James Wood in his book How Fiction Works, analyzes various essential elements of fiction. The most fascinating thing is his criticism of “Character” and “Sympathy and Complexity”. These two chapters are perfectly exemplified in Ian McEwan's novel Atonement. The novel demonstrates what Wood calls Sympathetic Identification. When a reader is able to create an emotional connection with particular characters. Author Ian McEwan uses a free indirect style to evoke a sympathetic identification with the characters. In Atonement the character Briony Tallis embodies the danger that comes from the inability to place oneself in the circumstances and emotions of another. Is unable to connect sympathetically with others. Briony's character prefers an orderly fiction rather than a disorganized reality. This consequently leads to guilt and remorse. Wood, in his analysis, demonstrates how McEwan through Briony demonstrates the separation of the characters to show the reader how to inhabit the characters' minds. After reading the novel there is a temptation to condemn Briony for her childhood misdeeds. Wood analyzes this by saying, “that this stepping outside of ourselves into realms beyond our everyday experience might be a moral and comprehensive education of its kind…” (Wood, 102). By entering a character's perspective, readers learn something about themselves. An author does not ask his reader to understand characters who are not approved of until the author has himself unequivocally and firmly condemned them. A reader might show disgust or hatred for a character and simultaneously see life through that character's eyes. The reader simultaneously moves from dislike to moral education and understanding of the motivations of the character in question. The wood defines this… half the paper… again” (McEwan, 372). Towards the end he decides to write it exactly as it was: no rhymes, embellishments or adjectives for words and memory are the purpose and tools of writers. In the end, Briony's first novel was also her last, an autobiographical book with only the absolute truth. Atonement shows the dangers that come from failing to put yourself in another's shoes. Because it is apparently better to have an orderly fiction than a disorganized reality. McEwan's separation of characters shows the reader how to inhabit the minds of other characters. At every point in the novel the reader sympathetically identifies with the characters. As readers we feel and learn about Briony's development into a woman who can have multiple perceptions. Works Cited McEwan, Ian. Atonement. London: Vintage Books, 2007. Print.Wood, James. How fiction works. New York: Picador, 2008. Print.