Significance of the Epigraph
"Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained... what
ideas have you been admitted?"
"with tears of shame she ran off to her own room".
The extract from Northanger Abbey also immediately encourages the reader to consider
Atonement in the same way as Austins novels. The words in the epigraph take on an ironic
meaning as the novel progresses. It can be argued that Briony's "tears of shame" are the
novel.
McEwan stated that he saw Briony as a character who had indulged too much in
fantastical fiction instead of serious life. She uses literature to construct the world around
her.
It can be questioned if Catherine was used to shape Briony as they have the same
imagination.
McEwan discusses how the ordinary world appears to a writer and how fragments of
experience can be taken and placed together.
Austin uses free indirect discourse which is also present in Atonement.
The references to "Northanger Abbey" serve to underscore the theme of the unreliability
of perspective and the difficulty of distinguishing truth from fiction. Through these
references, McEwan suggests that the line between reality and fiction is not always clear
and that the way in which stories are told and understood can shape our perceptions of
the world around us.
McEwan draws on Austens satire of the social world as he presents the weakness and self-
delusions of the Tallis family which are shattered by the end of the novel. In same way that
Austen exposes the prejudices in Catherines Morlands social circle.
It provides hints towards the intertextual evaluation that Atonement invites readers to
engage in
"Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained... what
ideas have you been admitted?"
"with tears of shame she ran off to her own room".
The extract from Northanger Abbey also immediately encourages the reader to consider
Atonement in the same way as Austins novels. The words in the epigraph take on an ironic
meaning as the novel progresses. It can be argued that Briony's "tears of shame" are the
novel.
McEwan stated that he saw Briony as a character who had indulged too much in
fantastical fiction instead of serious life. She uses literature to construct the world around
her.
It can be questioned if Catherine was used to shape Briony as they have the same
imagination.
McEwan discusses how the ordinary world appears to a writer and how fragments of
experience can be taken and placed together.
Austin uses free indirect discourse which is also present in Atonement.
The references to "Northanger Abbey" serve to underscore the theme of the unreliability
of perspective and the difficulty of distinguishing truth from fiction. Through these
references, McEwan suggests that the line between reality and fiction is not always clear
and that the way in which stories are told and understood can shape our perceptions of
the world around us.
McEwan draws on Austens satire of the social world as he presents the weakness and self-
delusions of the Tallis family which are shattered by the end of the novel. In same way that
Austen exposes the prejudices in Catherines Morlands social circle.
It provides hints towards the intertextual evaluation that Atonement invites readers to
engage in
