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. 

Shayna Allan: What's Not to Like?

Shayna Allan

Mr. Breaton

ENG4U1

May 25, 2015

What’s Not to Like?

While reading part 1 I personally found Briony to be self-centered, pretentious and conceited. It was easy to see the negative aspects of her personality, and it was only later at the end of part 3 and in part 4 that I was finally able to glimpse some her good qualities as well. 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.

As I mentioned above it is easy to dislike Briony, and we all immediately judge and look down on Briony as being a stupid, silly, naïve little girl. However, we were not brought up as she was, and we were not raised and taught to live to the standards of the Victorian era with all their strict ideals and morals; she is a product of her upbringing. We are quick to judge, yet we probably don’t even understand what it was like for her to be put in these situations and see these encounters she has most likely been taught her while life are wrong. Her upbringing coupled with the fact that she was only a child trying to deal with adult situations, may not absolve her of her crime but certainly goes a long way (for me anyway) to make me sympathetic towards her, and more lenient and forgiving of what she did. She was only a child after all, and what child doesn’t make mistakes? How many of you can say that there is not a single thing you regret dong in your life because you realized too late what a mistake it was?

For the one mistake that Briony made as a child, she suffers for it for her whole life: “How guilt refined the methods of self-torture, threading the beads of detail into an eternal loop, a rosary to be fingered for a lifetime” (McEwan 162). Her world is turned upside down, as her family has been ripped apart and she knows that she was the cause of it. Her redeeming quality is that she realizes what a mistake she made and attempts to make up for it for the rest of her life. Briony even writes herself in her book as everything we hated about her, deliberately, so that every reader would immediately dislike her as much as she dislikes herself for what she did. She made sure that the blame would fall on her, and that she would live forever as this stupid child that ruined the lives of everyone around her; this was her way of further punishing herself.

As we learn in parts 3 and 4, Briony has spent her whole life obsessing over her book trying to get it right. She has obviously realized what a grave mistake she made that day she accused Robbie and has been trying her whole life to fix and set it right. Additionally, by this point I no longer saw her as the spoiled, selfish girl she was back in part 1. She becomes a nurse and dedicates her life to helping people. We see her capacity for kindness and compassion when she is with Luc, he asked her, “‘Do you love me?’ She hesitated. ‘Yes.’ No other reply was possible. Besides, for that moment, she did. He was a lovely boy who was a long way from his family and he was about to die” (McEwan 292). Briony has become a concerned, remorseful and kindhearted person. She dedicates her life to helping others, and is constantly trying to make up for what she did. She gives Robbie and Cee the happy ending she always wanted them to have and believes they deserve. Furthermore, the fact that she realizes that she doesn’t deserve to have them forgive her just goes to show the full extent to which she has grown and changed.

Overall, Briony has truly changed from the self-centered and conceited person she once was. She has devoted her life to others and has genuinely become a selfless and caring individual. Her guilt that has compelled her to try and atone for her past mistakes shows that she realized what she did was wrong and hurtful, and she has zealously and diligently been searching for a way ever since to indemnify herself, and to gift Robbie and Cecilia with the happy and loving life they were deprived of.

Tierney, I found it insightful to read your blog post and I thought you brought up a few good points. I like how you discussed the reasons why she distanced herself from her family, and credited it to her trying to make up for what she did. I also liked how you talked about how her actions in parts 3 and 4 (especially her self-realizations) added to her character and made her seem for human and redeemable. Overall, I thought your post was very well written and has some very insightful and thought provoking ideas contained within it.  

The Real Briony Tallis

Nazia Ahmad 

ENG 4U

Mr. Breaton 

Monday May 25, 2015 

The Real Briony Tallis 

Throughout Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, the youngest of the Tallis children, Briony, is constantly causing trouble and distributing the lives of innocent others with her childish games. it is agreed by most that Briony is not a likable character. However, I believe that although Briony’s actions were harsh and not very well thought out, her intentions were true and she was simply trying to protect and defend her family, mainly her sister and cousin. With that being said, the development of Briony’s character and her true search for forgiveness towards the end makes her a redeemable character. 

Cecilia Tallis is the older sister of Briony, and inevitably her “protector”. She is always caring and compassionate towards Briony. Also, since their mother is somewhat absent in their lives, it is left up to Cecilia to take care of her sister. This is shown when Cee is comforting Briony after her play didn’t go so well saying “This would not be the first time she has rescued Briony from self destruction...Cecilia had always loved to cuddle the baby of the family. When she was small and prone to nightmares...Cecilia used to go to her room and wake her. Come back, It’s only a dream” (McEwan 41). Since Cecelia is always the one protecting Briony, it is possible that Briony felt the need to reciprocate those actions which is why she did what she did. After witnessing the library scene, and being too young to understand what was really going on, Briony took what she knew and assumed is was not consensual. Adding that to Lola’s situation, it is quite clear Briony was only trying to protect her family the way they have always done for her. 

