10.1.3

Marxist Reading: Capitalist Exploitation & War

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Marxist Reading: Capitalist Exploitation

Paul Marshall can be seen as a symbol of ruthless capitalism in the way that he seeks to profit from the outbreak of war.

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Khaki Army Amo bar

  • Paul Marshall's Army Amo bar is coloured khaki-green as a marketing device which he hopes will help to make his product part of every British soldier’s standard-issue ration-pack.
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Excitement about conscription

  • Marshall is also excited by the prospect of general conscription being implemented in Britain “if Mr Hitler did not pipe down” (p50).
  • Marshall’s enthusiasm for the increased profits that would result from this leads to him being accused of being a “warmonger” (p50) but Marshall only seems to regard this as another challenge to conquer to fulfil his “vision”.
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“Sodden crumbs of Amo bars”

  • The mention of “sodden crumbs of Amo bars” (p304) in Briony’s hospital is a jarring confirmation that Marshall’s marketing strategy has been successful.
  • This quotation comes after a lengthy and harrowing description of Briony tending to the critically wounded in the first 24 hours of soldiers returning from Dunkirk. So this reference is particularly shocking, reminding readers that Marshall is making his fortune from exploiting the carnage in northern France.

Marxist Reading: Dehumanising Effect of War

Parts Two and Three of the novel describe the consequences of a heavily industrialised war in graphic detail.

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Diabolical imagery

  • After an air attack, Robbie reflects on the fact that warfare “had become a science” and that “a mere human, had taken the time to dream up this satanic howling” (p235-6), the use of diabolic imagery conveying humanity’s capacity for evil in its perfection of the science of mass destruction.
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Dehumanising effects of war

  • McEwan depicts war as a dehumanising experience, with victims reduced to mere body parts (“a leg in a tree”), the only vestige of individuality remaining being a torn scrap of a boy’s pyjamas.
  • Likewise, after the Stuka attack, Robbie can find no trace of the mother and son he had tried to help. There are “no human signs” evident, leading to Robbie’s conclusion that “Mother and child had been vaporised” (p239).
  • Again, individual identities are simply erased by modern weaponry and its indiscriminate use against innocent civilians.
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Attack on the RAF man

  • The attack on the RAF man at Dunkirk is another example of how war dehumanises those caught up in it.
  • McEwan describes the traumatised soldiers who confront him as a mob for whom “any remaining sense of individual responsibility fell away”.
  • Just as the mob is dehumanised, so is its victim who, in his helplessness, is described as looking “like a mole” and as “a rabbit to be skinned” (p252).

Jump to other topics

1Introduction to Atonement

2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One

3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two

4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three

5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four

5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371

6Key Character Profiles

7Key Themes

8Writing Techniques

9Context

10Critical Debates

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