The Briony Tallis Trials

Blake Chapelle

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U

May 27, 2015

The Briony Tallis Trials

    To prove Briony is good we must first analyse the real Briony Tallis, if there is one. Ignoring the possibility that Briony may not exist, we are left with a young girl acting on her emotions and ruining her, and many of her loved one’s lives. We see Briony mature and realize her mistakes as a young child and do everything in her power to write the wrong she has committed. Many people may say it is hard to find good in Briony, I say it is hard to find bad. Briony is a creative, determined, and loving woman who made a few mistakes as a child. Overall, Briony grows up to be a pretty great woman.

Briony is a very imaginative girl, which questions the factuality of anything said in the book. For all the reader knows, Cee may not actually exist and just be a fictional character of her novel. As just a young girl, Briony writes a play, entitled The Trials of Arabella, described:

“At some moments chilling, at others desperately sad, the play told a tale of the heart whose message, conveyed in a rhyming prologue, was that love which did not build a foundation on good sense was doomed.” (McEwan, 1)

To write a tale with this much plot and depth at such a young age shows how truly admirable Briony’s imagination and writing skills are, definitely a likable trait. This imagination could cause problems though, as it makes us contemplate how much of anything she reveals to us in the novel is true, and whether the characters or events taking place even exist. The mistake which may have, or may have not actually happened is Briony saying she saw Robbie raping Lola.

    Ignoring the scenario where Briony made everything up. Briony’s acquisition, tears apart the love which has recently kindled between Robbie and Cee, Robbie is falsely sent to prison, war, and his death, Cee waits her entire life for Robbie just to hear of his death, and Paul Marshall get’s away with rape, then marries his victim. So young Briony messed up a lot. Matured Briony realizes she has a lot of work to do and sets out to do it. She drops everything to become a nurse in hope of finding Robbie, she goes searching for Cee, and she goes to the church to try to appeal Paul and Lola’s wedding. Although she never does find Robbie and she wimps out of the other two, she was determined to right her wrongs and did everything she could within the confines of her capability. After she has matured further and is about to lose her memory she finally comes to terms with telling the truth and comes clean, doing the only thing she could to attempt to right her wrong.

    Everything Briony does throughout the story she does out of love for her family. She blames Robbie because she thought he had priorly attacked Cee. After she makes this mistake she then does her best to fix this for her family. When she can’t, she gives everyone fictional lives where things turn out slightly bigger than in reality within her novel.

    Briony grows to be a lovable old lady who just like the rest of the world, has made her mistakes. I find Briony Tallis to be, Atoned.

Comment:

Christoff, your post was very insightful and helped me put my thoughts to words when I was in need. I saw you had many of the same thoughts as I do on the topic and was very impressed by your explanation of your thesis.

Lina Abril: Forgive yourself to forgive others

Lina Abril

Mr. Breaton
ENG4U

May 26, 2015

Forgive Yourself to Forgive Others

     Atonement written by Ian McEwan is a beautifully written masterpiece that incorporates the postmodern themes and readings previously studied in this course. McEwan wittingly uses his writing skills to make us summon our deepest understandings of compassion and forgiveness, while making us ponder on our actual human mistakes. The character Briony Tallis is not a well-liked character. In Part 1, she is described as a selfish, obnoxious child, shaping her as the typical 13 year old. It is at that age that the teen years begin, and a lifetime of mistakes are bound to be made. Like any other child, there is an interest on adult affairs. What do they think about? What worries them them most? Briony made a preposterous mistake the summer of 1935. She failed to grasp that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Briony's misunderstandings and misinterpretations caused the lover's tragedy, but she was a child at the time. Are we forgiving enough to understand that concept? Briony's character development demonstrates that she isn't despicable at all and that there is in fact, evidence that can define her as a good person.
     The ambiguity in Briony's true intentions when she committed her unrepeatable sin are unclear, but believing that there is still good in society, Briony did it out of love instead of mischievous thoughts against Robbie. It is highly unlikely that an educated girl would betray her family friend by thinking of him as a "maniac" (McEwan 148), unless having an arguable reason. Cee and Briony have had a strong relationship since childhood, their bond is much like a mother-daughter one. Cee was persistent in Briony's life. Whenever Briony has unpleasant dreams, she soothed her by saying,  "Come back...It's only a dream. Come back" (McEwan 41). Throughout Atonement, Briony has the mother role instead of Cee. This is seen when she reads Robbie's uncensored letter to her sister. The letter accelerated Briony's path into adulthood, allowing her to come to conclusions that Robbie should not be trusted around Cee. "The very complexity of her feelings confirmed Briony in her view that she was entering an aren of adult emotion and assembling from which her writing was bund to benefit. What fairy tale ever help so much by way of contradiction?" (McEwan 106). Briony feels threatened by Robbie and is set on protecting Cee from any harm on his part. From the beginning of the book, we are presented with Briony's eagerness to become a writer. Just like any other 13 year old, a dream has to be pursued, and so in "London 1999", we are welcomed to Briony's true identity. Briony has always had a vivid imagination, the fact that she can send Robbie to jail and make him survive the war makes her an unbelievable writer. 

