(Un)reliable Narrative in Ian McEwan’s Atonement

Abstract

Atonement is a historiographic metafiction intertextual novel written by Ian McEwan in 2001. It is a three-part narrative of 77-year-old Briony Tallis, who is suffering from vascular dementia and recalling the life-changing events she experienced at age 13. Her self-confessional writing is her retreat and serves as narrative therapy, but it does not redeem her for the acts she has committed and lived with for almost six decades. The story of her life and those of the other characters may not be accurately narrated as events happened but as she had wanted them to. By analyzing the narrative, the researcher hopes to show that the main protagonist and narrator’s narrative and memory are not entirely reliable.