Part Two continues with one of the most important themes that is hinted throughout the novel: water. These pages in Part Two heavily emphasize Robbie’s need for water, but at the same time, he is reminded of a period in his past in which water was deceitful towards him. Almost every other page, Robbie – and almost everyone else that he sees – focuses his attention on his need for water: “ . . . but he had no saliva.” (Page 224). “His only thought was of water.” (Page 224). “He cleared away old leaves and used his helmet to dig. The soil was damp but no water oozed into the hole he had made . . . So he sat and thought about water and tried to clean his tongue against his sleeve.” (Page 224). “One of them was crying out, over and over, more in rage than pain, ‘Water, I want water!’ ” (Page 228). “They sat like beggars at the side of the road, calling out for help, or for a mouthful of water.” (Page 231). “There was no water. They had finished the wine and now their thirst was greater.” (Page 231). “Thirst alone decided it” (Page 234). “A drink would have been fine, but what interested them now was water.” (Page 236). “When he mentioned water, she looked at him suspiciously, as though she knew he wanted more than water.” (Page 240). These many quotes for the need of water appear not only throughout Part Two, but also throughout the rest of the novel. The most classic example, was in Chapter 2, when Cecilia emerges from the fountain after retrieving the broken piece of the vase. At the end of Chapter 2, Robbie recognizes Cecilia’s fury and his punishment, attempts to ‘quell‘ the rolling water a rather impossible task. Water is an avid symbol throughout the book. And these very symbol of water, constantly betrays Robbie throughout his life. The most deceptive moment water has ever played on him was when he was nineteen and was teaching a ten– year–old Briony how to swim for the first time. “Apart from the concentric ripples moving out across the pool, there no sign of her. She bobbed up, snatched a breath and sank again. . . . There was no choice – he stepped into the water, shoes, jacket and all.” (Page 217). Again, we have water – and again – it is an object that deceives Robbie (Briony was fake–drowning) and leads to Briony’s rampant imagination in which she believes she is in love with Robbie. In the end, neither Briony nor Robbie, benefit from this lake experience.
In this section, Briony foolishly decides to test Robbie’s feelings for her by jumping in a river, in the hopes that he’ll save her. She doesn’t realize, however, how dangerous what she did was, until Robbie scolds her and leaves her, disgusted. In Briony’s eyes, she was pursuing her secret love. Secret loves are exciting, especially for a young adolescent like Briony. Having a secret love is like having a secret obsession. People daydream about their loved ones. For Briony, her daydreams morph into not only a human being to be tested; they become the substance of her imaginative writing. Secret love must, however, remain a secret because the scariest part of declaring your love for someone is the possibility of being rejected. Robbie’s rejection of Briony in the river incident may be a pivotal jumping off point for her acting out revenge against him.
So, lots of things to say about this long reading. First, Robbie’s paragraph about his irrational hatred of Briony gave me a bit of a better understanding of why everyone else hates her. For reasons I don’t want to go into, reading that paragraph made me realize that I know what it’s like to hate someone irrationally for what they did, because even if they may have thought they were doing the right thing, it’s still infuriating, because they were wrong in making that assumption. And no matter how much a person apologizes for something, sometimes the damage is doe and that’s that. Sorry doesn’t fix everything; I realize that. However, to make a comment about the layers of fiction, I feel kind of sorry for Briony, assuming that she’s the one making Robbie make that claim, because it kind of shows the depth of her self-criticism.
Then there was the incident with the fake drowning. I’ve always thought it was a really cute scene, but it also makes me wonder what happened to Robbie’s sort-of affection for Briony. He seemed to like her well enough three years before the incident, and I didn’t get the impression that he hated her as a result of the incident. He mentions that at thirteen years old, she should not have made such a huge mistake, but I just feel like there would be some of that affection still there. Maybe he was just too focused on Cecelia during the night of the rape. In terms of the multiple levels of fiction, I think that Briony just put that section in there out of wishful thinking/nostalgia. Like, maybe she was thinking of Robbie as that nineteen-year-old whom she used to like, and therefore wanted him to be thinking of her and that incident. But I don’t think that resentment drove her to her crime, despite what Robbie contemplates. I simply think she was motivated by fear, as I explained in some of the earlier blog posts.
The scene on page 237, in which a random man is falsely accused of killing someone’s friend (I think, or something along those lines), is a pretty blatant parallel to Robbie’s conviction. He watches the man get bullied, and wonders why he doesn’t try to defend himself; he also realizes that although he (Robbie) wants to help, “there was nothing he could do…without risking a lynching himself” (237). Again, going back to Briony’s level, this could be her first realization that Robbie must have been pretty scared and miserable when he was being taken away. The statement about how Robbie knew that trying to help was dangerous may be a way of Briony trying to justify her silence, or maybe Cecelia’s silence.