     In "London 1999", we are able to see Briony's battle with herself. Briony has spent over 65 years perfecting a story in order to achieve ultimate atonement. It is at this point in the book, that McEwan challenges our compassion and forgiveness toward others. Briony has suffered from her childish mistake that she felt the need to help others before her guilt took over her mind and body. Briony helped many injured soldiers during the war, "She willed more strength to her left arm, and willed he doctor to go faster. She would not bear the disgrace if she were to fail" (McEwan 274-275). She is constantly pushing herself to the point that she is physically incapable of. Briony's enrolment as a nurse proves that she was devoted to making up for her mistake. This is a great quality in a human being, to be able to keep trying and not give up. Perseverance is everything. Briony has become a mature woman by the end of "London 1999", she comprehends the gravity of her mistake, not only has she given back to society (being a nurse), but she has also fabricated the happy ending that Robbie and Cee never had. "I gave them happiness" (McEwan 351. If you can't see it, you can at least imagine it while reading it.

     Another characteristic that makes Briony a not so despicable character are her morals in "London 1999". "My fifty-nine-year assignment is over. There was our crime-Lola's, Marshall's, mine...I've regarded it as my duty to disguise nothing--the names, the places, the exact circumstances--I put it all there as a matter of historical record" (McEwan 349). She is 77 years old and has not informed anyone else of the summer of 1935. Briony has exonerated the Marshalls by not publishing her book during their lifetime. "I know I cannot publish until they are dead" (McEwan 349). Briony values family the most, even though Lola and Paul committed a crime, she is still willing to cherish and love them unconditionally. The publication of the novel would cause tremendous turmoil between families. Briony knows from experience that one mistake can make you lose a family member and so she is not ready to do that again, not now, especially not with her disease.  

     At the end of Atonement, Briony is not the child she once was. She has more life experiences than a 13 year old, and is somewhat ready to go in peace. She managed to achieve atonement to a certain degree, which is more than enough for a person that has been atoning their whole life. As humans, we make mistakes on a daily basis, these mistakes/failures are just as important as our successes. They are crucial to the construction of a just society! Briony's determination to find forgiveness really makes us think of how much our actions impact the people that encircle our lives. 

Comment:

Tierney, I really enjoyed reading your post. It was very well written with enough prove to demonstrate your point. I liked how you thought of Briony as trying to isolate herself from the people around her, in order to find atonement with herself from her childish mistake. I feel that as young adults we do that all the time. For example, when I have procrastinated enough and have come to a realization that If I don't stop, my grades will suffer, I make myself stop watching another episode of Grey's Anatomy, which in fact is very hard to do when Netflix plays the next episode automatically for you! Imagine if Cee were hooked on it instead of Clarissa. She wold not think it was boring, but that's another story. It takes a lot of determination to finally stop an episode, but when I do, it feels great. Briony indeed has a lot of will-power to put herself through isolation and pain, and as you said it "her life would be a stream of the guilt she felt and reflection of the ruins she has created" has not isolated herself. I do have to say though, that I did't hate Briony. I thought she was incredibly annoying, but as far as hating her, it just didn't happen. Could it be because I am just as annoying with my siblings? Maybe. Briony's mistake was way beyond her understanding of consequences, so I do agree with what you had to say about humans being humans. I think our mistakes make us who we are.

Pierce Irvine - Through The Mistakes, Is There Good?

Pierce Irvine

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U

May 25, 2015

Through The Mistakes, Is There Good?

Throughout the painful events in Part One of Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Briony is depicted as this know-it-all, attention seeking, spoiled brat that thinks she deserves to know, and therefore does know, everything. So I will admit that I, and many other members of the class, despised Briony at this point, and for good reason. In Part One her character is designed to be hated, while the characters whose lives she is ruining (Robbie and Cecilia) are written to make you feel sorry for them and wish that things will go better for them. But, Briony was a young child in Part One (around 13 years old), and since then, of course, she has aged and matured to where we see her in Part Three, and later, in “London 1999”. We, as people, age and with that age we gain knowledge of the world, whether through formal education, social interactions or life lessons. Right now, if you were to look back 10 years, or to when you were a child or teenager, you might think of yourself as stupid and childish for making bad decisions. But, as we mature, we understand that mistakes and misunderstandings are somewhat expected of young people. However, as we are reading Part One, we tend to forget how young Briony is because of her advanced speech and “grownup” actions, making her seem more mature than she really is. Thus, we treat her as an adult, in the sense that she gets punished by our feelings, more so than say the twins, who act childish and are easily recognised as young children.

In Part Three Briony, now a young adult, has become a nurse and is being strictly taught what, and what not, to do when treating patients. Already, we see her looking through all of the men that have come back from the war, looking for Robbie so that she can apologize and attempt to make her atonement to him. Later, she wants to do the same with Cecilia, but this obviously doesn't work out in either case. This takes us to “London 1999”, where Robbie and Cecilia are dead and Briony is an old, sad and sickly woman in her 70s. We see that, as a person, Briony has grown, yet still shows remorse for her childhood actions. Almost 60 years later, Briony feels guilt for what she did as a child to Cecilia,  even though she was only 13 years old and, at the time, thought she was protecting her sister from a maniac that wanted to rape her “Cecilia, whom she ought to protect . . . She had cast herself as her sister’s protector” (McEwan 114-115). Her feelings are understandable, but she should not have handled the situation like she did. She came to her own conclusion and misinterpreted what she saw and read. She would have been better off asking Cecilia about the letter and to explain the actions between Robbie and her. She should have talked to adults about it, and most importantly, she should NOT have convinced herself of the lie that she saw Robbie attacking Lola in the faux temple at night.

