Another no-holds barred discussion forum, where you prove that you're the most deadly Atonement ninja in the class.
Atonement is, at core, a novel about trying to fix something that’s irretrievably broken. By the time you finish the book, you realize that the whole story is, if not an outright lie, then a very heavily edited piece of Historical Metafiction, in which Briony tries desperately to re-write her life, and those of the people she’s hurt so terribly.

Your blogging mission is to consider the whole novel, but especially the last two sections (“Part Three” and “London 1999") and prove that, ultimately, Briony isn’t a despicable person. In the words of my learned colleague Cox: “Find something about her to like.” And then prove it.

As with the Hamlet blog, make your stand on the issue in an argument of about 500 words, cite textual references, and then make a detailed comment on at least one classmate’s posting, agreeing, disagreeing, or taking the discussion in a different direction. Making references to life, movies, other things you’ve read, etc. are fair game, as long as they’re relevant. (Again, comment right in your blog entry, don't worry about using the comment links beneath your classmates' entries.)

Finally, be sure to clearly place your NAME in the title of your Posting!

Tuesday 13 May 2014

BRIONY ONE OF A KIND -Alex Dinning


Briony isn’t bad at all ….

   When we first look into the life of Briony we come across a not so innocent girl who also needs to get her opinion in to places that is not need. As we progress along the development of Briony we see Briony become a snobby lying brat who destroys the life of the two members that are close to her, but later; as she becomes older and with these extra years behind her she has not only known/acknowledge what she has done but has found the means within her to try and get forgiveness and mend the passionate bond that once stood. 

Briony first shows that she is not as bad as her persona has depicted her because .......

    1) Briony throughout this whole book has spent her whole life trying to gain forgiveness of something stupid she did as a kid. She didn't receive the chance to show both Robbie and Cee (because they both died during the war) and how she spent the rest of her life trying to make it with her so she wrote this book in order to start grieving over her mistake. This shows that Briony is kind hearted and that not only has she acknowledged her mistake she has gone forth with making this book as a way as Robbie and Cee forgiving her. As she finishes the book and looks back upon her life in part 1999 and how she has spent every minute making sure that this book was written to show/let everyone remember her mistake her final words "but now I must sleep"(Mc.Ewan, 351) truly strike the viewer in such a dramatic way because we are finally aware that Briony has literally spent her entire life mourning over her loss and mistake that when those final words come out of Briony's mouth we realize that she is finally content and believes that Robbie and Cee have truly forgiven her even though they aren't alive anymore. 

    2) "A world could be made in five pages, and one that was more pleasing than a model farm. The childhood of a spoiled prince could be framed within half a page, a moonlit dash through sleepy villages was one rhythmically emphatic sentence, falling in love could be achieved in a single word--a glance. The pages of a recently finished story seemed to vibrate in her hand with all the life they contained."(Mc.Ewen, 7) This is not only the main theme within the story but also shows that even as a younger age Briony has understood the main components of writing a story. She understands that she controls the characters and controls the actions that come with the characters. Briony is able to make characters fall in love but also able to destroy the lifes that are created. Briony however, isn't old enough to understand that the same goes for the "real" world too, just like in POMO she lost track of the "True" world and accidently destroyed something within it. but she finally thoughout the years understands this and actually in her defence writes a story that I believe mends what was broken.  

    3) Lastly what makes Briony one of a kind and a loved character would be the amusing fact that she is only a little girl in big girl situations. We see that Briony is always exposed to deep adult situations, like things such as witnessing both a sexual letter and a sexual encounter, becoming the law enforcement/becoming an eye witness of a crime etc. As we think about all the ecoounters she has occurred we should stop, take a minute to process it, and snap into the realization that this innocent little girl is exposed to all these stressful scenarios. It not only is shocking, but also amusing to know that a little girl is being more of a adult than the adults which overall becomes her downfall that leads to her overall need to fix what can't be fixed.



so..... overall Briony is loved because of the summarized things in this blog which are ....

1) Briony's Mature realization and Self dedication to fix what cannot be fixed

2) Briony's Writing and Understanding of Characters and Stories

3) Briony's Innocence of just being a kid



By Alex Dinning

 Brett I totally agree with the whole 180 view on Briony's personality. I of course can't speak for everyone but we can most likely agree in the sense that Briony first comes off as a little b****  and probably one of my least favorite characters in the book in part 1, but as the book progressed and Broiny developed as a young-ling to a teen she became more aware as to what she had done and spent the rest of her life making up for what she has done. Briony as you said, cannot be blame 100% for everything, but the fact that she took full responsibility and had the right moral sense to go forth and wright a book to gain forgiveness she could never actually obtain meant that she truly grew up and developed as a character. This relates to even the real world where we as humans first start off as inexperience individuals. We learn through mistakes and grow as individuals to become well civilized adults who truly understand what is acceptable in life and what we value close to us. 

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