Nicholas Lezard’s Quote on Atonement Essay

â€Å"†¦the novel is itself the act of atonement that Briony Tallis needs to perform; yet we are very much in the land of the unreliable narrator, where evasion and mendacity both shadow and undermine the story that is told† (Nicholas Lezard). Discuss this criticism of Atonement. When one reaches atonement, it means that they feel forgiven, regardless whether they are actually absolved for an offence or not. In Atonement, a novel of drama, war and romance, the author Ian McEwan characterizes the main character, Briony, as a very self-centered person. McEwan’s novel is self-referential when it is implied that the novel is one Briony wrote in order to reach atonement. Nicholas Lezard, critic for the Guardian, says that Briony’s atonement and ‘the truth’ of her story is weakened by Ian McEwan’s characterization of her as an unreliable person. However, some may argue that the novel Briony wrote was a good way to atone for her crime. In the end of the McEwan’s novel, Briony shows that she believes she had done the best she could have to reach atonement. When talking about the final draft of her novel she says â€Å"I’ve regarded it as my duty to disguise nothing – the names, the places, the exact circumstances – I put it all there as a matter of a historical record† (McEwan 349). This makes the reader believe she is being entirely honest. In addition to this, Briony, being a well-known published writer at the age of 77, decides to use her passion, her talent, to become part of her atonement. Although Briony can’t publish her novel until after the death of Lola and Paul Marshall because of her fear of litigation as well as the power and wealth the couple have and will use to protect their names. â€Å"The Marshalls have been active about the courts since the late forties, defending their good names with a most expensive ferocity† (McEwan 349). Her inability to do anything more at this stage of her life makes readers feel sympathy for Briony and want to believe everything that she claims to be true. For these reasons many readers may well believe that Briony had done respectably the best she could have to reach atonement. On the other hand many may agree with Lezard and feel that Briony’s fictional happy ending to her story is a final attempt to evade the guilt she feels. Briony’s medical condition and the fact that she is dying, as a result draws attention away from her desperation to relieve her guilt. â€Å"It is only in this last version that my lovers end well, standing side by side on a South London pavement as I walk away. All the preceding drafts were pitiless† (McEwan 350). This makes the reader question how much more of what actually happened was changed in Briony’s story. Briony even calls herself an â€Å"unreliable witness† (McEwan 338) of the events that occurred which she then wrote about. This also puts the reader in a position to not want to trust anything Briony says. She also says that she likes to think that Robbie and Cecilia’s happy ending wasn’t â€Å"weakness or evasion, but a final act of kindness† (McEwan 351), which contradicts to her claim of having the novel published as a historical record, enforcing to the reader her untrustworthiness. These are a few of the reasons for which Briony can be seen as an unreliable person. Aside from her desperation and lies as a result of her coming closer to death, there are other ways in which McEwan characterizes Briony to be unreliable and wanting to partially avoid blame for her committed crime. Briony, the protagonist, wrote her entire novel with an omniscient 3rd person narrator, which as a result distances Briony from the reader and draws some attention away from her offence. Another effect that this has is that it suggests to the reader that the events that occurred happened exactly as they are described, when that is not the case. Should the novel have been written in 1st person from Briony’s point of view, the reader would have seen Briony as an arrogant and not believed her story so easily. Briony on page 350 then clearly states that she made of part of her story when she says â€Å"When I am dead, and the Marshalls are dead, and the novel is finally published, we will only exist through my inventions† (McEwan). McEwan’s characterization of her as a self-centered and unreliable person is consistent from when Briony is 13 years old up to when she is 77. On page 336, Briony says â€Å"However withered, I still feel myself to be exactly the same person I’ve always been† (McEwan), which to the reader signifies that Briony has not matured as a person and still may think like she did when she was a child, making the same mistakes without realizing them. A clear example of the same mistakes Briony makes as an adult, is how she is jealous of her older cousin at the age of 77, the same feeling she had as a child. On page 341, Briony also says, â€Å"I’ve always been good at not thinking about the things that are really troubling me† (McEwan), which has the same effect of characterizing her as unreliable. Briony tries to do good by trying to atone with the novel she wrote, although on page 340, she says, â€Å"If I really cared so much about the facts, I should have written a different kind of book. But my work was done. There would be no further drafts† (McEwan 340), which then makes it very clear to the reader that Briony’s story cannot be trusted. The entire novel is damaged and cannot be believed as a result of Briony’s unreliability. Although Briony’s attempt to atone may seem justifiable to some, it is more reasonable to say that McEwan’s novel of Atonement is reduced from the story of a girl committing a crime and separating two lovers, down to the fantasy world of Briony Tallis blended in with some facts of events she witnessed. The novel being self-referential when it is revealed that Briony wrote it in order to reach atonement, leaves the reader with a very strong impression of Briony as a very unreliable, self-centered person, which then undermines the entire story.