Some final notes: First, as we discussed in class, I liked the paragraph about the man with the plow; it gave me hope and reminded me that life isn’t all about war. Second, the bombing scene on page 222 was interesting; while the war books I have read in the past mostly revolved around endlessly long, descriptive writing and made it seem like time was moving in slow motion, that scene was filled with action and filled me more with a sense of urgency. Third, there were a couple of moments I caught where aspects of Briony popped out: the first was Robbie’s need to “impose order” (233) on the hectic beach, and the second was his “childish feeling of abandonment” (235) that arose after the corporals left. Finally, the section where Robbie was trying to imagine all the awful events of the fateful night playing in reverse reminded me, again, of Slaughterhouse-Five and the part where Billy watches the movie in reverse.
I hate that Robbie dies. He could have had a completely different life but Briony completly messed that up. I understand taht he feels hate towards Briony, and find it funny that Briony is describing Robbie imagining her and Danny on the end of his bayonet. And the idea that Briony could hold a grudge against Robbie is an interseting one. It brings insight that Briony expects a fairytale like the one that she writes. I also liked reading the point of view of what happened that night that he was convicted of the crime. It was just a sweet and sad moemnet between him and Cecilia. He rememebers this just before he dies.
It's kind of lovely when my thoughts or guesses on a character are written in the following pages. Take the scene when Briony jumps into the water, like a complete idiot. She can't swim so Robbie has to save her and nearly drowns himself. Yes. Now I asked myself "Why in the world would she do that? Is she suicidal?" and then I'd answer myself "No, self, she is a stupid kid who is in love with Robbie and thought leaping to her death was the best way to test and/or express that love." And then McEwan totally writes that! Sure it's written in prettified artsy language but it's nice to see that I hit the nail on the head. I also silently speculated that Briony accused Robbie because she was secretly jealous of Cecilia being the object of Robbie's affections but that was never proven it was just speculated by Robbie. It was nice that my speculations matched his speculations. I liked how McEwan gave us a partial explanation but room for interpretation.
The rest of this section made me feel so on edge. I felt the full extent of Robbie's fatigue. What was also intriguing was the juxtaposition of Robbie's body's slow decay with the hyper intense situations that occurred in this section. The part when Robbie was attempting to bring the Flemish woman and her son to safety was positively agonizing. "With a free hand he was pulling on the woman's arm. the boy was wetting his pants and screaming in Turner's ear. The mother seemed incapable of running. She was stretching out her hand and shouting. she wanted her son back. The child was wriggling toward her, across his shoulder. Now came the screech of the falling bomb," (222). This is just another example of the power of McEwan's writing; I was on the edge of my seat, physically pained because this stupid woman couldn't move her fucking feet. Seething, in a word, was my reaction. And then I got mad at McEwan and I wanted everything to just go faster. I thought I was going to explode.
One thing that made me quite confused was Turner watching that man get beaten. There was an awful lot of thinking happening in that scene and yet Turer didn't do much of anything. To me it seemed like another example of bystanderism and the ability of one not to do anything. Granted he was severely dehydrated and all around terrible feeling and looking so yeah.
Some lines that stuck in my head were when he was thinking about Briony again while he was lying down, "Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren't enough people, enough paper and pens, enough patience and peace, to take down the statements of all the witness and gather facts. the witnesses were guilty too. All day we've witnessed each other's crimes. You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?" (247) These words speak to how powerful and weak words can be. The perceptions that people have of one another whether they are based on fact of fiction. The choices people make, whether on the battlefield or in civilian life, some have lasting impacts that can never be reversed. These thoughts show how Robbie has become disillusioned with the power of Briony redacting her statement; he is not admitting defeat but accepting reality. This shows how going to war has fundamentally changed his reality in how he thinks of people and what he expects of people; I find it chilling.
There were allusions to story telling in this section. There allusions reminded me that even though this is Robbie's story, it is part of Briony's manipulated reality. On page 213 Robbie, through Briony, yearns for his story to continue - not his life, but his story. To Briony, the love affair between Robbie and her sister isn't real. Instead it is a story waiting to be manipulated and improved. Briony adds drama to Robbie's life by creating a "star-crossed lovers" situation. Instead of allowing Robbie to have a normal life, she uses him as a character and gives him a story that he never deserved.
Robbie describes the story already written for him, and the story he hopes to have. In this novel, Robbie gets that story. This is Briony's way of atoning. She write Robbie a new story, but she can't change reality. When Briony was 10, she described a life that Robbie might have. It is directly because of her that Robbie has that life of love and adversities.
Briony is so stupid it is aggravating! She decides that the best way to see how much Robbie cares for her is by attempting to drown herself and see what he does. Of course he jumps in and saves her immediately, but after wards he is very upset because he knows that she could have drown very easily. Briony tells him that she is forever in his debt and is eternally grateful. This is ironic because only three years later Briony screws up his life to the point where it will never be the same.
