Representations of human connections in Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement As early as in Chapter One, McEwan introduces the theme of human relationships and love. The Tallises – Emily and Jack – have been married for years and their wealthy household gives off the impression of stability. However, they do not see much of each other – Jack’s job with the government keeps him busy in preparation for the coming war and he spends more time in London than at home. Emily’s sister – Hermione – is going through a divorce and is spending time in Paris with her lover. Later, we find out that the marriage of Robbie’s parents – Grace and Ernest Turner – is also unsuccessful: Robbie’s father has left the family when Robbie is six years old without any explanation and has never been heard from. The central relationship the novel follows – that between Cecilia and Robbie – is filled with as much passion as with confusion and despair: internal factors, their insurmountable emotions, and external factors, their stark class discrepancy, seem to draw the characters both near and apart until their end. In the course of the novel, other relationships also suffer detrimental effects: Lola fails to properly follow her motherly duties with her brothers which alienates them from her; she also comes across as domineering over Briony in her desire to play Arabella which pulls them apart; Jack Tallis renounces his love and support for Robbie after the latter is accused; and, most importantly, as a result of her part in Robbie’s disastrous fate Briony grows estranged from her sister Cecilia and her family. The novel’s preoccupation with human relations that undergo tragic transformations is indicative of its theme of human bonding and its exploration of the hindrances to its successful completion. The argument in this paper studies the fragility of human relationships as an overarching theme in the novel and aims to expose the possible reasons for it. The problem of the vulnerability of human relations derives from the tension between order and disorder, or, in other words, between stability and fragility in the novel. In a world of failing relationships, Briony appears as the character who strives to restore order in it. Briony is described as “an orderly spirit” and “a controlling demon” whose room is “the only tidy upstairs room in the house” (McKewan 5). Her writing – The Trials of Arabella is an exemplary sample which serves as a symbol of a stable mini-world - is inspired by Briony’s distinct sense for what is good and bad, right and wrong, and, eventually, she attempts to “rewrite” the falling and confusing world around her in accordance with her understanding of order. Hence, her ongoing preoccupation with, as she sees it, helping Cecilia free herself from a maniacal Robbie and punishing the latter for his brazen and obscene attacks. Another character who possesses a pronounced sense for order is Emily Tallis. Nearly abandoned by her husband – not that his presence is much of help since he never gives orders and mostly reads in the library, Emily feels the burden of maintaining order in the household – a burden which doubles its weight when her sister’s children arrive. She views the household as “a troubled and sparsely populated continent” and desires to “soothe” it (McEwan 91). The desire for order also emanates from the only portrait in the dining-room which presents an aristocratic family meant to “lend an impression of solidity” to the Tallises. However, Emily’s migraine prevents her from carrying out her parental duties. She realizes there are many things she must do but, in her condition, she can, at best, “gauge” the state of the family by straining to listen: “this was the only contribution she could make” (McEwan 84). As she listens, she hears the house shrink – a symbol of fragility that hints at an imminent collapse. Indeed, Emily already knows that Briony’s theatrical project has failed: “the collapse of the play was a terrible blow and the child would need all the comfort a mother could give” (McEwan 90). It remains unclear if Briony receives this motherly comfort since Emily is reduced to an “invalid nullity” – a condition that her children are well aware of. They always call her by her first name which is another indication of a failing relationship – the estrangement between mother and children (McEwan 85). Thus, the hope for stability that permeates Emily’s character appears highly eroded – it lies in the center of the fragile nature of the household and bodes ill for its future. Consequently, as we see the power of the parents diminish, it is the power of the “controlling demon’ in Briony that gradually takes hold of the family affairs. The collapse of the play along with the confusing interaction between Cecilia and Robbie – at first, Briony is not sure what to make of the scene by the fountain – magnify her desire for order. She transposes this desire from her fictional world – the world that she has failed to bring to life – to the real world thinking that the values of right and wrong in it are as clearly delineated as in her imagination. However, Briony’s inability to understand the adult world precipitate her into its misconstruction. When she sees her half-naked sister dive into the fountain water, Briony thinks Cecilia is forced by Robbie to do so, that he is probably blackmailing her, or definitely has some demonic power over her. Hence, Briony becomes fixated on the idea of helping her sister when in reality such help is superfluous and, as it turns out, detrimental to the relationship between Robbie and Cecilia and Cecilia and Briony.
Indeed, the scene by the fountain has symbolic meaning which adumbrates the tragedy that follows – the broken vase expresses the fragility of the bond between Cecilia and Robbie. The vase contains flowers which connect the two characters – Robbie, the son of a gardener, is fond of landscaping and Cecilia adores flowers. When the vase breaks, the chain link between the two characters breaks, and even though it is glued back together, it is only artificially restored. This process of artificial restoration replicates itself in Briony’s mind – she restores the love between Cecilia and Robbie in the fictional, artificial per se, world of the novel whereas in reality, as it becomes clear, their love reaches a tragic end during the war.
The confusion that the fountain scene generates in Briony impels her to start making sense of adult behavior – it plunges her straight into the adult world. Her callow inability to manage this sense-making task is one of the main reasons for the fragility of the relations she affects. Even though she masters love in her play, Briony fails to recognize that the obscene letter she reads from Robbie could be written in genuine love. She also fails to understand that what she refers to as “an attack” in the library may be prompted by mutual desire. Most importantly, she fails to understand that her help is not needed at all – that as confusing and misleading the adult world may seem, it may function as well with all its confusion, and that rather than understanding, or let alone helping, it needs acceptance.
However, the fragility of the human relations and their tragic end is not generated only by Briony’s actions – there is the responsibility of the adults too. On a crowded night, in a home that lacks the stern presence of both parents, Briony’s imagination and desire for control reach unprecedented proportions. It remains puzzling that the adult members of the household let themselves be taken in by a 13-year old child. If Lola is really unsure about who her attacker is, where does her maturity feature in her not saying so? If Paul Marshall knows the whole truth, where is his dignity in revealing it so an innocent man does not go prison? And if Emily Tallis really knows her daughter’s fiery imagination, why should she trust a word Briony says? Maybe, in reality, Emily Tallis does not know her daughter as well as a good parent should. Maybe if Jack Tallis considered his family more important than his job and actually was at home on that fateful night, Briony would not act the way she does. Maybe if Hermione subjugated her flirtatious desires for the sake of her marriage, she would not have to send her children to Emily Tallis and the fateful night would never happen. Maybe if Ernest Turner did not neglect his wife and son, Robbie would not be dependent on the Tallises and might have already built a life of his own. Such considerations lead us to conclude that Briony’s actions are not an isolated case by itself – not a simple case of a child’s imagination gone wild – but a consequence of a complex sequence of actions that have taken place in the adult world and have serious repercussions on the younger generation. The world McEwan portrays in the novel is populated with adults whose behavior results from selfishness, ignorance, incompetence, or sheer weakness and irresponsibility: their actions build up to a deservedly tragic resolution when they let a child take control of their world and watch it fall apart.

Works Cited McKewan, Ian. Atonement: A Novel: Anchor, 2007. Print.