The whole idea of the book Atonement, as written by Briony, is that since she can no longer possibly apologize to those people that she harmed all those years ago, the best thing she can do before she loses her memories, is to write about them. Whether the facts are true or not in her version, the point gets across, that she has spent most of her life desperately trying to make amends for the actions of an ignorant young girl, by writing and rewriting time and time again, a novel dedicated to the lives she ruined. “It is only in this last version that my lovers end well, standing side by side on a South London pavement as I walk away” (McEwan 351). All in the hope that she can be given atonement, but knowing it will never happen. Writing the book in an attempt to achieve her own atonement, so that she can feel better about herself, all the while knowing that to anyone else reading it, the book will mean nothing and be just another item on a shelf. But to Briony, keeping Cecilia and Robbie alive means everything.

Comment

Emma: I really enjoyed reading your blogpost. It was really well written and your argument is good … until the second last paragraph. Here, I have to disagree with you. I don’t think Briony wants to “share the truth, that Robbie is innocent, with as many people as possible”, in fact, she is sharing her happy version of the truth. Yes, she is honest in that “There was a crime” (McEwan 351) and she probably is telling the truth about her part in ruining two people’s lives, but that’s where her honesty ends. The version of the novel she plans to share with the world has Robbie and Cecilia living happily ever after, which they don’t. Also, she’s afraid to publish before she dies, because it may cause Paul and Lola Marshall to sue her, so again, this shows her as not being as honorable and good as you may think she is.

Paul Kawabe: Get with the times

Paul Kawabe

Mr. Breaton

ENG 4U

May 26

Get With the Times

Briony facilitated the death of her beloved sister and Robbie when she was twelve. But, is that enough to hate her for the rest of her life? I would say no. Especially after all the evidence presented that shows her regret. Briony’s fictitious meeting with Robbie and Cecelia in part three and the symbolism in London 1999 tell us about the internal struggle she has been having for the past fifty-nine years of her life. I would compare despising Briony for her misguided twelve year old self as hating an ex-con no matter what they have done since their crime.

It is necessary to doubt the reality of part three to understand the overall message of Atonement. The clues presented in part two and London 1999 suggest that part, if not all, of part three was fictitious. Robbie’s promise to Nettle saying “you won’t hear another word from me” (McEwan 250) suggests his death that night which is then confirmed when Briony says “what purpose would be served if, say, I tried to persuade my reader … That Robbie Turner died of septicemia at Bray Dunes on 1 June 1940, or that Cecilia was killed in September of the same year” (McEwan 350). Through these quotations, it shows that Briony’s meeting with Robbie and Cecilia in part three was impossible and had to be something that she wrote herself. Once it is established, you can see how apologetic Briony feels. She wrote the story herself which shows that it is her ideal vision of how things would go. And even then, she doesn’t let them forgive her when she makes herself look foolish by saying “I’m very very sorry. I’ve cause you such terrible distress” (McEwan 329). Her inability to write about them forgiving her shows her inability to forgive herself.

Throughout part one and two there is plentiful water imagery yet it isn’t mentioned in absence or excess throughout part three or London 1999. The only instances where water is mentioned in London 1999 are Briony’s thoughts in her room and after the Trials of Arabella. When she is looking over her old home, she thinks “I could not quite accept the absence of the lake, but it could be restored one day perhaps” (McEwan 344). With water being such a prominent part in one and two, it came to represent purifying, washing off, or atoning to something. The fact that the largest body of water that Briony knew in her childhood was now gone suggests that there is a lot of atoning to do for what she has done. The other instance where water or drinking was mentioned was after her play and she said “I even drank a little wine” (McEwan 348). Thirst was an extreme part of part two with soldiers who could not come to terms with the horrors of what they had seen or done. The symbolism of Briony drinking wine with her family is her coming to terms with what she had done so long ago.

Overall, there is plenty of evidence that Briony feels terrible for what she did. Her almost masochistic determination to avoid forgiving herself makes her at the very least an admirable character. Her flaws that she had when she was a child are so severe that the option to forgive her is left to the reader. I think that it is hard not to for all of the guilt and regret she has lived through. A reader should get with the times and take into consideration all of the suffering she has put herself through and think of her situation from a current perspective.

Emma: I liked your analysis of Briony’s determination as a source for her redemption. I agree for the most part but I feel that Briony’s dedication could have been put toward other things. You mention that she started to care more about herself than the attention she received but it’s important for her to move past herself and think of the effects that Robbie’s and Cecilia’s death/isolation would have and then dedicate herself to fixing those. She eventually will do that through her novel but it will not serve much purpose other than contributing to her own legacy as all the people she could’ve talked to/helped are dead and gone.

Sam Roberts: Not As Bad As You Think

Sam Roberts
Mr. Breaton
ENG4U1
26 May 2015

                                                            Not As Bad As You Think
                         
                           In the beginning of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement, the reader is capable of understanding that Briony is a self-centered thirteen-year-old girl, who only cares about her own actions and personal profit. In Part One, it is evident that the misinterpretations and misjudgements she made lead others to passionately despise her, as it resulted in the incarceration and many near deaths at war for Robbie. Since Briony's accusation was based upon what she thought she saw, it is clear that she saw the connection between Robbie and Cee as a threat. This is because she later comes to the realization that she was in love with Robbie, but unfortunately for her, he was into her older sister as they were way much closer in age.

