THE MOST RELEVANT POINTS OF THE NOVEL

The novel mainly deals with problems and contradictory aspects in marriage life: the matter concerns how a couple relationship works, independently from the historical-social background, that is to say McEwan wants to propose some questions related to every time marriage relationship.

However he also provides a particular social view on marriage, connected to England in 1960's: as a matter of fact social conventions of the period (the young position, economical differences, taboos and considerations about a couple relationship) affected the way in which lovers face and consider marriage.

As for the central issue conjugal life, the novel talks about how wives and husbands relate and communicate with one another (also considering own families and friends) and how they judge the new circumstance in a different way (gender difference).

Alongside the central theme, the novel proposes other reflections about:

- one's behaviour in front of a problem (passive or active attitude)

- one's behaviour in front of future (realistic expectations or ideals)

- one's attitude in interpersonal relationship (frankness or artificial mask)

1st chapter - STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 

The first chapter has got an introductory function: it presents some topics and issues that contribute to the central themes of the novel.

The chapter deals with Edward's and Florence's consciousness of their difficulties and with their attitude in front of a scaring situation in which they have to apply themselves.

Edward and Florence have just married in Oxford and they have come to an inn in Dorset to spend their honeymoon. They are having dinner and thinking about their next and first night together; when they approach to the fateful step with a first kiss, Florence reacts and leads her husband towards the bed.

The narrator is a first person- omniscient narrator. He narrates Edward's and Florence's lives and behaviours in the evening. He doesn't let readers to be free in imagining characters' sensations or in building personal opinions: as a matter of fact he reveals personal considerations about the theme presented (he is also intrusive).

He is omniscient because he enters characters' minds and describes their thoughts to the reader (interior monologues); for example he provides descriptions from the point of view of each of them and reveals their inner matters (shift of the point of view).

The choice of such a narrator is useful to the reader to understands the protagonists' personality. It follows that the focus is put more on personalities, points of view, ideologies, subjectivity than on the succession of objective events.

Narration is limited and very slow, enriched by flash-backs that make some events clear; the slow rhythm (braked by several detailed descriptions) underlines Edward's and Florence's behaviour, that consists in waiting and, in Florence's case, in trying to avoid the next future, by paying attention to the surrounding world.

Description and interior monologues are more frequent and invite readers to acquire a reflective attitude.

Since from the first lines the writer makes one theme clear: among the first categories used to introduce the protagonists, he affirms they are virgins; moreover he connotes the cultural background hinting at difficult conversations about sex. It follows that readers expect the text to refer to the theme about the interaction between a married couple and sex and about social conventions on sexual intercourse.

The narrator also exploits some methods to create curiosity in the reader by referring to concepts or situations readers can't understand because they lack pieces of information.

The protagonists are Edward and Florence.

At first they are characterized referring to their age, their education and their virgin state; since their definition as virgins is put at the beginning, alongside the first pieces of information, the reader understands they live in a society in which one's sexual state was relevant and being virgin or not virgin affected a person's reputation. As a result you can understand the setting is not contemporary.

The following category refers to the cultural- social background, in which they live: it is connected again to sexual matter and to difficulty of sexual speaking.

It is a confirmation of previous expectations and it introduces a theme: the way in which couples in 1962 relate with sex, affected by social convictions on the argument.

The text reveals a social-economical difference between Edward and Florence: Edward has never stayed in a hotel, while Florence has often travelled; they reached the inn by Florence's family car.

During dinner their mood is fine, but only on a superficial way: the writer provides the causes of such a sensation, (their wedding had gone well, the service was decorous...) but they lose value due to the adverb superficially because you understand there is a deeper matter hidden by the facade (curiosity of the reader).

Moreover they are silent nearly all the time in the evening: they don't speak about their mood, their expectations, their worries; as a result there is a facade between them that separates them and gives the illusion everything goes well: they believe there is not the necessity of talking and they hope obstacles will disappear in bed, together with they troubles, symbolized by the weather.

At the base of such a thought there is the conviction that now, after marriage, after acquiring a social value as adults, past problems will be solved only because of a social shift. At the period young people lack consideration in society: they were considered an obstacle and they can revive through marriage. (to be young was a social encumbrance, a mark of irrelevance, a faintly embarrassing condition for which marriage was the beginning of a cure). As a result marriage was considered a very decisive shift, in which one's condition changes in a considerable way; this is the reason why Edward and Florence believe it may transform not only their objective social condition , but also their interiority and it may provide them new capabilities. Actually the change has been so immediate, that they are still youths: they haven't lived a process of maturity nor have acquired experience.

It follows that they are not realistic.

As for their behaviour during dinner, the lack of dialogues is made explicit more times.

On the one side such an atmosphere is caused by the respect of social rules: as a matter of fact, even if they are married, adult and free, they follow protocols never agreed or voiced, but generally observed and they reveal to be traditional (the times held them - unacknowledged rules applied). In this case social conventions don't provide for sexual conversation, for which there is no lexis.

The text deals with the theme about the way in which society affects individuals lives; it is also a modern matter, but different from one in the text (influence of fashion and trend proposed by VIPs).

