McEwan uses narrative structure to reveal certain truths throughout the novel about how the character Briony’s false testament as a child which resulted in Robbie’s wrongful conviction caused her to develop guilt and a wish to atone. The author structurally reveals after Briony falsely testified “how guilt refined the methods of self torture” which creates “an eternal rosary to be fingered for a lifetime.” This foreshadows how Briony’s guilt would last eternally, no matter how many times she would try to atone by metaphorically fingering her “rosary.” It is structurally revealed at the end of Part Three, how Briony finally conjures the courage to “begin” her atonement by writing Robbie and Cecilia a novel so they could experience “happiness” together. Although, …show more content…
A third person omniscient narrator is employed in Part One during and after the rape of Lola to reveal to the reader how some are willingly ignorant of the truth. Briony’s perspective of the rape is evidently misconstrued when she states to Lola that she “saw” Robbie take advantage of her when during the attack she revealed the attacker merely resembled a “bush”. Likewise, during the time that the twins are missing and Lola was simultaneously being attacked, Emily reflects on the bruising on Lola’s arms that Paul Marshall said were supposedly caused by Lola’s younger brothers earlier in the day. She contemplates how the bruising was “really rather shocking” given they were “inflicted by little boys” but does not alert this to the police. Both Briony and Emily ignore the truth of the situation to fulfil their desired version of the truth. McEwan describes to the reader through the interplay of voices how sometimes the accepted truth is in reality a misinterpreted version of