                           Digging deeper into the situation, we can see that Briony was very young when she made the sexual assault accusation against Robbie. Since she was only thirteen, she did not have a clear understanding of what it would result in. Briony was a curious child who thought she was capable of understanding anything and everything, especially adult problems. Although, after proceeding with her accusation and maturing as a teenager in Part Two of Atonement, she comes to the realization of what she did, how it affected those she loves, and also how very wrong it was. After realizing her mistake at the age of eighteen, she decides to become a nurse and apologize to Robbie and Cee for the false accusations she had made five years prior. "I'm very very sorry. I've caused you such terrible distress"..."I'm very sorry" (McEwan, 329). At this point in the novel Briony was willing to do anything to win Robbie and Cee's forgiveness.

                            At the end of McEwan's Atonement in "London 1999", we discover that Briony is now elderly and has been living with the regret of her childhood mistake her entire life. We learn that the book she wrote was to finally achieve atonement as reparation for her wrong. Coming to a final conclusion, Briony is not the most loved character of the novel, but she should not be the most hated. She was very young when she made the accusation and was not capable of understanding the results of her actions. Briony also struggled with the guilt and regret of what she had done her entire life. She realized that she could not undo the past, so she bravely reached out to Robbie and Cee hoping for forgiveness. This is the quality we as readers should love her for.

                            Shayna, I really enjoyed how you tied in the fact that we were not brought up and raised the same way as Briony, having to live up to the expectations of the Victorian era. I like how you incorporated more of a personal connection to their days in time compared to ours now, comparing the differences as they had strict ideals and morals as you said. This shows us that there could have been a different kind of pressure felt on Briony to receive attention and be noticed as she often felt left out.

Briony Tallis: I Guess She's Alright

Lailanie Gao-Ayen

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U

23 May 2015

Briony Tallis: I Guess She’s Alright

You could argue that the lovely Briony Tallis in Ian McEwan’s, Atonement, is a selfish, spoiled thirteen year-old whose misinterpretations and actions make everyone despise her character, but looking at her character from a different angle, there are some things that prove to us she’s not as despicable as we think. Should we really blame her for what she's done? She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, in my opinion. We as humans tend to make mistakes all the time, but at some point in our life we try to make up for these mistakes, and I believe that Briony has some qualities that make her redeemable, despite her actions.

Sure, she may have accused Robbie for committing a heinous crime, which caused him to not pursue his dream of being a doctor and instead be locked up in some probably not so attractive cell, but she had the intention of protecting Cee, which is the normal thing that siblings do for each other. Briony did think that she knew exactly what was happening at the fountain, and this triggered her mind to go into protection mode for Cee, “And Cecilia, who she ought to protect…” (McEwan 114). It is shown in part one that Cee and Briony do have a loving sister-sister relationship, “Come back, her sister used to whisper when she woke her from a bad dream.” (72), considering their differences with Briony always being “lost to her writing fantasies” (19) and Cee being "restless to the point of irritability." (20). With Cee being protective of Briony, it was only fair that Briony try to even out the score. She's only thirteen, plus her mind is inexperienced, yet she tells herself that she's truly aware of any situation because of other situations, such as the letter scene. Even then, she couldn't have known what Robbie truly meant and that just confused her even more. It's evident that she was only trying to act like a mother figure to protect her cubs, since both the mother and father are not in the picture so much. Once she opened her mouth and said "It was him," the odd three times, she was already in so deep. She couldn't have changed her mind since lying about a crime such as rape would be terrible. She was only confused with her decision, so there's a part where we can feel some sympathy for her. We don't even know how she feels going through this situation, so can we really blame her for her wrongdoing?

We move forward in this book into the third and fourth part and realize that Briony, at this point, has realized the repercussions of her actions and is no longer the spoiled, selfish thirteen year old from part one, but someone who is willing to take the step towards atonement. She has spent the majority of her life after accusing Robbie trying to make things right. She knows that she's the cause for Cee disconnecting with her family, and becoming a nurse would somehow bring her closer to her. Cee was protective and caring for her when she was younger, so returning the favour as a nurse and showing compassion for her patients would remind her of how their relationship used to be. She even wrote several letters to Cee, which is a start, but then realizes “silence was Cecilia’s answer.” (266) It comes to the scene where she gains the courage to finally confront Cee about her actions, "What I did was terrible. I don't expect you to forgive me." (318) To own up to her mistakes just shows how much she wanted to make things right. She knows that not owning up to her mistakes has only made things worse in the long run, but realizing that she doesn't expect forgiveness shows how much she has grown. She thought that she was fully aware of the events surrounding her in part one, but indeed that wasn't the case at all, and this realization demonstrates how she is a lot more aware of the nature of life, and that makes her character more redeemable.

So at the end of the day, do we really hate Briony? Well, I believe that we can feel sympathy and give kudos to her. I think that she is redeemable in that she made the effort to atone for her mistakes instead of doing nothing at all. Let's put it this way. It's one thing to go through life knowing that you've ruined the lives of the people you care about and simply living through that guilt, and it's another to see what has become of the situation and trying to make it right, even though it might not work out. We see throughout the book that her guilt has only consumed her to a point where she realized that something needed to be done. We know atonement can never truly be achieved since it is "always an impossible task," (351), but her way of atoning was writing a happy ending that was lost among the lovers, and that should count for something.

