlier more gruesome novels.

"Briony's Stand Against Oblivion"
A scholarly essay focusing on the self-referential narrative in Atonement, and explaining why people who don't like it are wrong, wrong, wrong, dagnabit.

Video

"There Is No Real Here. This All Happened in My Own Head."
McEwan talks about why Briony changed what really happened. This is the one video you should watch, if you can only watch one of these videos.

Ian McEwan's Advice for Aspiring Writers
Like the title says, Ian McEwan tells you what to do to write like Ian McEwan. (Creative writing programs can be useful, he says—but take them in moderation.) Filled with high quality, low key snark.

"All Writers Are Lying If They Deny Some Pleasure In It"
A video interview with McEwan from 2012 where he talks about the enjoyment he gets from writing.

Ian McEwan on Getting a Bad Grade On An Essay About His Own Novel
McEwan gives a lecture about helping his son with an essay on his novel… and finding out that the English teacher didn't agree with his interpretation.

Images

The Original Bernini Fountain
This is the original fountain that was copied to make the fountain in the Tallises' garden. So you can look at this and imagine Cecilia and Robbie dropping the vase in and startling the big stone fish. It's not our fault if the next thing you imagine is Cecilia getting naked.

Awaiting Evacuation
An image of men awaiting evacuation at Bray-Dunes near Dunkirk in 1940.

Cecilia's Dress
One of the best parts of the film version of Atonement is the design of Cecilia's green dress. Seriously.