How is Ian McEwan’s lack of religious belief conveyed through the protagonists of The Children Act?
Abstract
The primary source of this essay is Ian McEwan’s latest published novel, The Children Act. Set in modern day London, England, the story revolves around two protagonists: Fiona and Adam. Due to the character driven research question of this essay, the majority of the research process was conducted utilizing the primary source. Points reached through the thorough analysis of said primary text are supported by the secondary sources used, which include: legal documents, newspaper articles and interviews. The secondary sources exhibit facts about Ian McEwan’s atheistic principals.
The conclusion ascertained is that each protagonist is representative of rational and irrational belief, respectively. Fiona is woman consumed by her occupation of high court judge. She exemplifies rationality and her occupation and demeanor throughout the story allow her to represent the law. Meanwhile Adam is a teenage boy, who has been raised in a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Throughout the story Adam is portrayed as naive and a victim of his own devotion to his religion, this allows him to represent the harms of religious beliefs. Fiona and Adam’s conflicting representations clash to create the principal conflict of the novel. In said principal conflict, McEwan uses the theme of power to display his belief that rationality and law overpower religious principals in the modern day. Through the use of the novel’s plot structure, McEwan displays his belief that religion contrasts independence and strength. This criticism is symbolized by Adam’s need for an authoritative power throughout the story, which ultimately leads to his death, once more symbolizing the harms of religion. The religious criticisms of the novel link to its literary purpose: to advocate anti-religion in favor of rationality and law.
Introduction
This essay examines the question, “how is Ian McEwan’s lack of religious belief conveyed through the protagonists of The Children Act?” The Children Act, a novel written by Ian McEwan in 2014, will be the primary source of this essay. Set in modern-day London, England, the novel orbits Fiona and Adam, who are the central protagonists of the story and both of their characters will be thoroughly deconstructed for the purpose of answering the research question. The text is presented in such a manner in which Fiona is directly in conflict with Adam from their first encounter. Their contrasting views are most apparent in the topics of religion and what meaning life has. However, their differences are not exclusive to their religious beliefs, as is evidenced by how Ian McEwan portrays them: Fiona, a woman consumed by her occupation of a high court judge who exemplifies rationality, maturity and law. Adam is a direct contrast to this as he exemplifies innocence, romance and irrational belief. These diverging character traits neatly craft a complex and multilayered relationship between characters, which will be dissected under the criteria of cultural diversity. The Children Act is a narrative that delves into the age-old conflict of rational and irrational belief; to be more specific the irrational belief is represented through Adam’s religious views whilst Fiona’s profession as a high court judge represents rationality.
The religious divergence of the story, embodied by Fiona and Adam is the driving force for the principal conflict of the novel. Adam, being raised by a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, is unwilling to accept a life-saving blood transfusion, as the religion dictates that the blood of another living thing may not be ingested. Fiona, who is the high court judge of the case, must oblige to the legislation known as The Children Act. It centers the idea that a child’s welfare is of paramount concern in the eyes of the court. The legislation grants Fiona undisputed omnipotence over the decision of whether or not Adam must accept the blood transfusion, regardless of his and his family’s wishes. This court case is the event that triggers the intertwinement of the protagonist’s lives. As the research question queries, how is Ian McEwan’s lack of religious belief conveyed through the protagonists of The Children Act, it is essential to recognize McEwan’s personal religious values in order to properly ascertain the importance of the themes and plot points in the story that hold significance to what message he wishes to convey to his readers.
McEwan’s Lack of Religious Beliefs
Throughout the story Ian McEwan makes his atheistic views very apparent, creating a type of social commentary, which he utilizes to create a personal response for a very similar court case, which happened to serve as inspiration for his novel. (The Guardian)
The literary purpose of The Children Act is to advocate anti religion, which reflects McEwan’s personal lack of religious values, as he is an outspoken atheist. (Ian McEwan Interview)(New York Times)
As of late religion’s place in contemporary society has re-emerged as a significant subject due to the refugee crisis afflicting Europe. The overwhelming majority of persons seeking refuge in Europe originate from predominantly Muslim countries. It is possible that McEwan specifically chose to express his criticisms regarding religion due to the ethical debate kindled by the refugee crisis, which has more evidently split Europe in those in favor and those against refugees. The religious debate is now more important than ever, and The Children Act exemplifies McEwan’s own insight on the debacle. It is through McEwan’s story structure, that his anti-religious ideas are made apparent. The author clarifies any of his previous ambiguity pertaining to his religious beliefs by epitomizing them through Fiona’s decisive judgment of proceeding with the blood transfusion, despite the fact that Adam was willing to meet a premature death in order to abide to his religious values; as evidenced by his quote: “But if that’s what happens I have to accept it.” (McEwan 106)
Ian McEwan challenges the cultural significance of religion in our modern society with Fiona’s decision, whilst simultaneously undermining God’s power by portraying the law as more authoritative.
