McEwan uses other characters to introduce new ideas to Jo, who is coming to terms with his own sanity and outlook on life. One of these ideas is religion and looking at life through a religious keyhole, and Parry is the character that is presented by McEwan as being the religious messenger who is trying to tap into Jo’s religious involvement. By using Parry, McEwan is introducing some of the binary oppositions which underpin the novel such as science/fate, right/wrong and heart/head. Parry is presented as a religious character through various devices. Chapter two (page 25) sees Parry’s first interest in religion, when he asks Jo to pray with him over the dead body of John Logan. “It’s something we can do together?” Other ideas of Parry being a religious character are included in Parry’s answering machine which says, “Please leave a message after the tone. And may the lord be with you,” and through Parry’s constant religious questioning to Jo, “You’ll fight this like mad because you’re a long way from your own feelings? But I know the Christ is within you.” McEwan constantly reminds the reader of Parry’s almost religious fanaticism and so his presentation of Parry’s religious influences are concise.
Tying in with Parry’s constant questioning to Jo, comes the idea of Parry being presented as an obsessive. Once again, McEwan gradually introduces a theme through a character, and in this case it is obsession through the character of Jed Parry. McEwan hints and forewarns the reader within the early chapters of the novel about Parry’s obsessive tendencies. For example, Jo’s slow comprehension of Parry’s obsessive behaviour seen in chapter two (page 21), “everything, every gesture, every word I spoke was being stored away, gathered and piled, fuel for the long winter of his obsession. “ Parry’s obsessive tendencies are a fundamental idea presented by McEwan and they grow immensely throughout the first ten chapters of the novel, with Parry stalking Jo, witing for him for hours outside his apartment etc. Parry is presented as being an obsessive through his dark and curious actions which could categorize the novel in the thriller genre, for example Parry’s phone call to Jo late at night whilst he is in bed with Clarissa. “The light had been out for five minutes when the phone rang…” “I had already recognized the voice.” (End of chapter three).
Parry’s role within the novel is not just to play ‘the obsessive’ and to move the story along, but McEwan presents him as being a catalyst on a number of levels. The most noticeable understanding of Parry being a catalyst is the fact that he speeds up Jo’s queries on religion, sanity/insanity and other sole-searching topics. With McEwan giving Parry the ability to approach Jo when he is in mentally vulnerable situations such as when he is totally paranoid about Parry stalking him, it means that Parry can speed up Jo’s thought processes more quickly whilst also speed up Jo’s insanity. “Don’t leave me here with my mind” (page 58). In this case, McEwans portrayal of Parry as a catalyst is extremely effective and logical. However McEwan presents Parry’s catalytic abilities on another, more subtle occasion in the novel and this is his indirect effect on Jo and Clarissa’s relationship. “She is already wondering if she has gone too far.” “They rarely row, Clarrisa and Jo” (chapter 9, page 85).
By the end of chapter ten the reader can appreciate Parry’s needy and desperate character, and this is prevalent though the language which McEwan uses in Parry’s dialogue. The character of Jo states himself that “the language Parry was using set off responses in me, old emotional sub-routines.” McEwan informs the reader by using this metafictive device that not only is Parry an emotive character, who uses emotive language to effect and influence other character such as Jo, but he is a character who is crafty at getting what he wants, and in relation to his want to convert Jo into becoming a religious being, he uses the word ‘love’ extensively to address Jo’s emotions and gradually bring him round into his way of thinking. The reader sees that Parry is not successful in doing this within the first ten chapters, but he certainly starts to influence Jo’s thoughts on religion.
McEwan presents Parry as being needy for a relationship or for some form of comfort after the traumatic event of John Logan’s death. There are many ideas tied up within this idea of Parry looking for a relationship. Parry’s longing for love and some for of comfort (which he seems to want to find in Jo), is a metaphor on two levels, an ambiguous metaphor. Firstly, by McEwan presenting Parry as a character who wants and needs some form of meaning in his life after his experience with the death at the beginning of the book is a metaphor for the character of Jo in the sense that he is also looking for the same comfort and understanding of life, but perhaps on a more subtle level. This mirroring of the two characters needs is an ideal circumstance for questioning the whole idea of love and comfort, the ambiguity of the word love and just how McEwan presents the idea of love through his characters, and in particular Jed Parry. Parry seems to have found some form of love and comfort in god and religion but this doesn’t seem to be substantial enough for him, and we can see this through his longing for Jo’s love. Secondly, McEwan’s presentation of Parry’s desperation for a relationship can also relate metaphorically to the reader; the reader, because of the nature of the novel, wants to find sense and understanding in the novel, almost a sensible relationship with it, but finds it hard because of the stumbling blocks which are placed in the way such as Jo’s confusion and the random time-shifts etc. So in this particular instance, McEwan presents Parry as being a character holding many metaphorical messages and a character who himself is in need of a loving and understandable relationship. The question is, is god enough to fulfil Parry’s needs?
Another interesting presentation of Parry is the way that McEwan uses detailed and intricate description of movement so that the reader can truly get a sense of the characters physicality at the point of various emotions. “leaned back against the tree,” “hooking a thumb into his trouser pocket,” “staring at his feet.”
- having little importance at the beginning of the novel, but as his name is mentioned more regularly, the reader can understand his extremely important role in Jo’s life. This importance is also presented through McEwan’s forewarning of Parry’s obsession with Jo seen also in chapter two. “Had I known what this glance meant to him at the time, and how he was to construe is later and build around it a mental life…”
