Having been brought up hearing tales of happy endings, she is unable to understand that in real life one cannot get everything one wants and, therefore, she cannot have Robbie.River of Shadows is an adult dark fantasy romance based on Finnish mythology and the underworld of Tuonela. Evidently, Briony is not fully aware of the consequences of her actions, but neither is she the harmless bystander she might appear to be (Pyrhonen, 2012). Thus, for McEwan, childhood is not exempt from sin or corruption. She even tries to drown herself in the river so that she can have Robbie’s attention. She is also in love with him and cannot stand Robbie’s love for Cecilia. When observing Cecilia and Robbie, Briony is shocked to find out that is not her love story that she witnesses but her sister’s. In Atonement, childhood is related to sin as it corresponds with jealousy and refusal to accept the fairy-tale world. For the author, childhood is not a world of innocence or the ideal state of mind before entering adulthood (O’Dwyer, 2016). As she slowly matures, she is searching for a way to redeem herself for being not only a liar but also incapable of empathy for Cecilia and Robbie (Turcu, 2015). In the end, the reader discovers that the novel is Briony’s confession and not an accurate historical narration from an objective narrator.īriony's quest for atonement begins the moment she realizes the consequences of her actions. The final act follows Briony who still works in a hospital where she meets several soldiers from Dunkirk. However, Briony becomes a nurse to reunite with her sister and ask for her forgiveness (Turcu, 2015). Robbie exchanges prison for the war trenches, whereas Cecilia has started working as a nurse in a hospital and has cut all contact with her family (Ganteau, 2017). The second part of the novel starts with the British troops in Dunkirk during World War II. To everyone's surprise, Briony accuses Robbie, who ends up going to jail, putting an end to his expectations of a better and happier life with Cecilia (O’Dwyer, 2016). The author helps the reader to figure out who the real rapist is thanks to the bird's-eye view of the events provided by the narrator. The first part of the novel starts on a summer day in which Cecilia and Robbie, the main couple, have just started a relationship when Cecilia’s cousin, Lola, is raped. Atonement is a tragic love story in which there are two main agents: on the one hand, Briony, a little girl who destroys her older sister’s happiness, and, on the other hand, the catastrophic consequences of World War II that annihilated the hopes and dreams of an entire generation.

Atonement ian