A Study of Ian McEwan’s <i>The Child in Time</i>: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma

Luo Yuan

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma

Luo Yuan

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 5, Issue 4)

Received: 28 November 2020 Accepted: 8 December 2020 Published: 16 December 2020

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Abstract

Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan’s concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In The Child in Time, one of Ian McEwan’s representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen’s empathic understanding for his friend Darke’s tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate’s loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in The Child in Time is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.

Published in	English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14
Page(s)	147-153
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

The Child in Time, Ethics of Empathic Care, Empathic Understanding, Trauma, Healing

References

[1]	Walkowitz, Rebecca L. “Ian McEwan.” A Companion to the British and Irish Novel, 1945-2000. Ed. Brian W. Shaffer. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005: 504.
[2]	Mellors, John. “Five Good Novels”, The Listener, 28 September 1978: 410.
[3]	Malcolm, David. Understanding Ian McEwan. Columbia: U of South Carolina, 2002: 90, 105.
[4]	McEwan, Ian. “Only Love and Then Oblivion. Love was All They Had to Set Against Their Murderers”, The Guardian, 12 September 2001.
[5]	Coplan, Amy and Peter Goldie. Empathy in the Context of Philosophy, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010: XXI, XXVII.
[6]	Kohut, H. How Does Analysis Cure? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984: 82.
[7]	Slote, Michael. The Ethics of Care and Empathy. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007: 16.
[8]	Powers, John. Nation. 10/31/1987, Vol. 245 Issue 14: 491.
[9]	Slay, Jack, JR. “Vandalizing Time: Ian McEwan's The Child in Time”, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 35.4 (Summer 1994): 205.
[10]	Koger, Grove. Library Journal. 9/1/1987, Vol. 112 Issue 14: 200.
[11]	McEwan, Ian. The Child in Time. London: Jonathan Cape, 1987: 133, 2, 3, 97, 21, 32, 33, 43, 42, 42, 42, 47, 47, 47, 48, 48, 49, 62, 62, 62, 193, 193, 17-18, 20, 21, 56, 56, 56, 56, 65, 65, 67, 68, 226, 168, 115, 114, 227, 235, 235, 237, 238, 238, 239, 239, 245.
[12]	Rowland, Antony. Liggins, Emma and Uskalis, Eriks. Signs of Masculinity Men in Literature 1700 to the Present. Amsterdan-Atlanta, GA, 1998: 19.
[13]	Head, Dominic. “Beyond 2000.” The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Fiction, 1950–2000. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002: 235.
[14]	McEwan, Ian. Atonement. London: Jonathan Cape, 2001.
[15]	McEwan, Ian. Saturday. London: Jonathan Cape, 2005.

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Luo Yuan. (2020). A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma. English Language, Literature & Culture, 5(4), 147-153. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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Luo Yuan. A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2020, 5(4), 147-153. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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Luo Yuan. A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2020;5(4):147-153. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14,
  author = {Luo Yuan},
  title = {A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {5},
  number = {4},
  pages = {147-153},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20200504.14},
  abstract = {Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan’s concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In The Child in Time, one of Ian McEwan’s representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen’s empathic understanding for his friend Darke’s tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate’s loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in The Child in Time is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.},
 year = {2020}
}

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AB  - Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan’s concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In The Child in Time, one of Ian McEwan’s representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen’s empathic understanding for his friend Darke’s tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate’s loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in The Child in Time is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.
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Author Information

Luo Yuan

Department of English, Foreign Languages School, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China

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Luo Yuan. (2020). A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma. English Language, Literature & Culture, 5(4), 147-153. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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Luo Yuan. A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2020, 5(4), 147-153. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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AMA Style

Luo Yuan. A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2020;5(4):147-153. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14,
  author = {Luo Yuan},
  title = {A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma},
  journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {5},
  number = {4},
  pages = {147-153},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20200504.14},
  abstract = {Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan’s concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In The Child in Time, one of Ian McEwan’s representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen’s empathic understanding for his friend Darke’s tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate’s loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in The Child in Time is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Study of Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time: Ethics of Empathic Care and the Healing of Personal Trauma
AU  - Luo Yuan
Y1  - 2020/12/16
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14
T2  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - English Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - English Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 147
EP  - 153
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-2413
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20200504.14
AB  - Ian McEwan, one of the foremost contemporary novelists in Britain, insists that empathy is at the core of humanity and is the beginning of morality. McEwan’s concern for empathy and morality finds its expression in his novels. In The Child in Time, one of Ian McEwan’s representative novels, the protagonist Stephen Lewis suffers the trauma of losing his three-year-old daughter. This paper argues how Stephen under the influence of empathic care received from Thelma and his mother, gradually steps out of his narcissistic concern with searching for his lost daughter to heal his personal trauma and finally reconciles with his estranged wife Julie to begin a new life through practicing ethics of empathic care in his life. Stephen emotionally connects with his parents and his wife through rendering his empathic understanding and empathic care for them. Stephen’s empathic understanding for his friend Darke’s tragic death due to his failure to develop an authentic and balanced self that combines the inner child qualities with adult qualities makes Stephen have deep reflection about the relationship between childhood and adulthood and modestly learn from his lost child Kate to enrich his human nature, which prepares him to further reconcile with Julie with empathy. In their empathic communication and care, the estrangement between Stephen and Julie since Kate’s loss finally melts away. Fully recovered from the trauma of loss of their child, Stephen and Julie will continue to practice ethics of empathic care to heal everyone and everything, starting from themselves. What Ian McEwan promotes in The Child in Time is to practice ethics of empathic care in relationships, with hope of healing not only individuals but also communities, from families to the Government, the country and the planet.
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
ER  -

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