On the other side silence is considered a mean not to show difficulties, that is not to let problems enter between them, inside the marriage; they only express their love to make the atmosphere perfect. As a result there is no frankness between them, but a mask covering each of them and showing only their virtues. Their marriage is ideal: actually they are separate.

Besides to silence, Edward is connoted through his manners to Florence (polite to a fault, protective...), that convey his love and attention towards her, but also the excess in his behaviour. He pays attention to the lads, fearing possible sniggering by them; if he is afraid of being criticized by them, he knows there is something wrong in the relation with Florence. The reader understands it also considering some adjectives referred to Edward, such as nervous: there is some anxiety, probably provoked by the conviction there are some obstacles in the way to perfection with his loved.

This is the reason why their sensations are symbolized by the weather not perfect, but adequate: formally the circumstance goes well, but there isn't perfection; E. and F. know there are some difficulties, but they don't reveal them (they don't speak): they think all will become perfect by its own, thanks to their new social position, without interviewing. (it is an illusion)

Their aspiration to perfection can be perceived also considering the inn in which they are accommodating: it is a Georgian building, characterized by a style, that looks for perfect disposition of architectural elements (through symmetry, proportion...)

Another wide category used refers to their own worries about the night they are going to spend together. They fear the moment when they will fully reveal themselves, not only physically, but also in their nature (faults and difficulties): they don't want to disappoint the lover, who has always seen only his/her virtues, and to receive judgements.

Edward, who is easily overexcited, fears to be too fast in sexual relation and to offend her; in spite of his considerable fear, his lust after body pleasure is great.

Florence is disgusted by physical contact and she fears to disappoint him; as a result she would like to avoid the contact of their naked bodies..

The writer expresses personal considerations about their anxieties creating a hierarchy (he is intrusive): E.'s one is merely conventional first night nerves; F.'s one is more serious. McEwan's thought is justified because while Edward, in spite of his fears, is going to face the test, Florence wants to avoid it, or at least to postpone it; the writer's opinion is that, in front of a scaring situation, facing it and acting is better than being passive.

Describing Florence's relation with sex, the writer reveals a habit of the period: during merry wedding preparation, people can access to some books providing explanations and advices about sex. Also F. reads it and looks for a resolution to her difficulties in it; she is convinced that only reading was sufficient to transform an aspect of her nature, without opening her mind or doing experience.

She believes her fault is not acceptable in society: as a result she doesn't find the courage to reveal it. She is also convinced that she has got a duty towards Edward: she must satisfy him since marriage contract provides for it and social rules impose it. Sex could not be the summation of her joy, but was the price she must pay for it. Her life and her decisions are so much determined by society that she is inexperienced and she is weak in assuming a innovative position.

Her passive attitude is underlined by listing all irreversible arrangements to her marriage (long before the visit to the sincere, and dinner with their respective parents, before the wedding guests were invited, the gift list devised...) , as a stream of events in front of which she has been motionless. It reveals she is not really an adult, with the meaning attributed today (:responsible, mature...), she has kept her natural past essence: the marriage has only determined a social change. The problem is that Florence, and Edward too, believe they are two new people on that special day and they expect to be able to spend a perfect night together.

Another category used to present the protagonists includes physical and character descriptions from the respective lover's point of view: it follows that each of them appears only with his/her virtues.

E.'s considerations about F.'s beauty emphasize his desire and reinforce his nerve to face the next night.

F.'s thoughts about E. remind her how much she loves him, because of all his virtuous aspects: repeating herself her sentiment is necessary to remember her duties towards him and her intention not to disappoint him.

In both cases they appear very weak: their actions must be supported by psychological process while they can't freely express and follow their wills.

The writer provides pieces of information about F.'s and E.'s past lives.

Edward is an historian who likes dealing with exceptional men: his taste for the great mirrors his expectations (for example, a great night); he is not realistic and lacks of experience.

He is used to provoking himself body pleasure: he doesn't feel guilty in seconding his problem, while F. knows she is wrong, she feels different, she believes she has to satisfy him; as a result E. doesn't believe he should have been honest with his wife, on the contrary F. realizes she had to speak to him on her problem.

The sequence about political scenery is functional to express their deep tendency to go away from the next test, that frightens both of them. Bound to world events they reveal again to be passive, attitude underlined by the exclamation It was time to act.

The chapter ends with their physical approach: it lacks of romanticism and it is continually based on the absence of frankness, on their ideal foresights and expectations.

- setting-

At first the scenery represents their moods: an indefinite vegetation, dark or grey, hidden by musk, a weather that isn't perfect.

The mist dissolving is a metaphor for a moment when the couple is getting to the bed, that is to the discovery of the truth, to clarity.

As for the description of bedroom, it is functional to refer to the married couple: the bedcover, not used yet, reminds of their virginity.

The narrator provides very detailed descriptions about scenery, dinner they are having, the way in which the lads are serving: it follows that there is not a romantic atmosphere, because sentences about their intimacy are altered with some ones that are technical and reveal E. and F. are often distracted by the surrounding world.