Briony finally makes the “daring journey” to Cecilia’s apartment. Even as Cecilia is shocked and disappointed to see her younger sister, she grants Briony entry into her apartment. The two former close sisters, talk casually about nursing and the war, but Cecilia maintains her very cold demeanor towards Briony. As they talk, Robbie appears in the kitchen, unaware of Briony’s presence at first, but is then is also shocked that she is in Cecilia’s apartment. I found that this scene to be less deep and meaningful than it was in the movie. Robbie obviously displays his full on anger towards Briony for realizing her crime, but the Cecilia in the scene seemed to be less harsh to Briony than she was in the movie. However, the only harsh remark Cecilia bestowed to Briony was the the fact that Cecilia would never fully forgive her sister. However, what I found to be strong in this scene was the change in loyalty between Briony and Robbie from Cecilia. Cecilia’s loyalty lies completely and solely to Robbie now. This is made clear when Robbie moves in to attack Briony, and once again, Briony is saved by Cecilia who intervenes. “But Cecilia slid between them. With her back to Briony, she faced Robbie and placed her hands on his shoulders. He turned his face away from her. ‘Look at me,’ she murmured. ‘Robbie. Look at me. . . . Come back . . . Robbie, come back.’ (Page 324). The words ‘come back,’ however, are directed at Robbie and not Briony, further isolating Briony from her sister and realizing that she will never, nor should she ever be forgiven. Furthermore, what I found ironic about this section was whom Cecilia and Robbie assumed who raped Lola: Danny Hardman. “ ‘And if you can remember anything at all about Danny Hardman, where he was, what he was doing, at what time, who else saw him – anything that might put his alibi in question, then we want to hear it.’ . . . ‘Old Hardman was probably telling the truth. Danny was with him all that night.’ . . . ‘What do you mean by that? What are you saying?’ ‘It was Paul Marshall.’ ” (Pages 326 – 327). What was interesting near the end of this section, is that as long as Briony had blamed Robbie for the rape, Robbie and Cecilia have always assumed it was Danny Hardman who was the assailant. But it is actually Briony, who is able to swing what Robbie and Cecilia have imagined into reality.
In this reading we finally have the big confrontation scene between Briony, Cecelia, and Robbie. I will admit that I began to strongly disapprove of Briony because she was being kind of self-absorbed. She keeps thinking about how uncomfortable SHE is, and how rude Cecelia is to HER, and so on. And I can sympathize with that, because it’s an awfully uncomfortable thing to apologize to people who treat you so coldly and refuse to forgive you at all. But I’m finally starting to feel like it’s about time that Briony own up to what she did. I mean, nobody likes apologizing, but it still needs to be done. Briony is still paralyzed by fear though, and not even fictionalizing herself is enough to get her to finally just do it. But I’m not mad at her—I feel sorry for her. Anyway, she does finally do it in the end, and although she feels that her apology “sounded so foolish and inadequate” (329), I think she finally did what she had to do all along.
I thought this reading was so tragic, mainly because Briony wants so badly to reconnect with her older sister, but their relationship can never be repaired. That’s why the broken vase was so significant, as I’ve now realized. When Cecelia registers that the vase cannot be fixed, even though it was okay the first time, and that there’s nothing she can do about it, it is really Briony realizing that their relationship is broken and that it forever out of her control. Because Cecelia is dead. However, I do put a lot of blame on Cecelia for that fact. As I mentioned in my blog for the first section of Part 2, I think Cecelia is really putting her romantic relationships before her family. I’ve said it once before: I love Robbie, and I think their relationship is so sweet and romantic, but at the end of the day, Briony is just a little girl, and one whom Cecelia used to love, no less. She’s her sister. Briony’s crime was terribly immature, even for her age, but regardless, thirteen-year-olds will make mistakes! And as I said in some of my earlier blogs, Briony was partially motivated by the fear that Cecelia was going to get hurt. As long as we’re talking about immaturity, I think that Cecelia is extremely unjustified in holding a five-year grudge against not only Briony but her entire family.
Then the drowning incident all those summers ago was brought up, and then I finally started to believe that maybe her resentment of Robbie from all those years ago was a factor in her crime. Maybe it wasn’t a primary factor, but I suppose it was still there. I don’t know, I’m just trying to reassess Briony’s motives that night, and I wonder if it really was fear that was the main factor. Could it be both? They don’t seem to fit together for me; why would she still like someone she’s scared of? It also makes sense to me that she could have been resentful of the fact that Cecelia’s attention had been diverted, given the last paragraph of this reading (which made me feel awful for Briony), So yeah, I’m not sure about that.
Finnally, some confrontation and communication. Yes it wasn't the world's healthiest conversation - Robbie, after all, threaten to break Briony's neck - but it was nice to seem some real life character interaction. Most of the book has been introspective and stream of conscience. In this section the plot moves forward, Briony gets out of her head, and I don't have to endure too many descriptions.