Furthermore, Briony’s quest for atonement is surrounded around the fact that she single handedly ruined the lives of Cecilia and Robbie. She says to Robbie and Cee “I’m very very sorry. I’ve caused you such terrible distress. I’m very sorry”(329). She admits after that it was a foolish attempt, however she continues to agree to all their terms and to whatever they wish for her to do. She is completely willing to do what it takes to redeem herself and achieve the atonement she is so desperately searching for, “She knew what was required of her. Not simply a letter, but a new draft, an atonement, and she was ready to begin”(330). The fact that she was willing to do whatever she could to receive their forgiveness is an excellent example of why she is truly a good character.

Briony Tallis, a sister, nurse, and above all a phenomenal author spends the better portion of her life trying to gain the atonement she so desperately desires for her actions committed towards a family friend when she was a young girl. Some may say disregard all of her attempts and focus on the fact that she did what she did. However I believe that she did all she could.She spent decades writing her novel, which is her atonement for what she had done. In the wise words of Ian McEwan, and subsequently Briony Tallis “The attempt was all”(351).

Emma, I’d first like to say I may have laughed a little too much at your title, it probably wasn’t that funny to everyone else, but I loved it! As far as your opinion on Briony goes, i have to say I agree with you completely. I enjoyed how you based you entry on characteristics of Briony, like her dedication and determination, and used those to prove that she is a redeemable character. I appreciated that you found a way to introduce some good qualities about Briony when she was at her young age, like her determination with “The Trials of Arabella”. Most, including myself, tend to focus on her bad qualities as a 13 year old. For example, her “know it all” attitude. Overall a great piece of writing, as always! 

Emma Kennedy - Briony Tallis: Winner of Gold Star for Trying

Emma Kennedy

Mr. Breaton

ENG 4U1

May 25, 2015

Briony Tallis: Winner of Gold Star for Trying

Ian McEwan’s Atonement is an excellent example of the trials of being human. Its characters and themes explore the human condition so well that the reader may forget that they are reading a piece of fiction. Throughout the novel, the actions sway opinions of Briony in different directions, most of them negative.  After understanding the postmodern pretzel that is this novel’s plot, it is certain that if nothing else, Briony Tallis is a very determined, dedicated individual in everything she does.

The first instance of Briony’s dedication is her effort put into “The Trials of Arabella”. Briony dedicated the majority of two days so that her play was perfect. “She was one of those children possessed by a desire to have the world just so” (McEwan 4). Briony’s use of time and organizational skills at a young age is something that would benefit all young people. Her commitment to her art and to impressing her brother is admirable.

Briony’s determination did more harm than good in some cases. She convinced Lola at the lake that it was Robbie who had attacked her, “with Briony’s certainty rising whenever her cousin appeared to doubt herself” (McEwan 157). Feigning the self-confidence, thinking she knew what was true while just a young girl led to harsh realizations as she matured. Briony’s strong will became much more of an asset once it was used to redeem the problems it caused in the past.

Being a wartime nurse requires a large amount of determination. Briony cut herself off from her family (McEwan 263) in order to deal with her guilt and try to fix the problems she had caused. She might have thought that having this in common with her sister, Cecilia, would bring them closer, or that Robbie might be one of the soldiers she saves. If she were to save his life, she would be forgiven by him and Cee. Her dedication to her position, despite the unlikelihood of such a scenario, proves to the reader that she has changed to care about more than herself and the attention she receives.

Spending six decades writing a fictional version of Robbie and Cee’s lives is of course Briony’s most significant commitment. “Like policemen in a search team, we go on hands and knees and crawl our way toward the truth” (McEwan 339). Briony, with the help of Cyril Connolly, Mr. Nettle, and her editors, wants to share the truth, that Robbie is innocent, with as many people as possible, regardless of the fact that it will make her look bad. She has had plenty of time to grow, and to realize her errors. All she can do now is try to set the record straight, and she will do it even if the book cannot be published until after she is dead. Fifty-nine years of writing, plus waiting until after her death to publish, is a long time, only to be spent by one who is truly dedicated to their cause of truth telling.

Despite the mistakes she has made, Briony’s determination and dedication are admirable qualities that make her a likeable character. She learns and establishes values as she grows, which is what all humans should strive and struggle to do.

Comment

Christoff: First of all, I’d like to mention how fun it is to read your analysis of Briony’s character while knowing your opinion of the novel (nice author’s note). I strongly agree that Briony plays the hero well, but if only she had waited until she understood the world a bit more. She could have served as a wing-sister and helped the young lovers (as suggested by Cyril Connolly, the possibility of the young girl being a messenger, on page 296)! Although I’m sure that the arrangement would fail before long, Briony would probably say something similar to Hermione Granger’s “I’m not an owl!” line. Overall your piece was very well written. You convinced me that you actually don’t mind Briony, and provided me with other eye-opening details of her character’s complexity.