Briony isn't a true bitch after all

Many people see Briony as a very selfish and evil character in the novel Atonement. But if you look deeper into her character and look at the big picture, you can see who she actually is. I believe Briony is a good person with a rough past. She has done wrong, but didn't fully understand the situation and spends the rest of her miserable life reminiscing and trying to fix her guilt.

The number one reason that I believe Briony isn’t deep down a horrible person is because in part one she is to young to understand what is truly going on. In this first one she is merely an immature child that does not get what she is actually doing. She is a child in an adult situation, and makes a bad decision. When she catches Cee and Robbie having sex, and then later witnesses the rape, she assumes what any young child would of assumed, the worst. “That man’s a maniac. A maniac. The word had refinement, and the weight of medical diagnosis” (McEwan 112). In her mind, she is trying to protect her sister and she thinks lying to the cops and stretching the story is going to help. She doesn’t realize that it will only drastically make things worse for her and Cee’s, Cee’s and Robbies, and Robbie and her family’s relationships.

My second point for Briony being a good person, is that she realizes her mistake and then tries to make up for what she has done. Later on in the story Birony is now old and mature enough to see that she had messed up and feels very guilty about it. Throughout the novel she changes her life to make herself feel like she is helping other people. For example she was accepted to university and then changed her mind and became a nurse. I believe she picked this profession because she wants opportunities to help other people to lessen the feeling of guilt. She struggles with forgiveness and that itself represents the fact that she acknowledges that she has done wrong. No evil character would feel remorse or have a guilty conscious if they truly didn’t care about anyone accept them selves.

My third point for Briony actually having a heart, and not being as cold blooded as most see her to be is because she tried to redeem her self through her writing this story. "There was our crime-Lola's, Marshall's, mine-and from the second version onward, I set out to describe it. I've regarded it as my duty to disguise nothing-the names, the places, the exact circumstances-I put it all there as a matter of historical record" (McEwan 349) In this quotation she is expressing her feelings of extreme guilt and how she wants to tell the truth of the story through her perspective, this book. By telling the truth in this book she makes herself out as a character that most would hate but she does show she is a genuinely a good person because she confesses and shows real remorse.

Comment: @erin harper

I agree with Erin that Briony was to “young and naive” to be held labeled and held responsible for the rest of her life on her actions in part one. Briony was young and cared about her sister and tried to do the right thing, which ended in the exact opposite. I disagree with you saying that she doesn't want characters to forgive her. In my opinion I believe all she truly wants is forgiveness but it is far to late for that to ever happen, so she just accepts the fact. She doesn't wish to suffer but knows and feels that it wont happen and there is no way to now fix this depressing situation.