Underscoring the reasons for and consequences of misunderstandings and misinterpretations, Ian McEwan implements a non-linear narrative structure with multiple perspectives within his novel Atonement. By making the reader compare each individual’s conflicting points of views, McEwan demonstrates that every characters’ own biases and assumptions are merely indistinct reflections of the external reality. Serving the purpose of highlighting how the story can so easily be misunderstood, the split perspectives prompts a sense of empathy for the most consequential misinterpretation, Briony’s false incrimination of Robbie. “[P]ossessed by a desire to have the world just so,” and the need to be in control, the young girl’s series of self-centred reasoning …show more content…
Robbie’s position in the hierarchy of the time undoubtedly contributes to why the idea of Robbie committing the crime was so easily accepted. Although receiving exceptional education supported Jack Tallis and being brought up alongside the Tallis children, Robbie’s character is permanently defined as the low-class, son of a housemaid. Emily Tallis with her resentment of Robbie, is particularly compliant, even eager for his arrest. Her desire for control fuels this resentment, displeased that the lowly housemaid’s son has been attempting to break free from his regimented class, especially as his education is being sponsored by her own husband. While he is morally and intellectually exceptional, Robbie’s low social standing restrains him from exercising the power to choose his own fate that other, higher-status characters do throughout the novel. Instead, he is left at the mercy of a biased system, evoking bitterness from the reader towards the narrow-minded attitudes of those who hide behind their class ranking. Meanwhile, the chocolate heir Paul Marshall’s high social status during the time of a male dominant society allows him to avoid suspicion for the crime he committed, even buying his way out by marrying the girl he raped. Furthermore, Robbie and Cecilia are also not susceptible to the prejudice of class, suspecting that Tallis family servant, Danny Hardman was the true