Writing, Guilt and Ethical Responsibility in Ian McEwan's Atonement and Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin: A Social Psychological and Narrative Ethical Perspective

This interdisciplinary research study analyses Ian McEwan's Atonement (2001) and Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin (2000) through the lens of Social Psychology. The present study adopts a qualitative literary analysis and employs Daryl Bem's Self-Perception Theory and Paul Ricoeur's Narrative Ethics. The research analyses the role of writing as a means of reconstruction of identity, healing of trauma, and negotiating memory within a fragmented social setting. It also emphasises the prominence of storytelling that enables individuals to observe their actions retrospectively. The significant outcomes of the study include the dual role of narrative as a tool of character transition and as a site for ethical resistance. Moreover, writing serves as a psychological coping mechanism for healing from the traumatic past. This analysis highlights the representation of tension between imaginative reconstruction and ethical truth-telling in the postmodern texts. This research bridges a gap between social psychology and literary ethics. Thus, the study offers a comprehensive analysis of narrative's intricate functions in negotiating identity, guilt, and moral responsibility.