‘A’ LEVEL REVISION NOTES FOR ENDURING LOVE BY IAN MCEWAN PT 2

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Rose is demonstrably a man of broad literary culture. His implication in the problems of narration even becomes a source of physically painful anxiety. See the essay by Randall in this volume. Such forces place an additional burden of interpretation on the reader, who must decide how far credibility can be stretched, whether these elements are sufficient cause to wreck entirely our trust in the narrator.

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Rose habitually organizes and manipulates the environment around him. We see repeated evidence of this trait. Controlling unreliability reproduces this behaviour at the level of the imparting of information about the course of the action, and of active orchestration of events themselves. In fact, Rose manipulates the other characters in such a way as to achieve an elegantly patterned conclusion, the closing picnic which constitutes the final chapter and brings resolution to the different strands of the narrative.

Part three: Pages 287–315

The different ways in which Rose overtly controls the story — both what happens and the way it is told — are closely connected with the further category concerned with elements of style and form, uncanny unreliability. Enduring Love is particularly marked by the prominence in the narrative of geometric motifs and images, which generate patterns in and from the material of the story.

The initial conditions, the force and the direction of the force, define all consequent pathways, all the angles of collision and return, and the glow of the overhead light bathes the field, the baize and all its moving bodies, in reassuring clarity. I think that while we were still converging, we were in a state of mathematical grace.

A near-perfect circle centred on his button nose and encompassed the white dome of his baldness and the curve of his fattened chin. Emotional states are repeatedly defined in relation to space and geometry.

There is, needless to say, nothing particularly unusual, or uncanny, about this stylistic tendency taken on its own terms. Enduring Love has precisely two hundred and forty-four pages. Even more oddly, or uncannily, the story strains to contain the number of characters, or references to people, whose first names begin with J. The only significant father in the text — John Logan — is killed in the opening scene, though technically he is dead before Rose begins his story, and it is his death — the death of a Father — which is the prime origin or cause of the whole narrative.

Clarissa Mellon is an orphan Ch.

The boy in the balloon is out with his grandfather Ch. The pattern is not limited merely to characters. Rose speculates as to whether his own behaviour during the accident might have been different had he been the father of the boy in the balloon Ch. He even daydreams about being a surrogate in the role at the Logan house Ch.

This may offer us licence to treat the article, and indeed this 15 See http: The problem with a shift of responsibility for these elements of the text from narrator to author, however, is that it is ultimately arbitrary: We abdicate our readerly right to assess a character if we hold the author to blame for the most problematic aspects of his narrator. The novel refers to madness in its full range of colloquial and clinical meanings. Apart from his analysis of Parry, Rose often doubts his own sanity, though usually as playful or self-deprecating rather than serious comments.

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Get them to let me out. Needless to say, he curtly denies the inference. Madness is the antithesis of reason, and it is defined and ultimately defeated by the rational man. There are a number of parallels between the two men. They are both orphans. They share a desire for order, for meaning: Convinced of his own interpretation of the restaurant shooting, Rose angrily dismisses the evidence which he feels has misled everyone else: Telephone calls are a significant motif.

Parry mentions signals he believes Rose has been making Ch. They are both preoccupied with the interpretation of signs, clues and signals. Rose notes, before the climactic scene, Parry watching him from the window: This effect of doubling, with Parry as parody, parallel or doppelganger, is reinforced by a further set of motifs concerned with mirroring and split personalities. At one level, these are facetious asides and incidental comments, but taken together — along with the other types of unreliability we are considering — they reinforce a pattern.

Rose repeatedly views himself, and narrates his actions, from the third person, and even speculates as to the neurological rather than psychological bases of this habit: It would be an extreme, even perverse, reading of Enduring Love which concludes that Rose rather than Parry is mad. Penguin, , pp. In thus drawing attention to the need for careful reading, to the problems of reading, Rose accentuates quite what is at stake in our reading of his story. Our reading of Enduring Love, therefore, must somehow take account of both his rightness and his unreliability.

