Examine the techniques used by McEwan in his presentation of the murder scene.

Authors Avatar

Examine the Techniques used by McEwan in his Presentation of the Murder Scene

The scene begins in a busy restaurant where Joe, Clarissa and her godfather are celebrating Clarissa’s birthday, which Joe describes as like “walking into a storm”. This is the first hint we get that something awful is about to happen – we can see the similarities with the first chapter already as in the beginning they were “partly protected from the strong, gusty winds”. This similarity also shows us that they are about to witness, or become part of, another earth-shattering episode. McEwan uses words and phrases such “in memory… afterwards… at the time… what it preceded… a day or so later… the confusion of hindsight can cause memory…” which gives us a sense of the impending disaster, heightened by his use of the same language at the start – we have been shown already that Joe remains in the prior moments for as long as possible when recounting a horrific scene and we sense he is doing this here, adding to our fears that something terrible is about to happen. Joe is describing the scene in hindsight so at this point knows the outcome and that the bullet was meant for him and is plagued by guilt – “on a score of sleepless nights I’ve been back to plead with them to leave… I’m from a tainted future.” He begins putting incredibly precise detail into everything he describes, even telling us the exact colour of his sorbet, “just to the green side of white”, which helps to give us a crystal clear picture of the nightmare about to unfold as well as delaying the inevitable.

Join now!

McEwan’s description of the murderers is also horrific as he completely dehumanises them. “The two men who had stopped by the table next to ours seemed to have suffered burns to the face. Their skin was a lifeless prosthetic pink, the colour of dolls, or of medical plasters, the colour of no ones skin.” The monstrous images of burns, violence and pain seem totally inappropriate mixed with ideas of dolls and children, making the image even more grotesque. He adds to this brutality when he describes them as “pig-like” and artificial. We are also told that “they shared a robotic ...

This is a preview of the whole essay