Fiona’s Introduction
As a prelude to the plot’s principal conflict, the readers are introduced to the Fiona and her husband Jack. Right from Fiona’s initial appearance the reader is instantly inclined to sympathize with her. Naturally the purpose of this is to allow the reader to immediately bond with Fiona. Pitting her into the role of a victim achieves this desired consequence. It is revealed that Jack wishes to have an affair with a younger woman; understandably Fiona reacts in anger and sadness. She draws the comparison of her being a child mistreated by her unkind parents, however unlike a mistreated child, which she has the power to protect due to her being judge specializing in Family Law (page 8), there is no one to protect her from her unkind husband (Page 6). The analogy of Fiona being a helpless child allows and encourages the reader to sympathize with her from the very inception of the story. By taking her side now the reader is conditioned to take her side later on, throughout the religious conflicts. McEwan’s choice of allowing Fiona represent his religion-opposing ideals is not only significant in terms of power dynamic, but also in terms of her being the main character and by consequence the focus of the story. Readers will be experiencing the novel’s conflicts through the eyes and mind of the principal protagonist, Fiona. This allows the reader to sympathize with Fiona and in turn her faithlessness in religion, displaying The Children Act’s literary purpose of opposing religious beliefs through rationality.
McEwan manages to create a sense of sympathy between the reader and Fiona at the very start of the novel. He also manages to establish Fiona’s credibility to the reader through the use of her initial court cases featured before the central conflict. The reader is presented with three separate court cases handled by Fiona before they are introduced to Adam’s case. These previous cases are all very similar in the sense that Fiona is always confronted by a legal situation featuring religious properties. This introduces the reader to the fundamental theme of law versus religion as well as establishing Fiona as an intelligent and rational character, symbolizing law. Each court case throughout the story deals with a different religion, this is done by McEwan in order to apply his criticism to religion as a whole, instead of singling out a single religious ideology.
McEwan’s criticism extends further as is seen when Fiona is portrayed tuning into a radio newscast. The news presenter updates listeners to the world’s current events, which include suicide bombings related to the general dissonance of the Middle Eastern Islamic countries. While at face value this brief and seemingly disconnected scene’s purpose is to further criticize religion, however the meticulously selected language utilized in this scene holds another purpose. Before the news reel the text “then calm voices discussing the day’s savagery - ” (McEwan 59) is used to evidence Fiona’s emotional and logical disapproval of how the mainstream media portrays the horrid destruction manifested by the Islamic religion. The words calm and savagery could not hold more diverse connotations, this dichotomy is used to showcase McEwan’s disapproval of the way western society has diluted the gravity of the religious bombings in Islamic countries. Ian McEwan has voiced his disapproval of the Islamic religion in past interviews with various news outlets. (The Telegraph)(The Independent)
So the true meaning of this scene was to once again create a commentary of contemporary society, in particular western society, which he criticizes for the lack of weight and condemnation used when dealing with Islamic bombings. The combination of his criticism of the desensitized western media and his personal lack of religious values are what lead him to conceive The Children Act. (The Guardian)
Early Allocation of Power
Power dynamics between the characters in The Children Act serve as a significant theme throughout the story. McEwan carefully distributes the balance of actual and perceived power amongst the characters in order to properly allow the audience to understand each character’s respective role in the novel. The power dynamic serves as a medium in which McEwan conveys his atheistic views to the audience.
The manner in which the anti religious theme is presented in the book is done, not so subtly, by the principal conflict of the story, Fiona’s blood transfusion court case. The case pits our two protagonists, Fiona and Adam, in a conflict of ideals. McEwan manages to immediately convey his anti-religious message even before the relevant characters of Fiona, Adam and his immediate family commence their interactions. This is done by the allocation of power given to each relevant character in terms of the court case. Fiona for all intents and purposes has absolute power over the outcome of the court case, due to her position as judge and the UK’s act of parliament, The Children Act. Since Fiona shares a lack of religious values with the author, it indicates that the author is using her as a vessel to express his ideals. By having the main protagonist, Fiona the Atheist, be in a position of power over the family of Jehovah’s witnesses McEwan immediately let us, the reader, understand where his loyalties lie.
