Whilst McEwans Atonement and Millers the Crucible are set in separate historical contexts whereby there is destruction taking place with different consequences, there is a need for redemption to take place as a result of the destructive actions taken by the female protagonists, Briony Tallis and Abigail Williams. Whilst some characters are seen to have atoned for their sins, such as John Proctor, the female leads are not able to do so.
One way in which mans destruction is seen is through the chaos brought on a macro scale, as seen in the war and its brutality in Atonement whilst there is a societal breakdown present in the Crucible. The impeding nature of the war highlighted in Part One of Atonement and casts a shadow of a doubt over the future, whilst bringing in a sense of foreboding. The motifs is felt in the Tallis household through Jack's war work and Paul Marshall's hopes to cash in on any conflict by selling a camouflage version of Ammo bars. Likewise, the Great War is mentioned in order to explain the disappearance of Robbies father, as well as when Robbie meets an old woman in Book Two who has lost her wits due to her losing a son in the previous war and subsequently never recovering. Her sons are also confused at the return of the German Army and the English retreat whilst they are evidently mourning the loss of life in the previous war and the fact that it was in vain. "All that fighting we did twenty-five years ago. All those dead. Now the Germans back in France.taking everything we have." This highlights the way mankind (and therefore literature) has a cyclical, self-destructiveness. Furthermore, the disturbing depiction of the war whereby shocking imagery such as the leg in the tree and the mother and child [being] vaporized highlights the destructive horrors of the war as well as the injuries suffered by both soldiers and civilians. Additionally, the graphic imagery such as the leg in the tree that was pale, smooth, small enough to be a child's highlights the futile nature of the war since it is not only the soldiers who are experiencing destruction and trauma in their lives.