If Rose is not insane, what is the significance of his unreliability? It is surprising that, as a popular historian of science with an extensive, serious body of research behind him, and a pressing personal interest in the history and definition of madness, Rose makes no mention of Michel Foucault, whose most famous and influential work, Madness and Civilization, is a seminal account of the emergence of our contemporary categories of sanity and insanity.

He traces the mechanisms by which legal and medical authority combined, over the course of several centuries, first to define, or pathologize, and then to control through the incarceration and treatment of the mad , insanity. Our normality depends upon the boundaries we draw against the abnormal and the subnormal. It is, then, through rational, empirical knowledge that we come to know, and to define, madness. Enduring Love is also a monologue of reason about madness. For instance when Joe says 'Next thing, I was running towards it. As he says when talking of Clarissa it appears that all 'sincerity will permit [him]' to tell 'is the facts'.

However, Joe also uses certain descriptions that link to the theme of literature. He describes himself and Parry as 'lover, innocent of the grief of this entanglement', describes 'the glow of the overhead light' bathing the field, 'each leaf seeming to glow with an internal light' and refers to sections of his life as 'chapters'. He also speaks of 'imagining' he is 'another man Through this McEwan appears to be revealing Joe's subconscious use of poetic language and his personal connection with literature.

This placing of science and literature in one character gives the reader an obvious distinction between the two. Clarissa appears to represent 'literature' with close emotional responses such as 'pressing her face' into Joe's back and her 'tears' she introduces the idea of the emotion in literature. Not only that, it appears that she is also talented at writing as Joe remembers she had written [him] some beauties However, on both occasions that Joe lists the men involved, Parry is spoken of last placing emphasis on his importance.

The little description there is of Parry comes across slightly sharp. The minor character within the chapter have very little said about them, however, from this the reader is able to understand some aspects of the characters. McEwan opens Chapter with an almost apologetic tone. This already contrasts with the tone of the previous chapter as Joe begins to excuse his mistakes and obsession with detail before he begins.

There also appears to be a sense of detachment throughout the chapter as Joe lacks any great emotional connection to what occurs. He wants me to help him. Make notes on the way in which Parry is introduced here. There appears to be an aspect of ridiculousness to Parry just from the way he is physically described. These things cause the reader to feel threatened by Parry and start to doubt his motives.

Make notes on the way in which McEwan changes the pace of the narrative throughout the chapter. Whereas the previous chapters opened with short, to the point sentences, Chapter Three opens with a long sentence thus immediately the narration appears to change. No longer in such sort, snappy sentences, the slower pace mimics the pattern of Joe and Clarissa's actions as they go through insignificant tasks such as 'clearing the table' and 'putting the luggage in the bedroom'. However, once their 'torrent' of conversation begins the speed of the narration picks up as Joe lists things repetitively such as 'a post-mortem, a re-living, a de-briefing' and' the peripheries, the police, the ambulance men'.

Clarissa's 'story' is told 'in a rush' as she uses words such as 'blundering' and 'shouting and cursing' and Joe's description of them as 'prisoners' who are 'running at the walls, beating them them back with our heads' adding to a feeling of frustration and restlessness. By using this repetition, the dramatic adjectives and verbs and a faster rhythm McEwan creates a sense of slight panic and agitation that mirrors Joe and Clarissa's own feelings.

He brings the pace slower at points, specifically in moments of intimacy between Joe and Clarissa such as when Clarissa 'raises' Joe's 'hands to her lips' and also when Joe explains about Clarissa's inability to 'bear children'. This ease in the panic is quickly broken as Joe launches into yet more lists and repetition until they both begin to become 'immune' to the shock and the pace slows down.

This mirroring of Joe and Clarissa's own feelings gives the reader insight into their thought processes and therefore provides a sense of intimacy that contrasts with the detachment of the previous chapters. Although a only a small section at the end of the chapter, the phone call becomes the most powerful statement that Chapter Three makes.

