Analyze the first chapter of On Chesil Beach

On Chesil Beach is a novel written by Ian McEwan, who is considered the most relevant contemporary English writer. The novel was published in 2008.

Let's start from the title: it refers to a geographical place; Chesil beach is on the Dorset Coast, in the South-East of Great Britain; it is a pebble beach and its technical name is a tombolo that creates a natural defence protecting the coast from the battering waves of the English Channel.

The first chapter provides a sort of introduction of the novel, that is it presents he characters, the situation and the themes dealt during the novel's narration. It is arranged into three parts; each one presents different aspects: one is the narrations of the story, the other presents thoughts, memories, history or characterization of the protagonists.

The narrator is a third person omniscient narrator: we understand he's omniscient not only because he expresses his own thoughts and opinions, but also from the descriptions of the characters' thoughts and lives he provides.

The writer gives us references to the setting: he first present vague elements (in a time when..), to create curiosity into the reader's mind, then he provides precise elements (at the first floor of a Georgian Inn.., the weather was not perfect for mid July.., the sixties was their first decade of adult life.., at the start of the ten o'clock news..).

The protagonists, Edward and Florence, are both twenty-two years old. Florence is a violinist, while Edward as a degree in history and is going to work for Florence's father. The first description of the two is provided in the first line of the first chapter: They were young, educated, and both virgins.. , so they seem to be very similar. Nevertheless, proceeding in reading of the chapter we clearly notice that the situation is different; in the first page we already understand they belong to different social classes; one of the clues is the following: Edward did not mention that he had never stayed in a hotel before, whereas Florence, after many trips as a child with her father, was an old hand. So, the first elements of the protagonists' characterization come from their wedding, and  their friend and their families' behaviour. The description is that of a "perfect ceremony", but there are some elements that seem to clash with this description and create curiosity in the reader: Her parents had not condescended to his, as they feared, and his mother had not significantly misbehaved, or completely forgotten the purpose of the occasion. The situation described in the chapter, the two people at their wedding dinner, seems not to present something wrong, but the writer soon provides some clues to involve the reader in the taut atmosphere of the story. The first textual reference we find is Superficially they were in fine spirits. Another important line in at the beginning of the chapter (page 4) is: it was not raining , but nor was it quite warm enough, according to Florence, to eat outside on the terrace as they had hoped. Edward thought it was, put, polite to a fault, he would not think of contradicting her on such an evening. The protagonists seem to be very tied to tradition and unwritten conventions, even if they are not completely conscious of that. We find a support to this thesis in page 18: Even when Edward and Florence were alone, a thousand acknowledged rules still applied. It was precisely because they were adults that they did not do childish things like walk away from a meal that others had taken pains to prepare. So, the two young people felt not free. McEwan provides the reader an explanation of their manner at page 6: he says that young people had no support and were left alone, they had no importance until they got married. This social convention created the result to leave young people still inexperienced: Edward and Florence's being adult people does not make them free to take their decisions, but they are fitted into childish unwritten rules: their adult life, that they expect o be different from their past, does not change. So, the protagonists, both rich in expectations, about their new life, will be disappointed from the events.

We find at page 1 the following sentence: and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible. This sentence not only introduces to the denotative level of the novel, but also anticipates Florence and Edward's communication troubles. A more evident reference is given at page 6: ..but they could not describe to each other certain contradictory feelings: they separately worried about the moment.. or at page 9 She knew she would have spoken up long ago, ..her reticence suited his own ignorance and lack of confidence.. , or in many other lines towards the chapter and the novel. Their difficulties in communicating could be connected to their inexperience, which they are trying to hide behind a strict respect of social conventions: they think that following a "already tested model" would resolve, cancel their problems. The author dedicates a wide paragraph telling the story of the protagonists' engagement (page 21):He had a fairly long history of engaging with Florence's shyness. (...) Their courtship had been a pavane, a stately unfolding, bound by protocols never agreed or voiced, but generally observed..; then there is a description of their physical contacts, each one accompanied by a date, to underline Edward's difficulty in understanding Florence's times, without realizing the true nature of her reticence. He has the conviction that she only wants to respect tradition, and that marrying her the problem would be solved: As soon as she pulled away he knew he could bear it no more. He asked her to marry him.

Florence tries to recite a part which does not belong to her and to delay the moment to face her fears and problems.

So, the message conveyed in the first chapter deals with the themes of tradition against innovation, expectations and inexperience.