Comment:

Shayna, I definitely agree with your post. It's absolutely true that even though we all think of Briony as some conceited and selfish person who ruined the lives of others, she's not entirely heartless. We can only feel some sympathy for her having to deal with a situation like this at such a young age where we can't even comprehend the aspects of life. It's evident that her character has developed a great amount, and even though the lovers may not have had the love that was intended, it's the effort that counts to atone for those mistakes, and sometimes we may not get the outcome we want, and that's what makes her the most human in this book. But imagine adult Briony, maybe around Cee's age, in the same situation. Would she be redeemable then since she's now older, mature and can better grasp the consequences of her actions? Or, now that she's older, she should've known better and can now not be forgiven? That's another discussion.

Shaina Burgess: Hold Your Opinions!

Shaina Burgess

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U

May 25, 2015

Hold Your Opinions

            Ian McEwan’s Atonement represents how easily things within a society can be altered to fit one’s own personal truth and therefore causing a misinterpretation or understanding of a situation, which could be potentially dangerous. A misinterpretation of a situation which has a negative outcome is demonstrated by the character of Briony in the beginning of Atonement.  As a result of the crime Briony makes based on misinterpretations, it is easy to understand why one may not particularly like her character. However, at the end of Atonement Briony’s actions are recognized as having nothing but good intentions thus allowing her to redeem herself.

            At the beginning of Atonement, the reader is most likely subject to despising Briony. Briony is young and curious about a lot of things but she also shows interest in the personal lives of those around her and believes herself to be a “know it all”. Briony’s first large and recognizable mistake is when she misinterprets the interaction she witnesses between Robbie and Cecilia, mistaking Robbie’s actions as a forced action upon Cecilia. Because she has previously witnessed the interaction between Robbie and Cecilia, without evidence Briony automatically accuses Robbie of sexually assaulting Lola. Briony’s false accusations lead to Robbie wrongfully spending time in prison. It was not until part three of Atonement that Briony begins to feel guilt after reflecting upon her actions as a child and the resulting pain it has caused not only to Robbie, but to her family as well.

            Briony is unaware that what she saw at a young age occurring between Cecilia and Robbie were mutual feelings of love shared between them. Briony’s young and “know it all” attitude led her to believe that Robbie did not have Cecilia’s best interest in mind, to say the least. During her reflection, Briony realizes the love Cecilia and Robbie shared and realizing this, she attempts to find her own atonement but also attempts to mend the damage and heartache she has caused in the lives of those around her. “Who would want to believe that they never met again, never fulfilled their love? Who would want to believe that, except in the service of the bleakest realism? I couldn’t do it to them” (McEwan, 350), Briony expresses her guilt and regret only after it is too late. After the death of Robbie and Cecilia, Briony realizes she is no longer able to express her apologies and feelings of guilt toward the situation as a result of her actions which ultimately tore the two apart from each other.  

            Briony’s actions are questionable at the beginning of the novel and provide the reader with enough support to state their disliking of her character. However, by the end of Atonement in London 1999, Briony has finally come to terms with her actions and feels immense amounts of guilt. For Briony, it is too late for her to express her apologies to the two individuals most effected by her actions Cecilia and Robbie. I feel as if Briony recognizing her wrong doings as she was a young and naive individual reflect her characters development in regard to maturity and understanding. Briony did the best she could to fix what she could, even if it was too late. Is that not enough to change your opinion? We are all only human. All you can ever do is try.

Shayna: (I didn’t just pick your blog to comment on because we have the same name) I really enjoyed and agreed with what you wrote here, “The fact that all her bad qualities and stupid mistakes define her, makes it easy to dislike her. But it is not until you dig deeper that you realize what a tragic character she is and what a tragic life she has lived – living her whole life plagued by guilt and self-loathing over a simple mistake made in her childhood.” I agree with this statement of yours because when people are young, they make mistakes. When people have grown up and are older, they continue to make mistakes, it is all a part of being human. Although most of the class despised Briony for what she did to Robbie, causing both him and Cee large quantities of heartache and sadness, she was only a child, how could she have known any better? To a child, almost everything is questionable and misinterpreted. I do not believe that Briony’s actions as a child should be held against her into her adulthood. Very well written J

Adam Nartiss

Adam Nartiss

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U

May 25, 2015

Briony: Not Such an Asshole After all

Throughout Ian McEwan’s Atonement we get to see Briony’s character develop throughout the novel. In part 1, we immediately jump to the conclusion that Briony is a horrible person for how she acts and doing what she did to Robbie. But as we progress through the book it is evident that Briony displays to use some Characteristics that show that she is not such a despicable person.

First off, Briony shows us she has good characteristics by trying to edit her story and make it into what should have happened, she does this a couple times in the novel. First, Briony gets her work edited by Cyril Connolly, then she gets advice from Corporal Nettle about the war terminology that she uses. It seems that Briony is trying to fix things in the story that she is writing but not in a way that is proper to society, proper history, terminology etc. But in a way that shows Robbie and Cee what she is feeling if she had a chance to redo her life, this is how she would do it . We see this after she reads Corporal Nettle letters to her, Briony says “If I really cared about the facts, I should have written a different book. But my work was done.”(McEwan 340) Briony has been working on this story for 50+ years and she could care less about the terminology that they used back in the war, in a way it is like Briony is saying that she knows she messed up, and since she can’t make it right in real life, she presents what she wanted to happen through literature.

