What We Can Know

In Part 1, Chapter 18, Thomas challenges his new friend, Lars Corbel, to glean insight from the funicular system that carries them to the Bodleian. This prompts Corbel to declare, “An optimist’s charter: we see our same old mistakes coming at us again, but their weight will see us to the top” (148). Corbel’s declaration functions as a thesis for the whole novel, in which McEwan emphasizes the important role that failure plays in achieving progress. This is mirrored in Thomas’s reckoning with the crisis of the humanities, as well as Vivien’s reflections on her place in history.

Throughout the novel, Thomas references the ongoing crisis of his university’s Humanities Department, which manifests as the students’ disinterest in studying the past. In Part 1, Chapter 17, Rose and Thomas give a lecture that ends with student leader Kevin Howard declaring, “We’re tired of your anger and nostalgia. This is where we live. We’ve got more future than you and that’s what we want to talk about […] We’re not interested in the value of historical thinking” (142). What Kevin ignores or is unaware of is how important it is to know the mistakes of the past to anticipate solutions for their recurrence in the future.