‘In crime writing some of the innocent always suffer.’ Explore the significance of the innocent in two crime texts you have studied.
Incorporating the AQA Crime Poetry Anthology and Atonement.
‘In crime writing some of the innocent always suffer.’ Explore the significance of the innocent in two
crime texts you have studied.
Given that crime writing requires at least one harm to have been done to another, it is
inevitable that innocent individuals will suffer. This is certainly true of Atonement, in which Robbie
Turner is falsely accused of a crime he did not commit and is damned for eternity to a life of pain and
suffering. Similarly, in the poems Peter Grimes and My Last Duchess, individuals are elevated in their
innocence prior to being murdered in order to emphasise the heinous nature of the criminal’s
transgressions and how they bear complete responsibility for the suffering of the innocent.
Although Briony is the protagonist in Atonement, it could be argued that the entire novel is
her attempt to highlight the suffering of the victim of her crime, Robbie Turner. Part One serves
principally to establish Robbie’s innocence; his thoughts are given the most introspection, with the
thematic link to Twelfth Night ‘nothing that can be can come between me and the full prospect of
my hopes’ giving him a greater psychological depth that later allows the reader to empathise more
strongly with the extent of what he has lost. The tone of conviction and the clarity of purpose
contained in this line from Robbie’s centre of consciousness portrays his determination to succeed in
life whilst simultaneously foreshadowing his downfall, since Malvolio also became the courtly fool of
a household akin to that of the Tallis’. To further present Robbie’s innocence, McEwan often
interjects the general flow of the narrative from build-up to climax by including comments from a
self-conscious ‘older’ voice, who remarks at one stage that Robbie’s ‘decision’ to go out searching
alone for the twins ‘transformed his life’. In doing so, McEwan encourages the reader to focus not on
what happens, but how events unravel, which enables us to feel the full weight of the crime that is
done against Robbie. The inclusion of the older voice in this example also confirms Robbie’s
innocence, since his seemingly innocent and noble motivations are what lead him directly to his false
incrimination by putting him in the vicinity of the crime scene at the time of the attack on the Lola. In
this way, McEwan demonstrates how the innocent can be made to suffer for eternity in one mere
moment as opposed to arising from a series of catastrophes – such a theme was explored with great
success earlier in the author’s career in novels like The Child in Time and Enduring Love. It is also
important to mention that the innocent can be damned forever by simple passivity, as it is the
inactivity of characters such as Lola and Jack Tallis which is as equally responsible for Robbie’s
suffering as the wrong done to him by Briony. In answering in the affirmative to Briony’s
interrogative ‘It was him, wasn’t it?’, Lola automatically confirms her role in the false incrimination
of Robbie and fails him to a considerable extent. One could even go further to argue that the actions
of some characters imply a wider conspiracy to condemn Robbie; we learn that Emily Tallis ‘rose to
the crisis, free of migraine’ when the opportunity to incriminate Robbie arose. While McEwan does
not shed further light on the subject, the ease with which the police believe Briony could give further
credence to the view that Robbie’s suffering is caused by a conscious conspiracy and cover-up to
protect a member of the bourgeoisie in Paul Marshall. When viewed alongside the villainous Paul
Marshall, it is certainly credible to view Robbie as the epitome of innocence whose suffering is the
central injustice of the novel.
Part Two of Atonement brings our attention to how the suffering of the innocent is not
limited merely to individuals and extends to all of society. It is revealed at the start of this instalment
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