Loss and Metamorphosis in Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time Boglarka Toth College

A little girl gets kidnapped from her father’s side in a busy supermarket and this sudden loss causes an unbearable burden in the parents’ souls which they are forced to carry until the day of forgiveness. This one statement is able to summarize the main essence of Ian McEwan’s novel The Child in Time, although the book has much more inner messages than just the miserable picture of a broken, mourning couple that embellish the story. The interesting relationship between childhood and adulthood and the role of time are as important as the function of the main character’s, Stephen’s visions while he is trying to become reconciled to his daughter’s disappearance. Without a doubt, it is essential to see through these motifs clearly if the reader wants to understand the leading values of McEwan’s work. However, there is one equally necessary point we can easily forget to observe: the character development. This process is uniquely individual for each person in The Child in Time, therefore there are many significant moments during the novel which represent this metamorphosis in every main character’s life.

On behalf of creating an appropriate observation of the main characters’ significant personal evolutions in this book, we have to...