It breaks the intimacy of the previous narration and Parry's admission of 'I feel it too. This also leads to Joe's 'first serious mistake' as he lies to Clarissa insisting 'it was nothing' breaking the complete honesty they have both shared prior to this and thus this lie becomes the starting point for the breakdown of their whole relationship.

Joe is highly interested in an object that magnifies things and makes them appear larger than they are, bringing things unseen into view. This detailed outlook can be compared t the telescopes own detailed view. There are several developments of the plot in this chapter.

List the key events and comment on their impact. However, in this chapter, McEwan provides the reader with an opportunity to see the situation from different, more light-hearted perspective.

The most striking feature of Parry is his uncertain nature and his uncontrolled emotion. How does McEwan begin to address the issue of power here? Throughout the chapter McEwan presents a power struggle between Jed and Joe and presents this idea in various ways. This ease of movement gives Joe a sense of power as he takes up a much more open position whereas JEd appears more defensive. Vocally Jed and Joe also contrast signally the distinctions in their status.

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There are points however where Parry appears to present more of a threat to Joe and the power begins to shift into his hands. Through this McEwan portrays a switch in the power as Parry begins to hld more control over Joe. Make notes on the way in which McEwan develops the idea of stalking in this chapter.

The idea of a dog portrays Parry with an invasive devotion that also appears to penetrate the house. That he would vanish because I was thinking about something else? Joe appears to view Clarissa in this chapter with a degree of scorn and as a kind of opponent. Or that God reaches down and tickles them?

What impact does the change in narrative perspective have on your understanding of both Joe and Clarissa here? Why may McEwan have made this change?

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This also gives the reader a chance to see Joe from an outsiders perspective and presents a different slant on his character. How does McEwan make use of features associated with the narrative and style of the thriller genre here? By building tension gradually McEwan creates a great amount of apprehension an suspense true to the thriller genre.

Comment on the importance of the significance of the curtain and the idea of signals to the novel as a whole. This also continues the theme of the unknown as Joe desperately tries to make some connection between these two symbols and searches through the fog of his brain to understand their meaning. Jed's intensity, conviction and language style mirror Joe's somewhat. These characteristics reveal the similarities between the two men and the connection, not in love but certainly in personality, that they share. At this stage, midway through the narrative, McEwan reminds us of the incident that begins the story.

What impact does this have on our engagement with both character and plot? This also develops the theme of time as the reader is presented with this brief repetition of events, providing a familiarity. How does McEwan present the growing rift between Clarissa and Joe in this chapter? Explain the ways in which McEwan utilises the construct of the self-aware narrator here. Make notes on the way McEwan uses the character of Jean Logan to represent ideas about deception, betrayal and relationships. God help me, but I will. How does the introduction of yet another perspective affect the development of the narrative?

This casts a different light on these situations, it shows the massive jumps that are being made in order to reach a conclusion and also the ease that it can be done with. This also reveals a contradiction in Joe as he completely denies the existence of God and yet uses religious references here. This could either reveal his underlying reliance on religion as when he spoke in Chapter twelve of a 'godly presence' or his diminishment of it as he sees these 'station of the cross' as inconsequential except to b used as a metaphor. This use of language could also reveal Parry's impact on Joe as he begins to adopt symbols associated with Parry's beliefs when previously he would have seen such language as idealistic and romantic and thus it may represent the great effect Parry is having on Joe.

Make notes on the way that McEwan develops the character of Jed in this chapter. How is our engagement with him altered? Jed appears more threatening and possessive at this point as is clear from the way he speaks to Joe and Joe's reactions. Jed also appears possessive and asserts his own power, he tells Joe he's 'got [his] books' a sign of is possession of who Joe is and he insists there's 'nothing [Joe] can do' and that it's 'going to go' his way.

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