What techniques has McEwan used to make his opening striking in "Enduring Love"?

Similarly, changes within the focaliser are used, fabricating a distancing effect. Joe’s personal first person account, “I was stretching out my hand, and as the cool neck and black foil touched my palm, we heard a man’s shout”, gives a clear recollection of events, as if the reader is viewing the scene through Joe’s eyes. This not only engages the reader through the use of all-encompassing sensory stimuli (in this case sight, touch and hearing), but also allows the reader to become emotionally involved with Joe’s thoughts and visions, grounding McEwan’s use of imagery. However, other differing views are given, “I see us from three hundred feet up, through the eyes of the buzzard”, whereby Joe distances himself from the scene within his imagination. This has the effect of giving a ‘crime-scene-esque’, ‘out-of-body’ experience, aiding the reader’s broad introspection of the situation. Joe is distanced from the action as a shift in time is marked by a change in viewpoint. Likewise, Joe and Jed are described from the buzzard’s point of view as “like lovers, innocent of the grief this entanglement would bring”; this is ironically propleptic of the rest of the novel, as Jed will believe they are lovers, yet it is Joe who will feel “grief” – further evidence that it is Joe’s opinions and thoughts we are hearing. The irony is represented by the buzzard’s point of view being embedded in Joe’s first person narrative.

The reader is kept in suspense throughout via McEwan’s use of ambiguity in order to build tension. Calm is evident in first few paragraphs, creating a bigger rift between the (immediate) tension caused further on in the chapter, “We were in sunlight under a turkey oak, partly protected from a strong, gusty wind” as opposed to, “The wind renewed its rage in the treetops just before I felt its force on my back”, as the wind is introduced as a pathetic fallacy, depicting events to come. This subtly implies an inevitability of impending drama, using a sensory depiction (touch) of the ruthless and cruel forces that will act upon him, as does the wind. Initially, McEwan does not state what is happening to the balloon as it happens: by referring to it as “the event I am about to describe”. This use of deliberate reader confusion via the with-holding of facts adds to the uncertainty, yet augments the memorability of the opening chapters. However, a lack of build up is also, “the black foil touched my palm, we heard a man’s shout”, as McEwan combines the banal (“black foil”) with important factual knowledge (“man’s shout”). This essentially sets the tone for the beginning of the story in a concise, yet terse way, having the effect of shocking the reader due to the immediacy with which the action begins. Joe’s reactions are the first glimpse the reader gets of the event, “Next thing I was running towards it”, prolonging the process of the event being ‘observed’ by the reader, adding suspense to the alarm and immediate action, as felt by Joe.

The divergence of characters shows the conflict between science and human-nature, adding another layer to the novel via the archetypal representation of man and woman within the novel. Whilst Clarissa embodies creativity and intuition, Joe embodies logic and reason. Keats’ letters to Fanny are used as a metaphor for Joe and Clarissa’s relationship within their dialogue, “He knew he’d never see Fanny again’, Clarissa said, ‘He loved her so hard”, “I squeezed her hand and said nothing […] I thought it possible that in his hopeless situation he would not have wanted to write precisely because he loved her so much”. Joe is portrayed as not being in touch with his emotions in the same way as Clarissa is - whilst she finds the romance of Keats exciting, emotional and attractive declaration of love, Joe interprets his letters as unnecessary in a condition of ‘love already won’. This suggests a dire incompatibility. On the contrary, Joe uses the scientific analogy, as describing their relationship as being an “equilibrium”, showing the way in which Joe deals in measurable, quantifiable facts. This need for solidity, sense and repeatability creates a void within his understanding of emotions which cannot be put into formulaic form.

Overall, whilst McEwan’s use of syntax, time, focalisers, sensory and metanarrative techniques are used effectively, and bring excitement to the novel, it is his use of imagery that truly grips and insights thought within the reader. For example, the use of the metanarrative metaphor, “a kind of furnace in whose heat identities and fate would buckle into new shapes”, that describes the creative process by putting the author in the position of a blacksmith forging and shaping characters from metal, and creating a sub-context within the novel, enables McEwan to create a story that does not follow the linear predictability of other novels.