Atonement by Ian McEwan is an excellent novel, which illustrates the subsequent stories generated by a series of misunderstandings. Through the narrative, McEwan explores the complexity of humanity and the nature of atonement. McEwan employed dynamic writing styles throughout the story to reflect the characteristics of different periods and multiple perspectives, bringing the fiction a beautiful rhythm. 

First and foremost, the author intertwined the themes of love, misunderstanding, atonement, war, and growing up, showcasing the complexity of the universal reality. It is appropriate to begin with the sinuous love story developed between the two main characters. Cecelia Tallis, the eldest sister of the Tallis Family, and Robbie Turner, the son of their family’s housekeeper, are raised together. As Robbie has known Cecelia since childhood, he always considered her a sister and nothing more. 

Yet, when triggered by the accidental breakage of a vase, Robbie and Cecelia both realize their feelings have somehow changed toward each other, surpassing the family-like affection they held for each other in childhood. In fact, heterosexual friendship from childhood usually has a profound influence on people but is often difficult to define; it is ambiguously situated at an intermediate point among pure friendship, family affection, and romantic affection. Cecelia and Robbie know each other’s habits, hobbies, and emotions so well that they lack the necessary distance between friends, crossing over to the intimacy shared between lovers. Still, they struggle to recognize their romantic feelings for each other and fail to admit it until adulthood. 

Furthermore, their family and class differences also impede their love. Although Robbie is educated, going to medical school and obtaining a degree, the Tallis family still considers him to be working class, and thus beneath their family’s socio-economic status. In part one of Atonement, Cecelia feels annoyed when she knows that Robbie was invited to dinner. Surprised at his sister’s reaction, Leon Tallis teases Cecelia that she hardly spoke to Robbie in her three years of Cambridge and “wouldn’t let him near her Roedean [a school’s name] chums” (52). Later, in Briony’s imaginational reunion scene, Robbie furiously shouts that in the eyes of the Tallis family, he is little better than a servant, still not to be trusted by them. Although at the end we discover that Briony fabricates this story and the conversation between Robbie and Briony does not happen, it is clear that the Tallis Family shows contempt for Robbie. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that even without these misunderstandings, even if Robbie was not sent to jail, the love between Cecelia and him would not be successful because of the pride and prejudice of Tallis family. 

War is also a critical component of the story. If World War II did not happen, Robbie and Cecelia might resume their love and live happily like a princess and prince in fairy tales. But the war changed everything. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of World War II, extending from its beginning in 1939 to its end in 1945. The author illustrated the cruelty of the war by describing Robbie’s experience during the Dunkirk Retreat. At the beginning of part two, Robbie discovered a leg in a tree, “pale, smooth, small enough to be a child’s” (192). Using plain and emotionless language-- “in the past few days they have seen enough” (192)-- the author amplified the real horror: along with the broken limbs and dead bodies, airplanes slide across the sky and bombs fall randomly. Children and women shouted desperately, trying to find shelter. But their fate was death. Finally, after arriving at Dunkirk, Robbie feels an overwhelming sense of tiredness instead of the hope of life, which is an authentic description of the soldiers’ attitude during unrelenting fighting.

Indirectly, the hospitals depicted reflected the tragic aftermath of war. Through different senses including smell and sound, the author indirectly reflects the intense atmosphere inside the hospital; by graphically describing the wounds of the patients and using abundant similes, readers can vividly experience the torture experienced by injured soldiers. The author specifically described the condition of a French soldier who suffered serious brain injuries. He is supposed to enjoy a better life with his fiancée. But now, because of the war, he will die in a foreign country with his family, back home, waiting for news of him. Although I have read many books about wars and their terrible impact on individual lives, I still feel depressed after reading this section of the novel. 

While successfully expressing multiple themes, Ian McEwan also incorporates elements of modernism into his writing style. Firstly, he employs a distinctive and innovative nested structure, reminiscent of a set of Russian nesting dolls (matryoshka), within the narrative. Briony’s novel represents the primary structural layer. In part three, while Briony is in the hospital, she takes on the task of writing her novel, "Two Figures by the Fountain," during her leisure hours. When she submits her work to a publishing house, the editor, though rejecting it, provides constructive feedback, encouraging her to illustrate the pivotal fountain event and enhance the story's framework.

Briony's autobiographical novel, encompassing the entire book, serves as the secondary structure. At the end of chapter three, we discover a signature that reads “Briony Tallis from London, 1999.” In the epilogue, Briony confesses that she has always been thinking about her last "novel," the one that "should have been my (her) first" (369). Consequently, it becomes apparent that the book is actually written by Briony, and some of the previous scenes are pure figments of her imagination.

Ultimately, this book, even though it's attributed to Briony, is the creation of McEwan, constituting a novel rather than a biography. It is McEwan who has crafted the fictional character of Briony Tallis. This interplay forms the tertiary structural layer, connecting the realm of fiction with that of reality.

At the same time, it is also noteworthy that McEwan used the modernism technique of the stream of consciousness throughout the story. In part two, for example, the author depicts the inside world of Robbie comprehensively. Before the Dunkirk Retreat, Robbie sleeps in the corner of a shelter. He keeps reminiscing about the past and repetitively thinking about Cecelia’s letter. From contemplating the meaning of waiting, imagining the possibility of changing the verdict, and sighing at the cruelty and absurdity of wars, his awareness gradually fades away. Although Robbie does not move at all; his mind remains active and memories plus imagination floods into his consciousness. 

In general, by employing various writing techniques and combining the style of modernist literature, McEwan illustrated the dramatic romantic tragedy of Cecelia and Robbie. In the fiction, he did not oversimplify or disguise the reality, the reality we are all facing. Instead, he showcased its complexity with helplessness: this is life.