I found the end part of the reading very hard to read. This is the lead up to and finally death of Robbie. He is at the point where he is so dehydrated that he is hallucinating and everything is blurring together and not making any sense at all. He sees his life flash before his eyes and he then thinks of the horrors of war then dies. It’s really depressing to read about him dying because you have to feel that it’s mainly Briony’s fault. The other reason it’s so sad is because you know that he will never see Cecilia again.
At this point, it looks like it isn't video games and television that makes children do bad things, its writing plays! Briony's notion of the world is warped by all the books and plays she reads. She doesn't know how real world situations play out in the real world. This is represented by the situation where she jumps into a lake because she thinks that Robbie will save her. But even though he does, his reaction is different from what she expects. She declares her love for him, but he gets angry. She hasn't experienced this reaction before, its alien to her.
I hated reading this, because like the rest of the book, it was completely preventible. Robbie didn't have to die.
In this section, Briony, the narrator, gets into the same kind thinking that lands Robbie in prison. She tries to imagine what Robbie is thinking. Briony being self absorbed, imagines that Robbie is consumed by thoughts of her. Briony thinks that Robbie can never forget about her and move on with his life. Although Briony is no longer a child, she still does not understand that Robbie and Cecilia were in love. She does not consider that many of his thoughts could have been about Cecilia. Briony wants Robbie’s attention. Although no one could ever know what Robbie was thinking about during the war, Briony could not harbor the unbearable thought of not crossing Robbie’s mind. She could not have Robbie forgive her and not hold a grudge, in her novel because she would like to think that Robbie is always thinking of her.
My favorite part of these pages was the flashback to Robbie saving Briony in the lake. It's a big part of her atonement - she's realizing what could've prompted the crime, even if her resentment was subconscious. Some clues were dropped too, that it's Briony writing Robbie's story: "No one would ever know what it was like to be here. Without the details there could be no larger picture." [pg. 214] "Lines, surely, from one of her books, one she had read lately, or one she had written." [pg. 218] The Amo bar cameo on pg. 225 This excerpt of part two also demonstrates how Briony has grown up. Instead of giving Robbie and Cecilia happily-ever-after, she gives him a more realistic war life with just a glimmer of hope.
McEwan continues with his display of Europe's utter chaos and destruction as Robbie, Mace, and Nettle continue on across the war front. The part in which Robbie thought about his experience with Briony and her "drowning" experience was so helpful for understanding Briony's motives on the night of her crime. Briony putting herself in a position of turmoil and forcing Robbie to come save her, much like a fairy tale of a damsel in distress and a knight in shinning armor, shows how she feels about Robbie. In a way Briony's feelings are kind of hinted at in the beginning too when she talks about Robbie lifting her up and how he had ultimately "betrayed her". Briony probably felt that her fairy tale with Robbie had been ruined by Cecilia and she felt the need to right it not of knowing what would ultimately come of it.
The way Briony writes from "Robbie's" point of view is really interesting, also it is extremely ironic and annoying. "No one would ever know what it was like to be here." (P. 214) One. How would Briony know this... She wasn't there! Two. She seems to want Robbie to forgive her, yet writes that he has this unrelenting hate towards her. Again with that there are so many things wrong.. Briony never knew what he was thinking! From when he saved her stupid self after she jumped into the lake, pond, river, pool thing, till the day he died. Eternally grateful my ass... More like eternally bitter... I don't understand why Briony would write Robbie believing that the reason for all of the nonsense and the stupid lie was a bitterness about Robbie's love for Cecilia.
It's really cool how Mace and Nettle protect Turner from basically being drafted a second time by the sergeant. It shows that even though he was just a private, the men he was with and who he helped survive, stuck with him till then end.
Amo bar = slap to the face... Stupid Paul..
This part had a few interesting points about people just continuing their lives as normal, stopping for gun fire and the like. "...the farmer with his dog still waiting patiently under the tree,"(P. 224) "A line of washing which included women's smalls was hanging out to dry. The smell of cooking, of onions and garlic, rose from the boat." (P.230) It's strange how in all the dead and destruction, there are still little pieces of home, work, and the living.
"All day we've witnessed each other's crimes. You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?" (P. 247) I love this line.. It can be put into so many situations. Death's meaning can be replaced by anything and it would still have such a strong meaning. Just because you didn't "do" anything doesn't mean you are innocent, you are just as guilty as the rest.
Robbie's death was both interesting and sad. His mind seemed to float and wonder around and through very different things. From the twins to the boy's leg in the tree. He feels guilty for leaving the Flemish lady and her son though he carried the twins, and about leaving the boy in the tree, and every other thing he could have done better.
"I promise, you won;t hear another word from me." The saddest part about this line, is that it is the truth.
