Briony’s Atonement: Long Road To A Brave New World

Abstract

Creative writing is an ordinary human’s getaway into the extraordinary. An artist’s observations and perceptions of ordinary life are astonishing.  Artists sense the unusual in the usual. They sublimate even the bitter experiences into better ones. Life without art is, thus, unimaginable, as artistic or creative works are the best mediums that elevate one’s drooping spirits. Briony, Ian McEwan’s one of the most celebrated protagonists, is the epitome of creative writers. In Atonement McEwan traces the evolution of an artist and the grounds which make a person one. Through an in-depth examination of Briony’s transformation into an artist, this paper tries to seek whether artists are born or made or what makes one ‘artistically creative’ applying Freudian and Jungian concepts on creative writing.