Another reason why Briony is in fact a good person is that she shows remorse for what she has done and tries to fix the harm that she has caused Robbie. We see this when Briony is finally done writing her book and she says “I know i cannot publish until they are dead.”(McEwan 349) Even though Robbie and Cee are dead and she can’t punish Paul Marshall for raping Lola, Briony still wants to do what is right and publish the book that tells the actual truth of what happened in Briony’s youth. This shows that Briony has good morals, it doesn’t matter who Briony says raped Lola in her story but to her it is the right thing to finally admit publicly that it was Paul Marshall, further bringing out her good and truthful characteristics.

Another way that Briony shows that she is likeable is through her decision to become a nurse even after she had a spot at cambridge which was her dream to go there and become a writer so that she could atone for what she has done to Cee and Robbie. In the early parts of the novel Briony was extremely passionate about writing and it was her dream to go to Cambridge University. Briony follows her sisters footsteps in becoming a nurse, as she sees this as chance to atone for what she had done by aiding people directly as a nurse. Briony also emotionally helped people, as she is talking to a man who is on the doorstep of death, she gives in emotionally and carries on the conversation letting him believe that she is the dying French soldier's fiancee. She and the soldier exchange "I love you's" as he passes away, proving that Briony is immersed into her life as a nurse to atone for the sins of her past.

Briony is portrayed as the girl who ruined the lives of Cee and Robbie and though she is, if we look deeper into the plot we see that she made these decisions out of anger towards Robbie as a 10 year old girl and she tries to atone for it the rest of her life. She spends her life trying to get forgiveness from those whom she had hurt which is why Briony truly shows how she is a likable character.

Shayna, I completely agree about what you said about Briony admitting her mistake that she made as a child and attempting to make it up the rest of her life, when I was thinking about this I started to feel sorry for Briony, she makes one stupid mistake as a child and is hated by Cee and Robbie for the rest of her life, as well as having to feel the guilt of setting a rapist in Paul Marshall free and causing Robbie to go to jail.

Drew Lichty "Briony: To Hate Or Not To Hate, That Is The Question"

Drew Lichty

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U

May 25, 2015

Briony: To Hate Or Not To Hate, That Is The Question

Briony is easy to hate. Finding something good about her might prove difficult but it is not impossible. On the surface Briony is a noisy and entitled brat. However a deeper look into the character dispels these notions. McEwan deliberately paints Briony as a character that’s easy to hate in Part 1 of Atonement. However during Part 3, and “London, 1999” McEwan manages to create an aura of pity that surrounds the character. The reader begins to realize that Briony is not inherently despicable and that the qualities that makes one hate her are simply due to her lack of understanding as a child. McEwan is able to achieve this feeling of pity towards Briony by painting her in a way that makes the reader reconsider what we think of her and question our initial thoughts. McEwan achieves this by giving her very potent dose of self reflexivity and empathy.

The character Briony shows quite a bit of self reflexivity. Not only does she realize how wrong she was and how she affected Robbie and Cee’s life, but she also shows another layer of self reflection. Near the end of Part 3 Briony visits Cee and, (prior to her visit) unknowingly Robbie. She confesses about falsely accusing Robbie. Robbie and Cee, very understandably, do not give Briony any forgiveness. They ask her to officially retract her statement and write a letter explaining herself, but they do not forgive her.

“Robbie said softly, ‘Just do all the things we’ve asked.’ It was almost conciliatory, that ‘just,’ but not quite, not yet” (McEwan 329). In this scene Briony is not getting any relief of her guilt. Robbie does not say “It’s okay” or “I forgive you”. He clearly shows that he is still incredibly angry at Briony, anger that he and Cee cannot cast aside. Since this entire book, (past Part 1) is a construct of Briony’s imagination, she made the conscious decision to not let herself get any shred of forgiveness. This shows that Briony is reflecting on her own decisions and has come to the conclusion that she deserves to go to her grave by not being forgiven. She deserves to enter the afterlife with that burden weighing on her shoulders. This is her punishment, one, in her mind, that is well deserved. Since Briony as a character believes more strongly in her stories than real life, (because novels live on far past the life of a person) it’s not ridiculous to assume she eternally deserves to be guilty. For as long as her story remains on the shelves, Briony is guilty. This is why Briony was so adamant on waiting until Lola and Paul Marshall passed, so all the names could be preserved within the pages of her creation. So that her guilt could be preserved.

