Angel or Demon? The Child in Contemporary Fiction: Ian McEwan’s Atonement
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Date
2020-06
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Abstract
Childhood is the most memorable time in anyone’s life. It is the starting point of all our stories
and adventures, and the origin of most of our persistent sadness, hopelessness, and buried
worries. Therefore, this thesis addresses the problematic representation of children in
contemporary fiction, such as Ian McEwan’s Atonement. Moreover, this study provides a view
on the theoretical framework that encompasses the emergence of the concept of childhood. It
discusses various literary depictions of children from the medieval period to the postmodern
era in order to understand its significant changes over time, as well as the reasons behind the
shift in such representations. Furthermore, this study examines the psychological development
of Atonement’s protagonist through Freudian concepts in addition to the development stages
proposed by Erik Erikson in order to understand her fears, insecurities, disturbing behaviors,
and her feelings of guilt and atonement. It further explores the protagonist Briony Tallis as a
representative of the child image in contemporary fiction so as to find out whether she is an
angel or demon, or a mixture of both. To achieve this goal, the psychoanalytic approach is used,
mainly Freud’s “Family Romance,” and Erikson’s stages of development.
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Key Words: McEwan, Freud, Erikson, Childhood, representation, angel, demon