In the beginning part of this novel we didn't see much interaction between Cecelia and Briony. And when they did interact, there were clear roles - Cecelia was the adult, Briony was the child. Now Briony is an adult and this is the first time Cecelia sees her as such. Cecelia no longer needs to hold back; her sister is an adult and should bear and understand the consequences of her actions. Cecelia doesn't see Briony as her kid sister, or even her sister anymore. She sees a woman who betrayed her.
Robbie is understandably outraged to see Briony. He has spent years coming to terms with his situation and suppressing his feelings about the Tallis family. But it is nice to see this Robbie - that is the Robbie that Briony created - with a happy home life. I know that later Briony said that she created this story to give Robbie and Cecelia some happiness - but I don't think she did. She gave them life long baggage, no family to turn to, and anger to last a lifetime.
In this section, we finally see Briony confront Cecilia, after many years of separation. There’s still an air of scorn from Cecilia, but that’s understandable. Robbie’s bluntness about breaking Briony’s neck initially made me laugh, but this also revealed Robbie’s bubbled up and unresolved anger (before, we’d seen his pain and regret).
I think if I hadn’t watched the movie, I would have been wondering how McEwan could possibly end this book: I have to admit that I am beyond satisfied with this ending. I love the idea of using writing as atonement. This book has proved that words are almost more powerful than actions (Briony’s false accusation, Cecilia’s “Come back to me”), and Briony’s final effort at writing her book successful brings about the most powerful action of all: atonement.
I loved this scene. Every inch of it. Every. Inch. I wasn't just reading the scene - I was there. I was in Briony's head. I could picture everything clearly (the movie helped in that department...) and I could see it all playing out before me. I think Briony did a very realistic job of "writing" this scene. She wasn't easy on herself. She recognized the pain and anger Cecilia and Robbie would have and let it spill out onto paper. This must've been the most difficult part for her to write for a couple reasons. One, she hadn't seen either of them in years, so she had no idea how/if they had changed at all. Two, it was yet another form of penace and punishment for what she did. And three, it hadn't even happened. This confrontation would've been so much better than no contact with each other at all for the rest of their lives.
I loved this scene. Every inch of it. Every. Inch. I wasn't just reading the scene - I was there. I was in Briony's head. I could picture everything clearly (the movie helped in that department...) and I could see it all playing out before me. I think Briony did a very realistic job of "writing" this scene. She wasn't easy on herself. She recognized the pain and anger Cecilia and Robbie would have and let it spill out onto paper. This must've been the most difficult part for her to write for a couple reasons. One, she hadn't seen either of them in years, so she had no idea how/if they had changed at all. Two, it was yet another form of penace and punishment for what she did. And three, it hadn't even happened. This confrontation would've been so much better than no contact with each other at all for the rest of their lives.
In this section, Briony visits Cecilia. When they first start talking it was almost painful to read because it was so tense. Briony finally admits to someone other then herself that she had been lying when she said that it was Robbie who attacked Lola. Briony seemed to think that telling someone would lift all the weight off her back and Cecilia would forgive her and they would all live happily ever after, yet Cecilia doesn’t forgive her at all, rightly so in my opinion. Soon, Robbie enters the room. At first he does not recognize Briony and just goes into the bathroom. Once again, Briony shows she only cares about herself, and instead of being happy because she had just discovered that Robbie was alive and well, she is just worried about confronting him. I think that if we hadn’t watched the movie and talked about it, I still wouldn’t have realized what was happening and what Briony was just writing in her novel. Briony makes up her fantasy in which she is not forgiven and nothing is completely set right, yet Cecilia and Robbie are happy which I think is the first unselfish thing that Briony has done. Although I do think she is completely naïve for thinking that writing a book in which she is not forgiven will be enough to gain atonement.
Finally Briony confronts her avengers. It felt a tad unrealistic but overall it was a rightfully tense and awkward scene. Briony does all she can to say that she is sorry, although "I'm sorry" is not enough to make such a life changing crime o k.
I liked the part when Cecilia and Robbie where kissing and Briony focuses on something outside. I felt like Briony was finally giving them some privacy. Robbie and Cecilia give Briony a list of things she must do to make things right again. Which i feel should have been done years before, but thats an obvious.
Overall the scene moved slowly but i felt like the slowness of the scene mirrored Briony's over due apology and time that it took for her to mature. I loved the ending, "[n]ot simply a letter, but a new draft, an atonement, and she was ready to begin."(330) It felt like the perfect ending.
So even though it was only about three pages, it seemed like forever until Briony got to Cecilia's apartment. Before she gets to her destination the reader is bombarded with images of things along the way. Things that I don't necessarily care about. I mean it's wonderful that Briony has self diagnosed herself with hypoglycemia but can we get on with it? And the fact that she stops at a cafe really hammers home that she is dragging her heels.
