Narrating Identity: “Former Selves” and Metafiction in Ian McEwan’s Atonement

Abstract

Abstract From the very beginning of history, the quest for identity has been a recurrent topic for human beings and it has been consistently woven into stories and narratives. This paper attempts to prove that the narrative form and the characters’ identity are two themes closely related in Ian McEwan’s Atonement, so it studies the development of some characters throughout the different parts of the novel. It argues that Dan P. McAdam’s six principles about ‘narrative identity’ can be applied to the character of Briony Tallis and her understanding of herself, which is the reason why the characters she creates as an author have the same approach towards their identity. The article also proposes a narratological analysis about the conflict between the story and discourse, the different layers of fiction imbricated within the work and the effect that the last chapter has on the implied reader. It thereby aims to combine both narratology and personal psychology development to understand the effect created by the partial breaking of the fiction agreement at the end of the novel.