On The Carnival Characteristics In McEwan’s Atonement

Ian McEwan is a distinguished contemporary British novelist. Atonement is an important work by him. Since it came out in2001, it has attracted the attention of the public and the critics. The complexity of the novel diversifies the critics’ interpretation of it. The study mainly focuses on the theme of atonement, the fictionality and truth of the novel, the narrative devices and so on, while the carnival characteristics of the novel are seldom touched. This thesis is going to interpret it from the perspective of Bakhtin’s theory of camivalization and explore the carnival characteristics of the novel.Camivalization is one of the most important theories Bakhtin created. Crowning and decrowning, carnival square, canivalized space and time and dialogicity are the main concepts of the theory. This thesis is going to use this theory to analyze the carnival characteristics and their embodiment in Atonement. The first chapter is a brief introduction of camivalization and the main concepts in it. The second chapter discusses the crowning and decrowning of the main characters in Atonement. The third chapter makes a study of the carnival squares and the carnivalized space and time in this novel. The fourth chapter explores the two patterns of dialogues in the novel-the great dialogues and internal dialogues. The great dialogues are those between different consciousnesses in this novel, and the internal dialogues are those between Briony and herself taking place in her mind. Through careful research of this novel from the perspective of camivalization, we can come to the conclusion that Atonement is a novel with carnival significance. The novel’s aesthetic value is further explored.