The author exploits the aforementioned power dynamic of these characters in order to advocate his anti-religious values through the use of irony. This is told during the second stage of the court case, in which the defendants are summoned and questioned for the first time. (UK Plea and Trial Preparation Hearings)
The Children Act is imposed in court procedures when the individual in question happens to be below eighteen years of age. (Statute Law Database)
This being the case for Adam: “Carter said, ‘if his eighteenth birthday was tomorrow morning, he would not yet have attained his majority today.’” (McEwan 68). This legislation grants the Fiona complete omnipotence over the wishes of Adam’s family and Adam himself, as their wishes do not align with Adam’s welfare, in the eyes of the court. During this second stage of court proceedings, the court summons Adam’s mother and father, as Adam is underage and unable to attend due to his critical condition. In this decisive plot segment, Kevin Henry, Adam’s father, attempts to uphold his son’s religious principles by opposing the blood transfusion. When asked why he and his son choose to refute the operation he states: “Mixing your own blood with the blood of an animal or another human being is pollution, contamination. It’s a rejection of the Creator’s wonderful gift. That’s why God specifically forbids it in Genesis and Leviticus and acts.” (McEwan 76). Kevin Henry then proceeds to add: “The Bible is the word of God. Adam knows it must be obeyed.” (McEwan 76). The irony of this statement is that, in actuality; Fiona due to the Children Act overpowers God’s word. Essentially Fiona’s omnipotence manages to overshadow even God’s in this situation. The literary purpose of this irony is to undermine God’s power and challenge religion’s relevance in the modern era, which ties into the anti-religious theme of the novel.
As Ian McEwan introduces Adam’s family, a clear distinction in social class is demonstrated between the Henry family and the non-religious characters. The Henry family is described as a fairly normal middle class family. This is done by revealing Adam’s father’s job as a manual laborer working with a mechanical digger in the field of groundwork. The purpose of portraying the Henry family as a middle class family is to somewhat match the reader’s impressions of the religious families from the previous court cases, illogical and short sighted. This may be seen in the quote: “Men did not receive much education either. From their mid teens, they were expected to give most of their time studying the Torah. Generally they did not go to university.” (McEwan 9) This is done to create a distinction between the religious characters and the non-religious characters in terms of perceived intelligence. This implies that the ardent routine of religion happens just amongst individuals who do not have the information and experience to see the world in an alternate more receptive way.
First Direct Confrontation Between Protagonists
The third chapter of the novel marks Fiona and Adam’s first direct confrontation, in which McEwan allows the readers to compare and contrast the protagonists directly. The contrast between the protagonists is openly foreshadowed by Fiona when describing her recollection of Adam’s hospital room as confusing due to the disorienting contrasts. This foreshadowing of Fiona’s conversation with the bed-ridden Adam was intentionally done to direct the reader’s attention to the many contrasts present in this scene. The purpose of doing so is to further distinguish both characters and their respective connotations as opposites.
Fiona and Adam’s confrontation begins with Fiona noting the stark contrast of lighting in the hospital room, as she takes her first steps inside. Lighting has yet to have been mentioned in the story, however throughout the duration of this scene colour and lighting are meaningful motifs that are used to insinuate the novel’s central theme of contrast. An example of these motifs in action is the portrayal of Adam’s physical appearance in the hospital. He is depicted by a ghoulishly pale complexion coupled with deep violet lips and eyes. The colour contrast is made apparent by the author to symbolize what kind of situation Adam’s mind is in. He is confused, split between his devotion to God and his desire to live. This clash of duality in the young man’s mind is represented by his unhealthy yet conflicting physical appearance. Another example in which Adam displays internally contrasting traits is his manner of speech.