In this reading, Turner and his fellow soldiers continue on their journey to Dunkirk. Even though Briony did not actually appear in the reading, she continued to anger me. She is just so stupid. Turner recalls a day years before part one when Briony wanted to try and test Turners love for her by jumping in a lake. Of course, Turner is rightfully angry with her for it because it is a really stupid thing to do and she could have (and maybe should have) drowned. When they reach Dunkirk, everything is in total chaos. This is interesting because Briony was obsessed with order throughout her childhood and even lined up her toys facing in one direction. Even though she is the one writing the story, it is still chaotic.
Here we get to see why Briony was so willing to tell everyone that Robbie was the one with Lola. Briony obviously had a crush on Robbie. That is why she jumped into the lake, because she wanted Robbie to be one of the heros from the stories she reads. After he yells at her for her idiotic actions, she turns the passion she has for him into a negative passion. She wants to hurt him now as she feels he did to her. Robbie sets her off the day of part one by showing the same feelings towards Cecilia as Briony did for Robbie. She wants revenge, and sees the perfect opportunity as making him the scapegoat for what happened with Lola.
Even during WWII I can’t escape Briony’s exasperating idiocy. The flashback of Briony pretending to drown was frustrating. Briony is at an odd point in her maturity and growth. She’s at that weird age where she at times is expected to act and wishes to act like an adult but doesn’t know how. When she behaves like a child striving for attention with her short sighted attempt at drowning she is scolded because she is expected to act with maturity. Unfortunately at that point she doesn’t have the maturity to act with any foresight. It’s interesting to think that Briony is trying to get into the mind of what Robbie might be thinking about what her motivations were for accusing him. It’s so Meta. I don’t know if I should think of it as a form of Briony confessing to that unrequited love and long grudge being the reason for her accusation, or perhaps she doesn’t quite know herself and is trying to make sense of her own actions. Food for thought at the very least.
Crap... well since I accidentally talked about two readings in one blog I'll just go into detail. When we get the account of Briony jumping in the water to see if Robbie would save her she was depending on her fictitious idea of life. She is so caught up in her stories that she believes that this romantic action will make her crush on Robbie real. But in reality he is angry, which she sees soon after. This I believe is another reason why she does what she does; sentencing Robbie to jail for life. She believes that when she says that Robbie was the one raping Lola she will be the hero and Cecilias savior as well as Lola's. Because of her fantasy she fails to see the real consequences on the horizon.
Robbie is right about the inability of history textbooks to capture the details of war. People become statistics, soldiers and civilians alike. Robbie’s, or any other individual’s, experience can’t be understood without the sensory aspects that come along with the dates, places, and notable wartime figures. “No one would ever know what it felt like to be here,” (214) because they weren’t there to smell the corpses, hear the “sound of panic itself,” (222), and watch humans die before their eyes. I think this is part of the reason that Robbie is much more interested in his name being cleared than punishing Briony. He wants to purify his life, not taint it further with revenge.
I was really mad when I read that Robbie had once saved Briony’s life. That Briony intentionally jumped into the river (rather than fell in unintentionally) makes it even worse. She provoked Robbie to risk his life for her, and he responded just as she had expected. I’m sorry, but “I love you” isn’t a good enough explanation for Briony’s actions. Maybe she thinks it’s poetic, but when her dramatization of the world puts real people in life and death situations, the poetry is effectively cancelled out. Just as disturbing, if not more, is Briony’s interpretation of “eternal gratitude”. Robbie’s thank you gift consists of false accusations, separation from loved ones, a stint in the army, and premature death. “He would never forgive her,” (220) and as far as I’m concerned, he certainly shouldn’t.
A particularly moving scene was when Robbie is reminded of his childhood; “… a memory he could not place, of being carried on his father’s shoulders… He would like those shoulders now. His missing father had left few memories. A knotted neck scarf, a certain smell, the vaguest outline of a brooding, irritable presence,” (227). He even makes it a point to “become his father’s son,” (228). At first, I was surprised that Robbie remembered his father with more fondness than resentment. I expected anger and maybe even disgust. But then I realized that Robbie’s “father-figure” (Mr. Tallis) failed him in a worse way than his real father. Mr. Tallis treated Robbie well only until he was more trouble than he was worth. Mr. Tallis never got involved to actually defend Robbie or vouch on his behalf, but remained out of the picture, knowing that Robbie didn’t stand a chance. Once Robbie was no longer a totable asset, Mr. Tallis stopped investing in him.
The last thing I’d like to recognize in this reading is what I think is what I consider to be the most powerful statement in this book; “You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?” (247). You accused no one today? But how many did you allow to be punished unjustly? Everyone is guilty, not just in this book, but in the real world. Nobody is perfect, and therefore everyone has something to atone for. I could go into a very long philosophical rant on this topic, but I’ll cut myself off here before I get started.
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Part Two continues with one of the most important themes that is hinted throughout the novel: water.
