Metanarrative, Circular Structure & Ending

Q: The Epilogue and Circular Structure in *Atonement*

The epilogue to *Atonement* is written in the form of a biographical note by Briony, written in the style of a journal entry. The novel can be said to have a circular structure.

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The Epilogue and Circular Structure in Atonement

The epilogue to Atonement is written in the form of a biographical note by Briony, written in the style of a journal entry. The novel can be said to have a circular structure.

Epilogue creates a metanarrative

By including the epilogue, McEwan creates a metanarrative (a narrative which plays with ideas of story-telling).
At the centre of this is the conceit that Parts One, Two and Three of Atonement have been ‘written’ by Briony.

Revelation in the epilogue

The epilogue then adds another layer of narrative to the novel, ‘revealing’ that Briony has reshaped historical fact into a story which suits her own ends: to provide “hope” and “satisfaction” for her readers (p371).
This encourages readers to consider the concepts of truth, perception and reality, ideas which McEwan has explored throughout the novel.

Circular structure: Tallis house

The novel can be said to have a circular structure in that the narrative ends where it begins – in the Tallis family home, but now (in 1999) Tilney’s hotel.

Symmetry: The Trials of Arabella

There is a further sense of symmetry in that the closing pages of the novel revolve around a performance of The Trials of Arabella; the play that the 13-year-old Briony had just finished writing in Chapter 1 of the novel.
This structural feature allows McEwan to contrast the budding teenage writer with the successful author who directly narrates the epilogue. Moreover, we see how characters from Part One have aged and perhaps feel the absence of the certain key characters (Robbie and Cecilia) all the more.

Reactions to the ending

Some readers may see this ending to the novel as providing a satisfying resolution.
However, others may suspect that Briony is again manipulating her readers by providing them with such a conveniently neat and symmetrical ending.

Structure of the Ending of Atonement

Briony's apology in Part Three and the revelations about her fictional narrative in Part Four are significant plot points.

Briony's apology in Part Three

Part Three, the conclusion of Briony’s novel, ends with Briony at last apologising to her sister and Robbie for the “terrible distress” she has caused (p348).
Briony feels that Robbie’s response is “almost conciliatory” - hinting at the possibility of forgiveness, or "atonement", for Briony.

Revelation in Part Four

However, in Part Four we learn that the meeting between Briony, Cecilia and Robbie in fact never happened and is purely an invention of the 77-year-old Briony.
The climactic moment is a fiction. This in turn prompts readers to re-evaluate what they have just read: are the resolutions provided by Briony/McEwan another trick, or “crime”, against the reader?

Ending to Part Two

Briony (and McEwan) can ‘trick’ the reader into believing that Robbie has survived the evacuation of Dunkirk because of the ambiguous ending to Part Two.
The narrative, which in Robbie’s delirium is beginning to resemble a stream-of-consciousness, simply ends with Robbie telling Nettle that he “won’t hear another word” from him (p265).
These words have a darkly ironic undertone when we learn in Part Four that Robbie in fact dies from septicaemia caused by his wound (p370).