Critics

Question 1

John Mullan-narrative illusion

Answer 1

McEwan wants you to identify with the character, to succumb to narrative illusion

Question 2

Brian Finney- Briony’s life and art

Answer 2

Briony is a prime example of the way art shapes her life as much as she shapes that life into art

Question 3

Dahlbach- the consequence of Briony’s attempts to atone for her crime

Answer 3

In an attempt to atone for her crime she turns to what induced her to cause the tragedy in the first place: fiction.

Question 4

Filimonova- Briony’s development

Answer 4

From egocentric and foolish she develops into a person who has remorse and conscience.

Question 5

Barbara Beckerman Davis on class

Answer 5

‘what is the sin here? Surely it is the sin of class and privilege’
‘The Tallis family is actually a microcosm of the English middle class family’

Question 6

Hermione Lee on war

Answer 6

‘The bloody, chaotic shambles of the retreat sabotages one common national fantasy of Dunkirk as a heroic rescue’