The novel of Atonement review

The novel of Atonement review

The novel of Atonement is all about a war-torn love story of two lovers, Robbie and Cecilia and likewise about the life of a troubled girl, Briony Tallis. Briony is sister to Cecilia who is having an affair with Robbie. Briony Tallis feels responsible for keeping the two lovers separated and estranged. Briony Tallis excises her power as a writer, and she insincerely talks about the two lover’s fate as a means of appealing interests of a reader. Forthwith, the novel intends to sincerely reveal the bare truth of the couples’ future and give a chance to Briony to amend for her mistakes. Briony Tallis successfully attains redemption for her deception through themes of remorse, shame, and purity. The central theme of this story is a quest for seeking forgiveness depicted by Briony and Robbie in the novel.

Through Briony’s emotional reactions and changes in time, McEwan enhances the themes of guilt and Briony quest for seeking forgiveness. Briony grows up knowing to be an only child because of being far much behind from her older sister, Cecilia, and her brother, Leo in terms of age. Furthermore, Briony’s birth was difficult, which exposed her mother to illness, making Briony to be not close to her mother most of her life. Being alone most of the times and reading of fictional stories diverted Briony from the real world into the world of her own. Growing up with this life, Briony developed an interest in becoming a writer.

Briony’s craving of being lofty, perfectionist, being acknowledged in everything exhibited itself through her obsession with her readjustment of dolls and other things which are of no value. She hides a box of small objects and relic which are no value to anyone else. Briony feels a failure and a person of no control when her play “The Tales of Arabella” went against her expectations.

When Lolla assumed the role she anticipated for in the Arabella, Briony becomes unable to come into terms with the reality, and she maintains of how things should be like under her control. Briony nature of being lofty extends to her end of life when she is still redressing Robbie and Cecilia (295). Briony gets obsessed with her world of fiction, and she doesn’t want to face reality and understand that she would not be able to have power over everything in what she thinks is the real world. She loses her innocence and possesses feelings of “adult emotions” upon disclosure between Robbie and Cecilia (106). For example, when Cecilia stripped herself down and dived into the fountain in search of her father’s broken vase after the two lovers quarrels. Briony did not believe what she saw and started feeling uneasy of her sister, and she questions Robbie’s morals and intentions. Briony felt like this probably because of her innocence and not yet developed into adulthood. Briony views Robbie as a possible rapist and a sexual lunatic. It worsens when she read Robbie’s note about Cecilia. Briony did not see all these actions as a way of expressing love since it did not exist in her world of fiction. Upon walking in on the two lovers, with “so much by way of contradiction” (106).

Briony, being prisoned in her world of fiction, made her not able to adapt and fit in the real world. Even though Briony loses her innocence, she still finds it difficult to get away with the controls she maintains. A big question concerning quilt in the novel is the extent to which sin can surpass before forgiveness is not guaranteed. Mathews states how far gone is it for Briony to “rectify the effects” (153). Moreover, remorse intensifies. But it is not until Briony was working as a nurse and she sincerely realizes the extent of her deeds or as Mathews recalls, she feels remorse and “reprehensive beyond the possibility of atonement” (153). Author Brian Finney notes that Briony to attempt asking for forgiveness she “projects herself into the thoughts and feelings of characters” (75). Briony thinks of clearing her name first overshadowing that of Robbie, and she would find a way of seeking forgiveness for her. In the novel, PaulMarshal, Leon’s friend, who is a real rapist, ends up marrying a girl he took advantage of her. He lives happily later without regret of his actions and does not seek atonement through others. Though Robbie knowing he did nothing wrong, promises to seek atonement of her “sins” and gives Cecilia a life she deserves.

The theme of innocence, misunderstanding, and perception manifest itself in the novel through Briony’s narration and sense of remorse and Briony obligation seeking atonement of her past actions. Briony is guilty of her past and is tormenting her after entering into adulthood. This guilt remains a compulsive “method of self-torture, a rosary to be fingered for a lifetime” that she deals with the rest of her life in search of penance not only from her tormented lovers but herself (162). Cecilia’s family betrayal made her becomes unfriendly to her family to stay with Robbie. Briony had depicted Robbie as a sex maniac and was trying to protect her sister from him. But funny enough she runs to him, and Briony attempts to reach her sister for the atonement of her first false accusations, but it was fruitless. No resolutions took place between Briony, Cecilia, and Robbie. Briony learnt that people were “easily torn, not easily mended” (287). Furthermore, Mathews depicts her age and innocence may be used to “frame” defend her relapse and bad call of judgment (153). Since she is still young and shields herself from the real world.

Robbie’s and Briony’s actions had developed into something else out of context were meant to bare consequences resulting from their efforts. Though Briony did not intend to “mislead” or “act out of malice”, she would spend the rest of her life in search of atonement for herself and those she had affected (318). Also, from beginning to end of the novel it is known that it is mainly from what Brian Finney calls the “interpretation” of Briony, though it shifts through different times and places (79). At the end of the novel, the deception of Robbie and Cecilia, finding love and happiness together divulges. This expresses Briony’s undependability nature both as an author and a writer until she defends her actions because she “gave them happiness” (351). Though knowing that it will be unlikely to write another novel if that is the only way lovers end up happily after.

Briony thoughts that the only way to appease the estranged lovers is to write a happy ending further depicts his nature to have control over everything and her fantasies in approaching the real-life situations. The story took her life to write after countless attempts until when she was able to make it right and to be honest about her past misdeeds and wrongful actions of Robbie Carter and her sister Cecilia Tallis as a “final act of kindness” (350). Briony realizes her guilt for the past mistakes surpasses chances for forgiveness apart from getting the opportunity to do so. Nevertheless, she asserts that to have spent her life trying to fix the past and trying hard to achieve such futility “was all” (351). The theme of waiting is featured in the quest of Briony seeking forgiveness for life for a long time.

Conflict manifests itself throughout the novel. Briony, a 13-year-old child, wrongly blames Robbie of being the sex maniac and the rapist when she witnesses brother’s friend raping her cousin Lola. Her false accusations tarnished Robbie and Cecilia actual relationship and faced many problems and their participation of each during World War II as a result of that. Briony later in the novel changed the factual ending of Robbie and Cecilia’s order of events by bringing them together and restoring their happiness. She uses this as a means of finding atonement for her regrettable actions. McEwan brought about the theme of virtue, remorse, and atonement through frequent flashes of memories and resultant emotions and Briony life-long quest of the atonement of her past mistakes and actions.