Atonement Theme

The Initiation Theme in Atonement
From a jealous girl whose mind is full of unrealistic thoughts to a young nurse who is extremely regretful for what she has done, and finally to an old and famed writer who wants to make atonement for her mistake through writing, Briony, the heroine in Atonement written by Ian McEwan finally achieves self-understanding and learns the essence of life in a long and painful way. As initiation story is the kind of novel which “may be said to show its young protagonist experiencing a significant change of knowledge about the world or himself, or a change of character, or of both, and this change must point or lead him towards an adult world” (Marcus 222), Atonement can be seen as a typical initiation story.
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As a 13 year-old girl, she “is an author first and a girl on the verge of entering adolescence second” (Finney 3). She misunderstands the quarrel between her sister Cecilia and Robbie beside the old diving pool and considers herself as a savior to save her sister from the evil Robbie. Ian McEwan firstly uses the third-person viewpoint to tell the story and then he changes to retell it from the viewpoint of Briony. The differences demonstrate by the two viewpoints highlight the prejudice and misunderstanding that Briony possesses. This incident marks the beginning of Briony’s mistake. As the story develops, she opens the wrong letter which Robbie gives to Cecilia to apologize without permission and be sure that Bobbie is a masher, liar and lunatic. Therefore, when she happens to see the young lovers are kissing, she is so sure that she has successfully saved her sister from danger. Then the story is retold from the viewpoint of Cecilia and

It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.” (McEwan 351)
This is the atonement for which Briony pays her entire life, and this is also her long and painful path to maturity and self-discovery. Accept Briony’s growth from an ignorant girl whose mind is filled with unrealistic thoughts to a mature and famed writer who intends to make atonement for her terrible fault, the way in which Briony achieve her maturity should also be mentioned. In initiation stories, “education is always important in an initiation story, but it is usually a direct result of experience rather than of indoctrination” (Marcus 222). Briony in Atonement gradually achieves her self-understanding and self-discovery in her experience as a nurse in the world war without anyone comes to point out her mistake. Therefore, the initiation theme in this novel is demonstrated more