Topic: discuss point of view as a technique and theme in ‘atonement’. assignment

Candidate, (4) mentions “ free indirect discourse is used to convey Briony’s” perceptions by subtly using “ frequent modal verbs – ‘ how could she refuse a cousin’ (McEwan, 175) – and by sentence adverbials – ‘ of course she was taking the part of Arabella’ (McEwan, 159). ” Further going on to say, “ sometimes, text orientation shifts to directly convey her perception: “ Briony heard at last the sound of wheels on the gravel below her bedroom window, and snatched up her pages and ran down the stairs, across the hallway and out into the blinding light of midday” (72), through narrative.

Briony repeats this throughout the book. Variable internal focalisation The story we read, particularly in Part One, is created by only one narrative voice – the aging novelist Briony – and McEwan uses variable internal focalisation, “ that is, narrative where the focal character changes (the narrative voice doesn’t change in the Atonement)”. (Finney, 95) The purpose of variable internal focalisation is “ to know what they know and see what they see” (Broken English, 1) and we see the story of the fountain scene from three different viewpoints.

So using her imagination to enter into the minds of her characters is to show empathy and thereupon “ she dwelt on the perceptions of the three figures. ” (McEwan, 313) Narration: third person v first person A third technique is narration in the third person and the audience relies on the events shown through three perspectives by the elder Briony. But how can the elder Briony read the characters minds when in reality she is incapable of knowing them. In ‘ Atonement’ it shows the elder Briony as the narrative voice that knits all views together and tells the story.

Narration also lets us in on Briony as a child where she has a passion for order “ passion for tidiness … for an unruly world could be made just so” (McEwan, 20) The more viewpoint characters McEwan uses in this story, the less available space the audience gets to know a character indepth. This can result in a reader being unsatisfied but in this case the person it exposed was Briony which led us to the shock of discovering that the story had been written backwards by the 77 year old Briony with “ traces of Victorian melodrama and fairytales”. (Candidate, 12) Conclusion