Moral Purpose / Restoration of Order Flashcards
How does McEwan undermine the idea that fiction can restore moral order?
🎯 AO1:
Briony’s writing attempts to restore the damage she caused, but Atonement ultimately refuses the idea that fiction can repair moral consequences. The ending is a deliberate rejection of restorative justice.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Frame narrative: Part Three reveals the happy ending was fiction
Authorial intrusion: Briony addresses the reader directly
Unreliable narrator: her story conceals as much as it confesses
💬 Quote (pg. 370):
“The attempt was all.”
🔗 AO4 – Ackroyd Comparison:
Where Ackroyd ends with Poirot’s moral judgment and a suggested form of justice, Atonement leaves the reader in ambiguity — Briony writes not to restore order, but to cope with the impossibility of it.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Briony’s attempt at restoration is self-serving — a literary performance of remorse. Some critics argue McEwan critiques the idea that storytelling can function as moral compensation.
Q: How does the novel problematise atonement as a moral goal?
🎯 AO1:
Briony’s pursuit of atonement is complicated by the fact that her victims are dead. McEwan explores whether atonement is possible without forgiveness, or whether guilt simply becomes a lifelong burden.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Confessional tone: intimate, reflective narration in Part Three
Temporal layering: shows that decades of guilt do not equate to moral clarity
Paradox: Briony admits the impossibility of her own redemption
💬 Quote (pg. 370):
“It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point.”
🔗 AO4 – Ackroyd Comparison:
Sheppard also confesses, but his act of “restoration” is cold and unrepentant. Both novels explore guilt without legal punishment, focusing instead on personal reckoning.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Briony’s confession raises questions about literary morality — does acknowledging a crime mean one has atoned for it? Or is that simply narrative control disguised as justice?
Q: How does McEwan explore the limits of moral restitution through narrative?
🎯 AO1:
Briony tries to rewrite history to grant Robbie and Cecilia a life together, but this correction occurs only in fiction. McEwan exposes the limits of language and narrative to enact real-world moral restitution.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Fictional layering: the “happy ending” is exposed as imaginary
Syntax shift: abrupt narrative breakdown at the end of Part Three
Direct reader address: confronts the reader with the cost of fiction
💬 Quote (pg. 371):
“What sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader draw from an ending like that?”
🔗 AO4 – Ackroyd Comparison:
In Ackroyd, the order is restored through a logical revelation and a final moral choice. In Atonement, the illusion of resolution is shattered — the crime remains unresolved.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Some critics view Atonement as anti-restitutional — its power lies in denying the reader comfort. The novel’s moral purpose is not to restore, but to expose the absence of restoration.
Q: What role does guilt play in shaping Briony’s concept of moral repair?
🎯 AO1:
Briony’s entire adult life is defined by guilt. Rather than seeking formal punishment, she chooses creative suffering — rewriting and reliving the past. McEwan uses her guilt to question whether moral purpose is sincere or performative.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Fragmented narration: mirrors emotional and ethical fragmentation
Epistolary form (in Part Three): creates a confessional texture
Motif of illness and ageing: her body decays as her guilt grows
💬 Quote (pg. 285):
“She would never undo the damage. She was unforgivable.”
🔗 AO4 – Ackroyd Comparison:
Sheppard shows little guilt — his final chapter is calm and calculated. Briony, by contrast, is defined by inward punishment, making her more complex and more sympathetic as a criminal figure.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Critics disagree on whether Briony’s guilt is truly redemptive. Some argue she uses guilt to regain narrative authority, turning the act of atonement into another exercise of power.
Q: Does the novel offer any restoration of order by the end?
🎯 AO1:
Superficially, yes — the final section imagines Cecilia and Robbie together — but this is revealed to be fiction. McEwan intentionally denies the reader emotional closure, showing that some crimes dismantle order permanently.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Structural reversal: the “happy ending” is undone in the final revelation
Postmodern self-awareness: Briony’s fiction foregrounds its own limitations
Deflation: ends not with justice, but the revelation of irreparable loss
💬 Quote (pg. 372):
“The lovers survive and flourish. It is not the story’s conclusion, but the conclusion of the story that the younger Briony wanted to tell.”
🔗 AO4 – Ackroyd Comparison:
Ackroyd restores order through Poirot’s neat solution; Atonement mocks the artificiality of that kind of ending. Justice is not served — it’s simulated.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
The final twist challenges the reader’s desire for closure. Critics argue that Atonement exposes the ethical limits of fiction, suggesting that art cannot restore what real life has broken.
