The entire story of Atonement gives us the impression that Briony is an overall selfish character that is only preoccupied with her own well being. From the beginning of the story, we see Briony making herself the center of attention. As the story unfolds, so does Briony, and we slowly discover new sides to personality we didn't think existed. She becomes empathetic, caring, and considerate as she gets older and the reader is able to see Briony's intentions first hand.
Although Briony carries the blame for Robbie's prison sentence, she is certainly not at an age where she would be capable of making rational decisions in other peoples favor. Her immaturity and ego give her the confidence to determine the fate of another human being. As time goes on, Briony finds herself regretting her past decisions and wishes she could take it back, she realizes her mistakes once she sees her family slowly falling apart of her one mistake. When we reach "London 1999", we learn that the book was really a story written by the elderly Briony, to explain her life and the lives of others she destroyed. She is empathetic through Part 2 & 3 because we see Briony reflecting on her past, even though she was an adult at this point in time, we see that she has spent all those years reflecting of the pain she has knowingly placed onto others, and doing all she could to make things right again.
Once we learn that Briony actually wrote this story and sent it in to be published, we create a new perspective on why she might have done what she did. Briony writes about herself enrolling into the war and served as a nurse for several years while Cee and Robbie were also serving in the war. Briony changes drastically from the time she was a teenager to the lady she becomes while she's helping in the war. It seems as though she truly cares for others and doing the right thing, especially once she realized how big of an impact she made on her family with her poor decision making. She develops this caring personality, where she lives life doing her best to serve those in need. All shes known in life is destruction and hate, she begins to love bringing joy and hope to those who truly have none. This can be seen as a way Briony has learned to cope with the guilt she holds from her past.
At the end of the book we can put all the pieces of the puzzle together and decipher Briony's intentions while writing this story. We realize she had to live her entire life carrying an extremely large amount of guilt on her shoulders, which takes her decades to come to terms with. Her family never forgave her before they died, and worse, despite all her efforts to bring Cee and Robbie back together once again, she failed. She was left with no one to trust and no one to confide in, but still found a way to share her story and express her sorrow and regret that she had in her heart all those years. At her old age, she is very considerate of the lives she has ruined and the feelings she has hurt with her actions. She created this life story for her to publicly display how sorry she is and how she would do anything in order to reverse the damage she has done.
Briony has accepted her mistakes and knows there is no receiving forgiveness from her loved ones, only forgiveness from herself. She says, "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). Us as the reader understand that for fifty-nine years, Briony has done everything in her power to make things right, but unfortunately just couldn't do it. By the end of the story, Briony does not desire the forgiveness of those she did wrong, but mostly from herself, that way she can move on with life in peace knowing that what's done is done.
Comment:
I personally enjoyed Heather's blog the most because of her basic interpretation of Briony's actions. I agree that Briony made a foolish mistake as a child but still did what she could to cope with it. Everyone has a way of getting over things, and clearly for Briony, she desired the forgiveness of Cee and Robbie all those years but then realized she must forgive herself in order to live on with a clean conscience. I took Heather's opinion on Briony as 'everyone makes mistakes and lives with guilt for their wrong doings, but despite your rough character, we all deal with emotions equally and we all cope with them in our own ways'.
this is trash
ReplyDeleteok
Delete