These pages in Part Two heavily emphasize Robbie’s need for water, but at the same time, he is reminded of a period in his past in which water was deceitful towards him. Almost every other page, Robbie – and almost everyone else that he sees – focuses his attention on his need for water:
“ . . . but he had no saliva.” (Page 224).
“His only thought was of water.” (Page 224).
“He cleared away old leaves and used his helmet to dig. The soil was damp but no water oozed into the hole he had made . . . So he sat and thought about water and tried to clean his tongue against his sleeve.” (Page 224).
“One of them was crying out, over and over, more in rage than pain, ‘Water, I want water!’ ” (Page 228).
“They sat like beggars at the side of the road, calling out for help, or for a mouthful of water.” (Page 231).
“There was no water. They had finished the wine and now their thirst was greater.” (Page 231).
“Thirst alone decided it” (Page 234).
“A drink would have been fine, but what interested them now was water.” (Page 236).
“When he mentioned water, she looked at him suspiciously, as though she knew he wanted more than water.” (Page 240).
These many quotes for the need of water appear not only throughout Part Two, but also throughout the rest of the novel. The most classic example, was in Chapter 2, when Cecilia emerges from the fountain after retrieving the broken piece of the vase. At the end of Chapter 2, Robbie recognizes Cecilia’s fury and his punishment, attempts to ‘quell‘ the rolling water a rather impossible task. Water is an avid symbol throughout the book. And these very symbol of water, constantly betrays Robbie throughout his life.
The most deceptive moment water has ever played on him was when he was nineteen and was teaching a ten– year–old Briony how to swim for the first time. “Apart from the concentric ripples moving out across the pool, there no sign of her. She bobbed up, snatched a breath and sank again. . . . There was no choice – he stepped into the water, shoes, jacket and all.” (Page 217). Again, we have water – and again – it is an object that deceives Robbie (Briony was fake–drowning) and leads to Briony’s rampant imagination in which she believes she is in love with Robbie. In the end, neither Briony nor Robbie, benefit from this lake experience.
In this section, Briony foolishly decides to test Robbie’s feelings for her by jumping in a river, in the hopes that he’ll save her. She doesn’t realize, however, how dangerous what she did was, until Robbie scolds her and leaves her, disgusted. In Briony’s eyes, she was pursuing her secret love. Secret loves are exciting, especially for a young adolescent like Briony. Having a secret love is like having a secret obsession. People daydream about their loved ones. For Briony, her daydreams morph into not only a human being to be tested; they become the substance of her imaginative writing. Secret love must, however, remain a secret because the scariest part of declaring your love for someone is the possibility of being rejected. Robbie’s rejection of Briony in the river incident may be a pivotal jumping off point for her acting out revenge against him.
P.S. Jackie - I really love your blog about water betraying Robbie: extremely insightful! :)
So, lots of things to say about this long reading. First, Robbie’s paragraph about his irrational hatred of Briony gave me a bit of a better understanding of why everyone else hates her. For reasons I don’t want to go into, reading that paragraph made me realize that I know what it’s like to hate someone irrationally for what they did, because even if they may have thought they were doing the right thing, it’s still infuriating, because they were wrong in making that assumption. And no matter how much a person apologizes for something, sometimes the damage is doe and that’s that. Sorry doesn’t fix everything; I realize that. However, to make a comment about the layers of fiction, I feel kind of sorry for Briony, assuming that she’s the one making Robbie make that claim, because it kind of shows the depth of her self-criticism.
Then there was the incident with the fake drowning. I’ve always thought it was a really cute scene, but it also makes me wonder what happened to Robbie’s sort-of affection for Briony. He seemed to like her well enough three years before the incident, and I didn’t get the impression that he hated her as a result of the incident. He mentions that at thirteen years old, she should not have made such a huge mistake, but I just feel like there would be some of that affection still there. Maybe he was just too focused on Cecelia during the night of the rape. In terms of the multiple levels of fiction, I think that Briony just put that section in there out of wishful thinking/nostalgia. Like, maybe she was thinking of Robbie as that nineteen-year-old whom she used to like, and therefore wanted him to be thinking of her and that incident. But I don’t think that resentment drove her to her crime, despite what Robbie contemplates. I simply think she was motivated by fear, as I explained in some of the earlier blog posts.
The scene on page 237, in which a random man is falsely accused of killing someone’s friend (I think, or something along those lines), is a pretty blatant parallel to Robbie’s conviction. He watches the man get bullied, and wonders why he doesn’t try to defend himself; he also realizes that although he (Robbie) wants to help, “there was nothing he could do…without risking a lynching himself” (237). Again, going back to Briony’s level, this could be her first realization that Robbie must have been pretty scared and miserable when he was being taken away. The statement about how Robbie knew that trying to help was dangerous may be a way of Briony trying to justify her silence, or maybe Cecelia’s silence.
