Prolepsis in 'Atonement'

5. ‘Within the half hour Briony would commit her crime.’

This statement is the first sentence of chapter thirteen and so its impact is big. When the reader reads this, he/she would immediately ask ‘what crime?’ This subtle hint of future events will engage the reader and compel him/her to keep reading on to find out what the ‘crime’ is. The reader could also predict and roughly guess what the ‘crime’ Briony will commit is by inferring from the previous events and Briony’s childish and melodramatic way of thinking. The readers can also infer ‘The Trials of Arabella’, Briony’s play, which basically shows what happens in the book. This is another example of prolepsis McEwan uses in the novel ‘Atonement’. So by doing this, McEwan makes the reader lose sympathy for Briony and we start to dislike Briony. This also gives away what Briony does so it may ruin it for readers who like surprises hence the critical remarks by critics who are against prolepsis.
However, this particular sentence is more of a foreshadowing than a prolepsis. This is because it doesn’t exactly tell us what is going to happen but only leaves subtle clues of what might happen afterwards.
Therefore, by using prolepsis and foreshadowing, McEwan makes readers think and keeps them ‘active’ throughout the book and not passive.