On Chesil Beach is McEwan’s “first attempt at using music as a marker of character and also as a vehicle of misunderstanding. Edward’s love of rock and roll and Florence’s love of the classical repertory are part of their mutual incomprehension” (Roberts 195). Chapter One of this novel reveals Florence’s identity as a violinist and her love of string quartets. In Chapter Two, McEwan uses many words to describe Florence’s passion for string quartets: practicing five hours a day, listening to five chamber recitals in a row a week, and working backstage at the concert hall as a part-time job. Then in Chapter Three, stream-of-consciousness is employed to link Florence’s thoughts on her wedding night to the beginning of the Mozart Quintet, showing Florence’s fear and disgust of her wedding night. Chapter Four flashes back to the main characters’ time together after confirming their relationship, showing their gap through music and suggesting the root of their tragedy. Florence is passionate about the quartet while Edward has no interest in classical music. In Chapter Five, after the divorce, Edward’s interest in classical music fades away, and he is devoted to rock music while Florence succeeds in playing in a quartet. In this novel, music is essential to reflect the characters’ personalities, reveal their inner worlds, and influence the story’s development.
2.2 The Story of Composer Clive
Clive, the protagonist of Amsterdam, is a composer commissioned by the government to create the Millennial Symphony. In the novel, music is an essential element of expressing his inner thoughts and personality.
In Chapter One, at the funeral of his former lover Molly, two sentences are used to describe how Clive wants to leave the funeral to continue his work. After Clive and Vernon discuss Molly’s terrible way of death and their disgust for Geroge, Molly’s husband, Clive thinks “all he wanted now was the warmth, the silence of his studio, the piano, the unfinished score and to reach the end” (McEwan 6). Then, when the foreign minister Garmony asks Clive about the progression of the Millennial Symphony, he thinks again, “in the warmth of his studio he would be in shirtsleeves, working on the final pages of this symphony, whose premiere was only weeks ago. He had already missed two deadlines and he longed to be home” (McEwan 14). Both of the two sentences contain the Millennial Symphony and Clive’s creation studio. The two repetitive sentences concerning music serve as an intermedial symbol to express Clive’s character. From the phrases like “the unfinished score,” “the final pages of this symphony,” “missed two deadlines” and “longed to be home,” it can be seen that Clive is worried about composing the Millennial Symphony. Moreover, Clive is eager to leave because he does not want to stay with people who do not care about Molly. He thinks they are “like cadavers jerked upright to welcome the newly dead” (McEwan 9). He feels that he is the only one who misses Molly. He does not want to be or to be with one of the persons who are not sincere.
Chapter Three IMPLICIT IMITATION OF MUSIC IN AMSTERDAM ........................... 25
3.1 Musicalization of Rhythm ................. 25
3.1.1 Language Rhythm: Acoustics of “Word Music” .................... 26
3.1.2 Narrative Rhythm: Imitation of Musical Tempo .................................... 28
Chapter FourFUNCTIONS OF MUSICALIZATION OF AMSTERDAM ............................. 44
4.1 Narrative Fu