Briony becomes very empathetic towards the end of the book. This comes through in how she creates her story. Briony spends the majority of her life recreating drafts of her story. She spends countless hours perfecting a story in which Robbie and Cee end up together. A story that she believes they deserve. Briony also shows empathy through her depiction of Robbie through Part 2. Briony shows that she understands in excellent capacity how going to jail for a crime he did not commit has weighed on his soul. An example of this can be seen near the end of Part 2, when Robbie makes it to Dunkirk and meets the gypsy woman. “She looked right into him and saw his faults, and knew he’d been in prison” (McEwan 240). Robbie’s stint in prison is always on the surface of his mind. If he sees the woman and the first thought upon seeing her is “She knew I was in prison”, then that means his experience in prison is always weighing very heavily on his mind. It’s affected every corner of his consciousness. Since Briony is ultimately the author of this, and it never actually happened, this shows that Briony has a profound understanding on the state that Robbie would have been in during the war. One can infer that her awesome level of understanding of what she did to Robbie leads to an obsessiveness to correct it. This is why Briony is so determined and spent so much time on Atonement. She cannot fix it in real life, so she creates an alternate reality, one just as real, if not more real than life in her mind. Through her creation she shows a level of understanding, or empathy, that younger Briony could not begin to comprehend. Briony is thus not a despicable character, she is just a victim of circumstance. Briony was put into a position of such power, literally life altering power at an age where she just could not understand the gravity of the situation. It is not her fault her psyche had not developed by thirteen. Once she had grown up and realized her mistakes, she does more in an attempt to fix her mistake than most people would.

Briony is not despicable. Briony has a level of self reflexivity and empathy that most people do not possess. Just because Briony made a mistake when she was too young to really understand what was going on, does not mean she is a despicable character. Everybody makes mistakes, it is how one responds to those mistakes that truly show who they are. Briony responded to her mistake is a capacity that most people would not do. Briony dedicated her life to trying to fix something they can not fix, at the same time not letting herself achieve forgiveness. Briony is the opposite of despicable, Briony is commendable.

Answer to Christoff‘s blog post:

Christoff, I see you and I have a similar idea on Briony’s dedication to righting her wrong, but I did notice you mentioned how Briony actually thought she was right in Part 1, rather than my take on her just being oblivious to the gravity of the situation. I forgot that Briony thought Robbie was attacked Cecilia in the fountain scene. I think I tend to agree with your analysis of Part 1 and Briony’s reasoning more than my own. It seems much more “Briony” to assume the role of the protector, rather than just an oblivious kid, as even at the age of thirteen Briony was quite aware and intelligent. As always your writing is very insightful and I commend you on it. I like the addition of the Author’s Note as well.

Seth Lamb "Not so Despicable Briony: The Clever Mask of Childish Naivety"

Seth Lamb

Mr. Breaton

ENG 4U

May 25, 2015

Not so Despicable Briony: The Clever Mask of Childish Naivety

There is a reason why the law treats children with less contempt than adults, it’s because society realizes that on average, children are less educated, less informed, and generally subpar in terms of reasoning, understanding, and rational decision making. It’s not their fault, it’s just that their brains haven’t developed fully which means they’re inexperienced when it comes to comprehending more mature themes, ideas that any sensible adult would easily understand, so the law and consequently the government decide to go easier on them until they’ve reached the point where they are fully self-aware of the results of their actions.

In the book Atonement by author Ian McEwan, Briony Tallis is a young girl who has not yet reached that point in her life when she commits her despicable act, the point where she doesn’t fully understand the events she witnesses nor the consequences her actions have on the people whose lives she affects, and she goes about her life in part one as just an innocent, naïve little girl who believes she’s doing the right thing; protecting her sister from the clutches of the woman molester Robbie Turner, as proven when she thinks to herself,  “Real life, her life now beginning, had sent her a villain in the form of an old family friend” (McEwan 148) and, “Together, the Tallis children would see this brute off, see him safely out of their lives” (McEwan 148). Naturally for any adult reading this book, it’d be expected that they find this behaviour mildly or even extremely aggravating, especially since they have the most experience in dealing with children and their sometimes infuriating, imperious behaviour as displayed by Briony in part one. However, as stated in the first paragraph, it’s not entirely her fault, some of the blame can be laid on the development of the human brain, and society seems to agree (juvenile detention instead of criminal records and “adult” jail, for example). So do the actions she takes to try to atone for her crime at such an impressionable age redeem her? A strong argument could be made supporting her redemption and ultimately, her atonement.

The first sign that Briony realizes that she has done something horribly wrong and ruined her family’s interpersonal relationships is in part two, when we learn from Cecilia’s letter to Robbie that Briony has enlisted at a hospital as a nurse. Why would this be a sign of her self-awareness? Well, for starters, her job description could be described as helping people in need, to try to save them from the cold grasp of death. Perhaps this is one way in which she is giving back to a world where she took away joy, in other words, a method of apologizing for what she has done. The second clue is also in part three, when she pays a visit to her sister (we later learn that this section was entirely imagined) where she says to her sister, “What I did was terrible. I don’t expect you to forgive me” (McEwan 318). It’s here that we learn that Briony, at this point in the story, is completely aware of what she’s done and the pain she’s inflicted on her sister and Robbie, and she admits it. However, that is not the ultimate clue for suggesting her redemption. Briony Tallis truly achieves atonement in part four, “London 1999”, when the reader makes the startling discovery that parts two and three were fictional, albeit with some historical truth. At this point, Briony is alone in her crime. Cecilia and Robbie are dead, which means that Briony can no longer seek forgiveness from them. Her only option at this point is to forgive herself, and what better way to do that than to write a book in which the people she hurt most are given what they had stolen from them: happiness, love, joy. Briony asks herself, “How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her” (McEwan 350). The reason why she writes this novel is because that is exactly what she is trying to do, by revealing the truth while at the same time deciding that the outcome for Cecilia and Robbie is one of happiness, she has found a way to forgive herself. She has decided that atonement can never be truly reached, as indicated when she comes to the conclusion that “it was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all” (McEwan 351). In this realization she has forgiven herself, and thereby achieved atonement, the seemingly impossible task that she made possible through spending her entire life on trying to make Cecilia and Robbie’s lives better, even if it was just a piece of fiction.