Some final notes: First, as we discussed in class, I liked the paragraph about the man with the plow; it gave me hope and reminded me that life isn’t all about war. Second, the bombing scene on page 222 was interesting; while the war books I have read in the past mostly revolved around endlessly long, descriptive writing and made it seem like time was moving in slow motion, that scene was filled with action and filled me more with a sense of urgency. Third, there were a couple of moments I caught where aspects of Briony popped out: the first was Robbie’s need to “impose order” (233) on the hectic beach, and the second was his “childish feeling of abandonment” (235) that arose after the corporals left. Finally, the section where Robbie was trying to imagine all the awful events of the fateful night playing in reverse reminded me, again, of Slaughterhouse-Five and the part where Billy watches the movie in reverse.
I hate that Robbie dies. He could have had a completely different life but Briony completly messed that up. I understand taht he feels hate towards Briony, and find it funny that Briony is describing Robbie imagining her and Danny on the end of his bayonet. And the idea that Briony could hold a grudge against Robbie is an interseting one. It brings insight that Briony expects a fairytale like the one that she writes. I also liked reading the point of view of what happened that night that he was convicted of the crime. It was just a sweet and sad moemnet between him and Cecilia. He rememebers this just before he dies.
It's kind of lovely when my thoughts or guesses on a character are written in the following pages. Take the scene when Briony jumps into the water, like a complete idiot. She can't swim so Robbie has to save her and nearly drowns himself. Yes. Now I asked myself "Why in the world would she do that? Is she suicidal?" and then I'd answer myself "No, self, she is a stupid kid who is in love with Robbie and thought leaping to her death was the best way to test and/or express that love." And then McEwan totally writes that! Sure it's written in prettified artsy language but it's nice to see that I hit the nail on the head. I also silently speculated that Briony accused Robbie because she was secretly jealous of Cecilia being the object of Robbie's affections but that was never proven it was just speculated by Robbie. It was nice that my speculations matched his speculations. I liked how McEwan gave us a partial explanation but room for interpretation.
The rest of this section made me feel so on edge. I felt the full extent of Robbie's fatigue. What was also intriguing was the juxtaposition of Robbie's body's slow decay with the hyper intense situations that occurred in this section. The part when Robbie was attempting to bring the Flemish woman and her son to safety was positively agonizing. "With a free hand he was pulling on the woman's arm. the boy was wetting his pants and screaming in Turner's ear. The mother seemed incapable of running. She was stretching out her hand and shouting. she wanted her son back. The child was wriggling toward her, across his shoulder. Now came the screech of the falling bomb," (222). This is just another example of the power of McEwan's writing; I was on the edge of my seat, physically pained because this stupid woman couldn't move her fucking feet. Seething, in a word, was my reaction. And then I got mad at McEwan and I wanted everything to just go faster. I thought I was going to explode.
One thing that made me quite confused was Turner watching that man get beaten. There was an awful lot of thinking happening in that scene and yet Turer didn't do much of anything. To me it seemed like another example of bystanderism and the ability of one not to do anything. Granted he was severely dehydrated and all around terrible feeling and looking so yeah.
Some lines that stuck in my head were when he was thinking about Briony again while he was lying down, "Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren't enough people, enough paper and pens, enough patience and peace, to take down the statements of all the witness and gather facts. the witnesses were guilty too. All day we've witnessed each other's crimes. You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?" (247) These words speak to how powerful and weak words can be. The perceptions that people have of one another whether they are based on fact of fiction. The choices people make, whether on the battlefield or in civilian life, some have lasting impacts that can never be reversed. These thoughts show how Robbie has become disillusioned with the power of Briony redacting her statement; he is not admitting defeat but accepting reality. This shows how going to war has fundamentally changed his reality in how he thinks of people and what he expects of people; I find it chilling.
There were allusions to story telling in this section. There allusions reminded me that even though this is Robbie's story, it is part of Briony's manipulated reality. On page 213 Robbie, through Briony, yearns for his story to continue - not his life, but his story. To Briony, the love affair between Robbie and her sister isn't real. Instead it is a story waiting to be manipulated and improved. Briony adds drama to Robbie's life by creating a "star-crossed lovers" situation. Instead of allowing Robbie to have a normal life, she uses him as a character and gives him a story that he never deserved.
Robbie describes the story already written for him, and the story he hopes to have. In this novel, Robbie gets that story. This is Briony's way of atoning. She write Robbie a new story, but she can't change reality. When Briony was 10, she described a life that Robbie might have. It is directly because of her that Robbie has that life of love and adversities.
Briony is so stupid it is aggravating! She decides that the best way to see how much Robbie cares for her is by attempting to drown herself and see what he does. Of course he jumps in and saves her immediately, but after wards he is very upset because he knows that she could have drown very easily. Briony tells him that she is forever in his debt and is eternally grateful. This is ironic because only three years later Briony screws up his life to the point where it will never be the same.
