The Conflict Accompanying the Weight of Her Words: A New Critical Analysis of Atonement Madeleine Proulx College

New Criticism is a theory focused on the human experience. It guides the reader to examine conflict and tensions within a literary work, which emulate the complexity of the human condition. Ambiguity within texts allows for different interpretations and choices, just as it functions in life. New Critical theory calls for the close-examination of literary text by searching for evidence of a certain theme or idea in the writing, rather than authorial intention. New Criticism is not focused on the motives of the author when examining the text, but on examination of the language which allows the reader to uncover the message that the text finally produces. In short, if the author is succeeding in his intention, the reader should not have to interpret what the author was trying to do in a particular passage of writing. (Wimsatt and Beardsley) In examining a text through a New Critical lens, meaning can be derived from concrete factors within the story, such as characters, plot, structure, or literary devices used in the the writing. We will soon examine Ian McEwan’s Atonement through a New Critical lens in order to demonstrate how the New Critical literary theory uses textual evidence to unearth the overarching theme of the novel...