Essay Questions

The Child in Time is a novel about new beginnings and second chances. Illustrate the statement using illustrations from Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name.

In the novel, after Stephen loses his daughter, he is unable to cope. Still, he later accepts his fate and comes to terms with the loss. However, he loses his wife, who leaves after she is unable to cope. Additionally, after things do not seem to work out between Julie and Charles, they too try to mend their relationship but fail eventually. After this failure, Charles later commits suicide. When Stephen receives a call to go to Julie’s house, he realizes that Julie was pregnant and in labour at the time. After they deliver the baby, the two see it as a chance for a new life, a new beginning in life. The title of the novel then takes form as the reader understands the reason for it, The Child in Time.

The Child in Time is essentially a story about loss and grief. Illustrate the truthfulness of this statement based on the novel of the same name.

McEwan explores the concepts of loss and grief in the novel explicitly employing characters that the reader can relate with. After Stephen loses his child, he suffers from emotional trauma. The novel explicitly follows Stephen’s life and the emotional demise that follows the loss of his child as he lives in hope and belief that his child will come back to the final acceptance of the loss. Additionally, loss is also explored through the death of Charlie. He kills himself after he is unable to cope with the fact that he was unable to mend his relationship with Julie.