Depiction of Sexual Awkwardness: Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach

In this passage, McEwan demonstrates the sexual awkwardness which the newly-wed virgins, Florence and Edward, experience. The panicked tone in the passage clearly reveals Florence’s lack of experience and fear and her repression of desire, which leads to the sexual awkwardness evident between the couple throughout the novel.

Florence’s inexperience and fear are evident in the panicked tone of the passage, which contributes to the sexual awkwardness the couple experience. Her leg muscle is described as “unruly” and it “jumped and fluttered like a moth trapped beneath her skin.” The adjective “unruly” indicates Florence’s lack of control and the simile “like a moth” indicates the movement of the muscle as being unpredictable and jolting. This does not only indicate her physical discomfort, but could also represent Florence’s feelings at that time, with “jumped and fluttered” representing Florence’s flustered emotions and the adjective “trapped” indicating her lack of control. This completely contrasts to the control Florence holds over her quartet, shown earlier in the novel with, “She was the undisputed leader.” Florence’s emotional state is further shown when she tries to rationalise the situation. When he writes, “she spelled them out for herself with stupid clarity,” McEwan uses the adjective “stupid” to emphasise Florence’s overreaction and panic in this situation. Here, McEwan uses the narrative voice of Florence to demonstrate her thought process, using dashes, colons and semicolons to break up the sentence, simulating Florence’s disorderly thought process.

Due to Florence’s inexperience, she also experiences confusion. Later in the passage, McEwan utilises the syntax of the text, using long sentences to represent Florence...

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...possible, and that, as everyone said, one thing would have to lead to another.” The fact that “as everyone said” is isolated by commas emphasises its importance and, again, indicates that Florence is aware of the socially acceptable course of action. The idiomatic phrase which ends the passage makes the statement seem far more trivial than it actually is and the use of the conditional tense reminds the reader that Florence’s fantasies cannot become reality. It also forewarns the reader of the events to follow.

This passage shows the reader that the couple experience sexual awkwardness in many ways. Florence’s fear and inexperience clearly contribute to this sexual awkwardness, as does her denial and repression of emotions. McEwan portrays this through linguistic devices as well as through forma and structure.

Works Cited

On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan, Vintage, 2008)