From the moment Fiona and Adam exchange words it is made clear that Adam is a gifted individual. Descriptions such as “His manner, his humor, had an element of the silliness that can accompany high intelligence.” (McEwan 105) Are evidence of the author purposefully portraying Adam as a person who is worth saving, saving from religion. Despite his perceived intellect, Adam manages to retain a sense of childlikeness through his speech. This may be evidenced by the way Adam teases Fiona by calling her “My lady” as if he were in court: “I’d think My lady was an interfering busybody.” (McEwan 114) Adam’s immature yet innocent demeanor directly opposes Fiona’s professional and almost cold attitude, which is showcased through a nurse’s remark, in which she expresses how Fiona speaks to Adam as if he were a colleague of hers, instead of an ill and confused boy.
Each protagonist’s respective demeanor manages to convey certain contrasting connotations. Fiona is represented as cool and mature, exemplifying rationality; contrasting Adam’s immature depiction of character, which yet again pits rationality and religion as opposites. This sense of repulsion created by the interaction of rationality and religion is also made greatly apparent when they begin conversing about God’s will. Adam and his poem introduce the conversational topic of God’s will. Through Adam’s poem the audience gains insight on how Adam manages to make sense of his current predicament. His poem features Satan accidently hammering Adam’s soul into a sheet of gold, upon which God’s love is reflected, saving Adam despite his death. In his own mind, Adam portrays himself as a martyr and through his death he reflects his devotion to his religion, which “saves” him. The colour gold symbolizes Adam’s view of himself and his sacrifice, pure and valuable. Adam displays the irrational belief that God’s will is omnipotent, representing it through his will to die. Fiona directly contrasts Adam’s dramatic and poetic idea of self-sacrifice through her decision to actually save him by enforcing the blood transfusion.
Late Allocation of Power
Following the events of the blood transfusion, where Fiona symbolically overthrew God’s word by use of her authority as the high court judge, the aforementioned balance of perceived and actual power begins to tilt. This is demonstrable from Adam’s newly found will to live.
Prior to the blood transfusion, Adam perceived God and his holy scriptures as the ultimate power in his life, which he allowed to dictate whether he lived or died, however Fiona and by extension the law, held the actual power in the blood transfusion case. After the transfusion Adam’s religious beliefs are shattered and so his perception of the identity of the authoritative power in his life is shifted from God to Fiona. God is no longer his savior, as he realized that Fiona is the one who saved him. “My parent’s religion was a poison and you were the antidote.” (McEwan 163) This quote is indicative of Adam’s change in perception of authority after the blood transfusion, were he now views Fiona as his savior and religion as a poison.
Adam’s devotion to power parallels itself after the blood transfusion. During his stay in the hospital Adam literally succumbed to God’s power, religion meant the world to him. Subsequently his devotion to a higher power does not falter after his loss of faith, this new higher power being Fiona. After his loss of faith in God, he finds new faith in Fiona, which is evidenced by his newly found obsession of his new “god”. This obsession is initially manifested through the letters he sends her; where he expresses his desire to see Fiona.
Adam’s obsession with Fiona brings him to Newcastle, where Fiona is going for a short holiday. He follows her from London escaping his parents; this rebellious act symbolizes his discarding of the previous authoritative figures in his life in favor of Fiona. Once Fiona notices Adam had followed her she is shocked and orders him to inform his parents. Her stern tone leaves Adam unfazed as he implores Fiona to allow him to live with her. Once again Fiona sternly declines before Adam kisses her. This kiss, along with Adam’s obsessive behavior symbolizes his love for Fiona, which parallels his love of God before his blood transfusion. The literary function of this parallel is to once more critique religion. Throughout the novel and once again in this scene, McEwan purposefully displays Adam’s dependency on a higher power as weakness, whilst displaying Fiona’s independence as strength. It conveys the message of religion being a crutch that its believers lean upon, and once they can no longer lean on this crutch called religion they seek to lean upon something else instead of learning to walk alone like Fiona. In other words, religion contrasts independence and McEwan portrays this as yet another flaw of religion.
Adam’s Return to Religion
Adam is described as confused during his stay in the hospital, however his confusion only grows once he receives the life saving transfusion. His previously sacred religious values are swept away by Fiona’s decision to save him; this newfound lack of controlling omnipotence in Adam’s life leads Adam’s love of God to transform into his love of Fiona. To Adam’s dismay, his new savior does not accept his love leaving him once more with nothing to place his devotion into. It is here where Adam converts back to his old religious beliefs, which are expressed in his final letter to Fiona, containing his final poem.
