In Ian McEwan’s “Saturday” the reader is allowed a glimpse in to Mr. Perowne’s well-adjusted and comfortable life. Early on in the book we mainly get a feel for Mr. Perowne’s regimented life as a neurosurgeon and how he take pride in his ability to effortlessly perform delicate procedures for hours on end without it wearing on him. Additionally there is a hint of arrogance about his confidence in his skills. This was to an observation of Talese’s review of “Saturday”. Typically a Saturday is a reprieve from Perowne’s daily grind, while not a day of mindless waste, he fills the time with activities that work his body such as running and his weekly morning Squash match with Strauss, and a member of Perowne’s firm. Like his week, Perowne’s Saturdays seem to be routine and this routine offers him a veiled sense of comfort and security. Another interesting observation is Perowne’s obsession with analyzing events that seem to be out of his control in an attempt to somehow interject himself, thus allowing him a modicum of control. The most obvious example, early in the book, was of course the fiery plane streaking across the early morning sky. Another example details an interaction between a young couple in the square viewed from his bedroom window. Here Perowne stands and watches the interaction for several minutes seeing that the girl is visibly upset and scorning the repeated attempts of consoling from her apparent boyfriend. Perowne’s perceptive eye for detail picks up the fact that as he states “ Repeatedly, her left hand wanders behind her back, to dig under her T-shirt and scratch hard. She does this compulsively, even as she’s crying and half-heartedly shoving her boyfriend away.” Perowne immediately determines that the girl is a heroin addict. While watching this, his mind wonders a bit; however, as he sees the couple walking away, he surmises that the girl is new to use of heroin and would benefit from an opioid antagonist such as naloxone to counter the effects, and entertains the idea of running after her to provide her with a prescription. This again shows how Perowne tries to maintain some resemblance of control over his world, which offers him his sense of security.
