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
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