As is the case with his previous poem, it is written in the first person point of view. “The Ballad of Adam Henry” tragically depicts Adam carrying a heavy wooden cross by a stream. Near death a fish emerges from the stream to tell him to throw his cross into the water in order to free himself. This first part of the poem evidently refers to Adam’s devotion to his religion, which almost lead to his death. The fish emerging from the stream symbolizes Fiona, who saves him from his own religious values.
The poem is continued with Jesus appearing before Adam, who he tells that the fish was the voice of Satan; and that he must atone for his sins. This is representative of Adam’s return to religion, where Fiona is depicted as the voice of Satan. The poem is concluded with the line: “May he who drowns my cross by his own hand be slain.” This foreshadows Adam’s eventual suicide, which occurs when his leukemia returns and he once more rejects the vital transfusion. Being eighteen years of age, Fiona has no jurisdictional power over Adam, leaving God as the only power dictating his life leading him to his death.
The literary function of this second poem is to provide the reader with insight on the workings of Adam, a religious person. The poem showcases how Adam becomes lost without a higher power dictating his life, which ultimately leads him to commit suicide. His death was construed by McEwan as a symbol to represent the harm of religion, which neatly links with the literary purpose of the story: to advocate McEwan’s personal atheistic principals.
Conclusion
To conclude this essay, how is Ian McEwan’s lack of religious belief conveyed through the protagonists of The Children Act? As an outspoken atheist McEwan decided to place religion on trial in The Children Act. The respective protagonist represented each party, which contrast each other throughout the course of the novel. Fiona being portrayed as a rational professional and often appears to be the voice of reason in the story represents the rational belief and the law. Adam manages to spawn connotations such as innocent, confused and exemplifies irrationality. It is through these contrasting characters that Ian McEwan’s lack of religious belief is conveyed to the audience.
By pitting a character of religious representation in direct conflict against the law McEwan demonstrates his view of religion’s obsoleteness in our modern era. Fiona’s introduction serves the purpose of allowing the reader to sympathize with her whilst simultaneously establishing her as a representation of the law and rationality in conflict with religious beliefs. Despite Adam being the other protagonist of the story, he is introduced much later than Fiona. In his absence other religious characters such as his family are used to represent religion. The interchangeability of the religious characters allows the reader to group all religions together when McEwan criticizes a certain religion.
McEwan’s criticism of religion is mainly manifested through the themes of power and authority. Adam’s perception of who holds the authoritative power in his life changes throughout the novel, despite the fact that the actual authoritative power never changes, as it is made clear that the law trumps god’s will when it comes to authoritative power when Fiona forces the blood transfusion. This allocation of real power is indicative of McEwan’s personal lack of religious beliefs. The novel comes to a conclusion with Adam’s death, which represents the harm of religion, once more linking to the literary purpose of The Children Act: To advocate anti-religion in favor of law and rationality, which McEwan manages to convey through the use of the protagonists, Fiona and Adam.
Works Cited
Primary Source:
• (The Children Act)
McEwan, Ian. The Children Act: A Novel. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2014. Print.
Secondary Sources:
• (Ian McEwan Interview)
Ian McEwan Interview – Richard Dawkins. Prod. Richard Dawkins. Perf. Richard Dawkins and Ian McEwan. Channel 4, 2009.Https://richarddawkins.net. The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, 2 Feb. 2009. Web. 30 Oct. 2016. https://richarddawkins.net/2009/02/ian-mcewan-interview-richard-dawkins-2/.
• (The Guardian)
Ian McEwan: the law versus religious belief, The Guardian, Friday 5th September 2014.
• (The Independent)
Popham, Peter (22 June 2008). "'I despise Islamism': Ian McEwan faces backlash over press interview". The Independent (London). Retrieved 25 June 2008.
• (The Telegraph)
Adams, Stephen. "Ian McEwan: Criticising Islam Is Not Racist." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.
• (New York Times)
Solomon, Interview Deborah. "A Sinner’s Tale." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Dec. 2007. Web. 28 Nov. 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/magazine/02wwln-Q4-t.html.
• (Statute Law Database)
Participation, Expert. "Children Act 1989." Legislation.gov.uk. Statute Law Database, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41.
• (UK Plea and Trial Preparation Hearings)
"Plea and Trial Preparation Hearings." PTPH Introduction and Guidance. N.p., Dec. 2015. Web. 11 Dec. 2016. https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/criminal/docs/october-2015/cm007-eng..