To start off, the reason why this novel was written was to atone herself. It took Briony a very long time to write the novel because she was always trying to find a good way to fix the ending. She wanted to give her sister, Cecelia, and her sister’s lover, Robbie, the proper ending that they deserved. Towards the end of the book she writes “How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of decoding 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). Basically, Briony can seek atonement but it has to be granted by the one who has been wronged, is now dead and Briony is unable to atone herself. Also,if she cannot atone herself because they people who have been wronged have passed away, how will she get over all the things that she has done and what they had to go through.
Another piece of evidence from the text to prove that Briony wanted to give Cecelia and Robbie the ending would include this quotation. “So, my sister and Robbie were never able to have the time together they both so longed for... and deserved. Which ever since I've... ever since I've always felt I prevented. But what sense of hope or satisfaction could a reader derive from an ending like that? So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness” (McEwan). \Briony even writes how she wished they had the ending that they deserved to have and she is trying to be seen as a kind person.
In addition to the reason why she wrote the book, Briony feels regret. “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). This quotation may be taken in a very deep meaning but it is supposed to mean exactly what the quotation says. When Briony was younger and she was growing up with her family, she committed an act which will last her entire life. She will never forget what happened the day she blamed Robbie for raping Lola because she knew he would not get away with it, and she will never forget how that destroyed her entire family and how they all split up. This will lead her to self-torture and it will stay with her for the rest of her life.
To wrap up, Briony was always discussed in class as a horrible person and how we hate her, but we never considered the few good things that she actually did to make her be considered a somewhat decent person. In the text there were 3 main sections that jumped out to myself and they are: first she wanted to give them a proper ending and one they deserved, second she wanted to be seen as a kind person and finally she feels regret after all of the acts she committed which ended up destroying her family and she has to live with it.
To comment on Heather’s Post...
I completely agree with her. The way she described Briony at
the beginning of her blog is the exact same way I thought of Briony. “I found Briony to be self-centred,
pretentious and show signs of sociopathic behaviour”. Personally, she is
exactly the same as Hamlet (what a shock the book and play we read are similar)!
I also agree on how Briony made a mistake when she was a child and that she is
trying to redeem herself, but can she actually get redemption knowing that her
entire family basically is now dead and she didn’t have the guts to apologize
in person...
Briony also is
making her seem like the villian even though she caused it for herself, which I
completely agree on your point and majority of your blog post about Briony!
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