Comment: Regarding Elcie’s post and to a greater extent everyone else’s I’ve been noticing a general pattern in all of the posts that I have read so far, and that is almost everyone deeply despises Briony after reading part one. What I’m curious about is whether we’re not looking at this from a fairer point of view? How many thirteen year olds do you know or have met that are fully self-aware and actually care about the consequences of their actions? Now compare that to the number of thirteen year olds who are self-centered, pin the blame on others whenever they do something wrong, and generally act like entitled, self-serving brats. We’ve all met them, and chances are that some of us acted exactly the same way when we were that age. So I’m wondering if the anger that is directed at Briony is somewhat unjust. Should we cut her some slack? The law seems to think so, otherwise they’d be sending juveniles to “real” prison where they risk all sorts of heinous, despicable crimes such as sexual and mental abuse, as well as handing out criminal records that don’t expire for the rest of their lives. This is the biggest problem I have with Elcie’s posting: in it she describes the “evil” that resides in Briony and is what is responsible for Briony’s “sin”. I completely disagree with this, mainly because of two reasons. The first reason is the one I iterated on in my own posting, where I explained the childish naivety that accompanies most children throughout their single digit years and well into their teenage ones, and the second one is that “evil” carries a serious and harsh meaning to it, a meaning that I feel is too severe to be imposed on Briony. By that I mean that in order to be evil, you are maliciously seeking immoral or malevolent action against someone. I don’t think Briony was doing that, in fact she was doing the opposite in her mind. She believed that she was committing a morally sound action because she thought she was helping rid her family of a sexual maniac. To me that does sound like a virtuous act, does it not? An immoral person might have simply ignored the rape case or even committed the rape themselves. So, I ask again: was Briony being intentionally malevolent, or was she simply confused and of course, naïve? That is the question Elcie should consider before tossing out words with such a strong meaning attached.

Courtney; It's a Happy Ending

Courtney Westbrook

Mr. Breaton

ENG-4U

Tuesday, May, 26, 2015

It’s a Happy Ending

                          The decision weather a novel gets a happy ending or not lies in the power of the writer. This is exactly why not ever novel receives one. In some cases, the roles are switched and the power of whether or not the novel ends on a happy note lies in the reader. The end of this particular book is open ended; there is no real answer or defiant ending. This demonstrates how the power of writing can be used to blur the lines between fact and fiction, and reveal that truth and the concept of a happy ending is relative to one`s perspective.  

                          In the novel Atonement, Briony writes a story about her life that concludes happily and thusly demonstrating her good intentions and kind-hearted nature. This characteristic of Briony can be admired despite her crime and it`s repercussions.

                          At the beginning of the book, when Briony is still recognizably a young child, she mistakes Robbie’s actions towards Cee as a threat. She then proceeds to accuse Robbie of being the person who is responsible for the sexual assault of Lola, resulting in the time Robbie serves in Prison. Robbie has an innocent conscience here and Briony has her family, excluding Cee, turned against him. It was not until part three where Briony came to the realization that she made a mistake in regards to what she did to not only Robbie, but also the realization that she loved him.

                          The love present between Cee and Robbie is strong and tightly tied. Briony does not realize their love until the end of the book; after the ``great-lie`` she pulls. Although this is the case, Briony strives to make things better. She tries to find her own atonement within. Since the death of Robbie and Cee in the real world occurs, Briony is stuck with very little to express her redemption she wishes to attain in the book she writes of her life. ``It is only in this last version that my lovers end well, standing side by side on a South London pavement as I walk away`` (McEwan, 350). This quotation represents Briony`s wish for Cee and Robbie to have a happy ending. She wanted to give them a chance to fulfil their love. ``Who would want to believe that they never met again, never fulfilled their love? Who would want to believe that, except in the service of the bleakest realism? I couldn’t do it to them” (McEwan, 350). Briony’s understanding of her earlier choices that reflected foul outcomes is shown within her words in ‘London 1999’. Although a vast majority of people dislike Briony and her actions she takes, this is reason enough to believe that she deserves at the very least, some redemption and respect. It shows she tried the best she could and that is all anyone could ask for.

Tierney; your blog was very well-crafted and thought out. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I found myself agreeing with most of your points. When a person comes to the realization that they did something terrible wrong, all they wish to do is hide from it. They do not want to face their problems; they’re ashamed of their actions as believably so in Atonement in regards of Briony. Even as Briony’s journey through her career in nursing increased this isolation she put herself in when she says

                                   

She did not want her mother to know about the lowly work she did. Part of  

becoming a nurse was to work for her independence. It was important to her thather 

parents, especially her mother, knew little about her life as possible (McEwan, 261).

By isolating herself from the one person who she cares about the most, it would be one less person Briony could have the potential to hurt. Briony has already hurt Cee, who basically replaced her mother in Briony’s earlier stages of life. Briony cannot bear to hurt another close person in her life.