Nature of Crime and Criminals Flashcards
Q: How does McEwan present crime as a result of moral misjudgement rather than malicious intent?
🎯 AO1:
Briony’s “crime” is not legally criminal, but morally devastating. Her false accusation is rooted in naivety, ego, and narrative fantasy, showing that crimes in Atonement often arise from subjective perception and flawed morality rather than overt evil.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Third-person limited perspective → Briony’s internal world dominates
Motif of storytelling → crime constructed like fiction
Symbolism → the fountain scene and the letter misread = crime as misreading
💬 Quote:
“It gave her a sense of her own power.” (p.118)
“She was not too young, he thought, to get her mind around an apology.” (p.231)
🌍 AO3 – Context:
Reflects modern/postmodern concerns with subjectivity and truth — Briony’s crime reflects a society where appearance and moral certainty replace fact.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Briony is both villain and victim — not wicked, but dangerously deluded. Critics argue her crime is an act of misreading — a literary crime, not a legal one.
Q: How does McEwan contrast different types of criminals through Paul Marshall and Briony?
AO1:
Paul commits the physical crime of rape, yet escapes justice through privilege and silence. Briony’s moral crime (false accusation) causes more direct narrative impact. The novel critiques how society punishes those who appear guilty, not those who are.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Character contrast → Marshall = charismatic, protected; Briony = exposed, punished
Foreshadowing and irony → Paul’s chocolate bar = symbol of capitalism and complicity
Structural concealment → Paul’s guilt never fully narrated
💬 Quote:
“Briony was more than implicated in this union. She had made it possible.” (p.285)
“When they wrecked your life, they wrecked mine.” (p.209)
🌍 AO3 – Context:
Class privilege shapes outcomes. Paul embodies untouchable upper-class male entitlement, while Robbie’s lower class seals his fate.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Feminist and Marxist critics see Marshall as the true villain — his ability to marry his victim reflects a failure of justice systems and social morality.
Q: What is the significance of Briony’s self-perception in shaping her criminality?
🎯 AO1:
Briony constructs her identity as a moral guardian and a writer. Her desire to control the world through narrative leads her to rewrite reality — her crime is the imposition of fiction onto truth.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Metafiction → Briony as narrator of her own crime
Dramatic irony → reader sees her misunderstanding clearly
Lexical field of justice → “maniac”, “confession”, “truth”
💬 Quote:
“It was right, it was essential, for her to know everything.” (p.113)
“She would never undo the damage. She was unforgivable.” (p.285)
🌍 AO3 – Context:
Briony represents the postmodern author figure, blurring fiction and reality. Her crime is the ultimate writerly intrusion.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
Briony’s guilt is textual — she edits lives as if they were characters. Critics say McEwan blames the hubris of writers as much as individuals.
Q: How is the idea of innocence manipulated to construct crime in the novel?
🎯 AO1:
Briony’s and Lola’s claims rely on the assumption of female innocence, which McEwan critiques. Their roles as victims are socially believable, even when untrue.
🧠 AO2 – Technique:
Narrative unreliability → Briony’s perspective clouds objectivity
Juxtaposition → Cecilia’s real suffering vs. Briony’s fantasy of it
Symbolism → The “damsel in distress” motif repeated in Briony’s worldview
💬 Quote:
“Her immediate understanding was that she had interrupted an attack.” (p.123)
“The word had refinement, and the weight of medical diagnosis.” (p.119)
🌍 AO3 – Context:
Draws on and critiques literary traditions of female passivity, moral purity, and male guilt.
🧠 AO5 – Interpretation:
McEwan undermines traditional gender narratives — Briony weaponises innocence, while Robbie is coded guilty by class and gender.
