A Study of Ian McEwan’s <i>The Child in Time</i>: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma

Abstract

Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan’s concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In <i>The Child in Time</i>, one of Ian McEwan’s representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen’s empathic understanding for his friend Darke’s tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate’s loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in <i>The Child in Time</i> is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.