I found the end part of the reading very hard to read. This is the lead up to and finally death of Robbie. He is at the point where he is so dehydrated that he is hallucinating and everything is blurring together and not making any sense at all. He sees his life flash before his eyes and he then thinks of the horrors of war then dies. It’s really depressing to read about him dying because you have to feel that it’s mainly Briony’s fault. The other reason it’s so sad is because you know that he will never see Cecilia again.
At this point, it looks like it isn't video games and television that makes children do bad things, its writing plays! Briony's notion of the world is warped by all the books and plays she reads. She doesn't know how real world situations play out in the real world. This is represented by the situation where she jumps into a lake because she thinks that Robbie will save her. But even though he does, his reaction is different from what she expects. She declares her love for him, but he gets angry. She hasn't experienced this reaction before, its alien to her.
I hated reading this, because like the rest of the book, it was completely preventible. Robbie didn't have to die.
In this section, Briony, the narrator, gets into the same kind thinking that lands Robbie in prison. She tries to imagine what Robbie is thinking. Briony being self absorbed, imagines that Robbie is consumed by thoughts of her. Briony thinks that Robbie can never forget about her and move on with his life. Although Briony is no longer a child, she still does not understand that Robbie and Cecilia were in love. She does not consider that many of his thoughts could have been about Cecilia. Briony wants Robbie’s attention. Although no one could ever know what Robbie was thinking about during the war, Briony could not harbor the unbearable thought of not crossing Robbie’s mind. She could not have Robbie forgive her and not hold a grudge, in her novel because she would like to think that Robbie is always thinking of her.
My favorite part of these pages was the flashback to Robbie saving Briony in the lake. It's a big part of her atonement - she's realizing what could've prompted the crime, even if her resentment was subconscious. Some clues were dropped too, that it's Briony writing Robbie's story:
"No one would ever know what it was like to be here. Without the details there could be no larger picture." [pg. 214]
"Lines, surely, from one of her books, one she had read lately, or one she had written." [pg. 218]
The Amo bar cameo on pg. 225
This excerpt of part two also demonstrates how Briony has grown up. Instead of giving Robbie and Cecilia happily-ever-after, she gives him a more realistic war life with just a glimmer of hope.
McEwan continues with his display of Europe's utter chaos and destruction as Robbie, Mace, and Nettle continue on across the war front. The part in which Robbie thought about his experience with Briony and her "drowning" experience was so helpful for understanding Briony's motives on the night of her crime. Briony putting herself in a position of turmoil and forcing Robbie to come save her, much like a fairy tale of a damsel in distress and a knight in shinning armor, shows how she feels about Robbie. In a way Briony's feelings are kind of hinted at in the beginning too when she talks about Robbie lifting her up and how he had ultimately "betrayed her". Briony probably felt that her fairy tale with Robbie had been ruined by Cecilia and she felt the need to right it not of knowing what would ultimately come of it.
The way Briony writes from "Robbie's" point of view is really interesting, also it is extremely ironic and annoying. "No one would ever know what it was like to be here." (P. 214) One. How would Briony know this... She wasn't there! Two. She seems to want Robbie to forgive her, yet writes that he has this unrelenting hate towards her. Again with that there are so many things wrong.. Briony never knew what he was thinking! From when he saved her stupid self after she jumped into the lake, pond, river, pool thing, till the day he died. Eternally grateful my ass... More like eternally bitter... I don't understand why Briony would write Robbie believing that the reason for all of the nonsense and the stupid lie was a bitterness about Robbie's love for Cecilia.
It's really cool how Mace and Nettle protect Turner from basically being drafted a second time by the sergeant. It shows that even though he was just a private, the men he was with and who he helped survive, stuck with him till then end.
Amo bar = slap to the face... Stupid Paul..
This part had a few interesting points about people just continuing their lives as normal, stopping for gun fire and the like. "...the farmer with his dog still waiting patiently under the tree,"(P. 224) "A line of washing which included women's smalls was hanging out to dry. The smell of cooking, of onions and garlic, rose from the boat." (P.230) It's strange how in all the dead and destruction, there are still little pieces of home, work, and the living.
"All day we've witnessed each other's crimes. You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?" (P. 247) I love this line.. It can be put into so many situations. Death's meaning can be replaced by anything and it would still have such a strong meaning. Just because you didn't "do" anything doesn't mean you are innocent, you are just as guilty as the rest.
Robbie's death was both interesting and sad. His mind seemed to float and wonder around and through very different things. From the twins to the boy's leg in the tree. He feels guilty for leaving the Flemish lady and her son though he carried the twins, and about leaving the boy in the tree, and every other thing he could have done better.
"I promise, you won;t hear another word from me." The saddest part about this line, is that it is the truth.
