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Study Guide
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Atonement Study Guide." Course Hero. 5 Oct. 2017. Web. 24 Sep. 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Atonement/>.
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Bibliography
Course Hero. (2017, October 5). Atonement Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved September 24, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Atonement/
In text
(Course Hero, 2017)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Atonement Study Guide." October 5, 2017. Accessed September 24, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Atonement/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "Atonement Study Guide," October 5, 2017, accessed September 24, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Atonement/.
Ian McEwan
2001
Novel
Drama, Historical Fiction, Tragedy
The events of Parts 1–3 of Atonement are narrated from a third-person limited point of view. In Part 4, Briony Tallis takes over as the first-person narrator, and it is revealed that she's been the narrator of the entire novel. It is also revealed in Part 4 that Briony is an unreliable narrator as she sometimes lies.
Atonement is written in the past tense.
An atonement is a reparation for a wrong, and Atonement is Briony Tallis's attempt to apologize for sabotaging Robbie Turner and ruining his future with her sister, Cecilia Tallis. Briony eventually asks whether a novelist can "achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?" She concludes there is "no atonement for God, or novelists," despite her noble attempt at it.
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