In this reading, Turner and his fellow soldiers continue on their journey to Dunkirk. Even though Briony did not actually appear in the reading, she continued to anger me. She is just so stupid. Turner recalls a day years before part one when Briony wanted to try and test Turners love for her by jumping in a lake. Of course, Turner is rightfully angry with her for it because it is a really stupid thing to do and she could have (and maybe should have) drowned. When they reach Dunkirk, everything is in total chaos. This is interesting because Briony was obsessed with order throughout her childhood and even lined up her toys facing in one direction. Even though she is the one writing the story, it is still chaotic.
Here we get to see why Briony was so willing to tell everyone that Robbie was the one with Lola. Briony obviously had a crush on Robbie. That is why she jumped into the lake, because she wanted Robbie to be one of the heros from the stories she reads. After he yells at her for her idiotic actions, she turns the passion she has for him into a negative passion. She wants to hurt him now as she feels he did to her. Robbie sets her off the day of part one by showing the same feelings towards Cecilia as Briony did for Robbie. She wants revenge, and sees the perfect opportunity as making him the scapegoat for what happened with Lola.
Even during WWII I can’t escape Briony’s exasperating idiocy. The flashback of Briony pretending to drown was frustrating. Briony is at an odd point in her maturity and growth. She’s at that weird age where she at times is expected to act and wishes to act like an adult but doesn’t know how. When she behaves like a child striving for attention with her short sighted attempt at drowning she is scolded because she is expected to act with maturity. Unfortunately at that point she doesn’t have the maturity to act with any foresight. It’s interesting to think that Briony is trying to get into the mind of what Robbie might be thinking about what her motivations were for accusing him. It’s so Meta. I don’t know if I should think of it as a form of Briony confessing to that unrequited love and long grudge being the reason for her accusation, or perhaps she doesn’t quite know herself and is trying to make sense of her own actions. Food for thought at the very least.
Crap... well since I accidentally talked about two readings in one blog I'll just go into detail. When we get the account of Briony jumping in the water to see if Robbie would save her she was depending on her fictitious idea of life. She is so caught up in her stories that she believes that this romantic action will make her crush on Robbie real. But in reality he is angry, which she sees soon after. This I believe is another reason why she does what she does; sentencing Robbie to jail for life. She believes that when she says that Robbie was the one raping Lola she will be the hero and Cecilias savior as well as Lola's. Because of her fantasy she fails to see the real consequences on the horizon.
Robbie is right about the inability of history textbooks to capture the details of war. People become statistics, soldiers and civilians alike. Robbie’s, or any other individual’s, experience can’t be understood without the sensory aspects that come along with the dates, places, and notable wartime figures. “No one would ever know what it felt like to be here,” (214) because they weren’t there to smell the corpses, hear the “sound of panic itself,” (222), and watch humans die before their eyes. I think this is part of the reason that Robbie is much more interested in his name being cleared than punishing Briony. He wants to purify his life, not taint it further with revenge.
I was really mad when I read that Robbie had once saved Briony’s life. That Briony intentionally jumped into the river (rather than fell in unintentionally) makes it even worse. She provoked Robbie to risk his life for her, and he responded just as she had expected. I’m sorry, but “I love you” isn’t a good enough explanation for Briony’s actions. Maybe she thinks it’s poetic, but when her dramatization of the world puts real people in life and death situations, the poetry is effectively cancelled out. Just as disturbing, if not more, is Briony’s interpretation of “eternal gratitude”. Robbie’s thank you gift consists of false accusations, separation from loved ones, a stint in the army, and premature death. “He would never forgive her,” (220) and as far as I’m concerned, he certainly shouldn’t.
A particularly moving scene was when Robbie is reminded of his childhood; “… a memory he could not place, of being carried on his father’s shoulders… He would like those shoulders now. His missing father had left few memories. A knotted neck scarf, a certain smell, the vaguest outline of a brooding, irritable presence,” (227). He even makes it a point to “become his father’s son,” (228). At first, I was surprised that Robbie remembered his father with more fondness than resentment. I expected anger and maybe even disgust. But then I realized that Robbie’s “father-figure” (Mr. Tallis) failed him in a worse way than his real father. Mr. Tallis treated Robbie well only until he was more trouble than he was worth. Mr. Tallis never got involved to actually defend Robbie or vouch on his behalf, but remained out of the picture, knowing that Robbie didn’t stand a chance. Once Robbie was no longer a totable asset, Mr. Tallis stopped investing in him.
The last thing I’d like to recognize in this reading is what I think is what I consider to be the most powerful statement in this book; “You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?” (247). You accused no one today? But how many did you allow to be punished unjustly? Everyone is guilty, not just in this book, but in the real world. Nobody is perfect, and therefore everyone has something to atone for. I could go into a very long philosophical rant on this topic, but I’ll cut myself off here before I get started.
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