I'm not sure why, but I thought there would be relief when Briony finally made it Cecilia's apartment, but there wasn't. What's worse, I felt as if there needed to be some culminating action. But there wasn't. Everything between Briony and Cecilia was cool, measured, and superficial. One line that stood out to me was a description of the apartment, "Some of the tidiest nurses on the ward lived in stews in their own rooms, and she would not have been surprised to see a new version of Cecilia's old chaos. But the impression here was of a simple and lonely life," (p 316). This description showed how Briony's estimations how how things might turn out to be were way off. It seemed that she underestimated the complete effect of here action. How much her sister has changed because of her circumstances. This quotation is so sad because Cecilia can't afford to be whimsically messy anymore. And when Robbie's enters it just furthered this idea of the extent of harm that Briony caused. Robbie just seems to damaged, like the person he used to be has eroded away or at least is greatly suppressed. The only thing that brings him back from the dark place that is inside him is Cecilia. I think if I didn't know the true ending to this book I'd be happy with this one at the end of this section. But I'm not sure if I would have rather: cynically read this book knowing that the two people who deserve the happy ending not only don't get to be together but also die pretty horrifically,(as I did) or have been overly joyed that Robbie is alive and then have my hopes and dreams absolutely obliterated in the next chapter. I guess I'll never know.
Finally Briony and the lovers meet again. This is a significant part in Brinys novel because this is where she really makes a story. In a very naturally Briony way all she can really do is apologize, but that isn't enough for Cecilia and Robbie. But she knows that, she knows that they could never forgive her. So she does what she believes is right. Which is tell the truth, as well as allow them to have their love. When she first sees Robbie she can't believe it and when he realizes its her he cant believe it and wants to hurt her. When she leaves you really feel like everything is done and sealed. Like things will be okay. That is a great way to end the story. Letting they're love live on as well as have Briony prepared to do what she needed to fix everything.
Finally Briony has to face a confrontation. She goes to Cecilia's apartment because she needs to talk with Cecilia and she won't answer her messages. We finally get it from the source that forgiveness will never be granted. That the pass is pass, nothing Briony does will change it, and that Briony will forever be thought as a traitor. Even though forgiveness will not be granted, Briony admits to the lovers who the crime was really committed by. I felt annoyed that after all the time that had pasted, both Cecilia and Robbie believed it to be Hardman.
I kind of would rather have this as the ending than what the ending really is. It is far to perfect, but it shows her atonement will never be complete.
So Briony finally visits Cecelia after years and years. She visits her in a one bedroom apartment after Lola and Paul's wedding. Although Briony does not expect her apology to be accepted, she still gives it a shot. They do not feel like sisters anymore, instead, old friends with a bad history that separated them. Robbie walks in and doesn't even see her for a second. When he does, he is both shocked and mad. He felt all this bottled up anger that came rushing back. He was finally face to face with the person who put Cecelia and him through all this suffering. He tells her he doesn't know whether he should throw her down the stairs or snap her neck. Neither of which are appealing greetings. Robbie and Cecelia tell her what she can actually do to atone for what she has done.
The climax finally happens. Briony meets with her sister and Robbie. She is able to apologize for her crime but they don't believe or forgive her. Robbie is able to let out all his anger and hate towards Briony for ruining his life. They tell her that they want her to tell the truth but that they will never forgive her. Briony understands. In this chapter, Cecilia and Robbie still believe that it was Danny Hardman that raped Lola. Briony tells them the truth saying that she had just come from Lola's wedding to Paul Marshall. They are angry and understand that Lola will never tell the truth, that she'll just protect Marshall. As Briony leaves, she sees them together and happy for the last time before deciding to get atonement. The end of the book is depressing because we find out the truth for all the characters. Briony lets readers know that Robbie died at war and Cecilia died in a bombing. That they never were together in the book but she wrote it because she felt that they deserved a happily ever after. At the end of the book, I feel sympathy for Briony because she was just a young girl when she committed her crime but then again her lie caused the unhappiness and death of Cecilia and Robbie.
The end is nigh!! Hooray! Briony finally meets the man that she accused of rape, as well as her sister. She apologizes of course, and basically begs their forgiveness. This being a semi-realistic movie/ and story, that apology is rejected, as it should. Briony spills all the secrets that she knows, gives Robbie the true story. And she leaves, trying to absolve him of his crimes... which turns out to be a bunch of crock.
Turns out she didn't go. This really pissed me off, because she never really faces what impact her grave accusations caused. Firstly, Robbie is dead before she could talk to him, and her sister dies soon after. Now, she is trying to not only atone for causing an innocent man to go to jail, but trying to absolve herself of the deaths of two. Nice job...
In this reading Briony visits Cecilia and has the first face to face interaction since Cecilia left. The encounter is really awkward; Cecilia immediately lets Briony know that she is still pissed and always will be pissed. The one time Cecilia stands up for Briony is when the landlady yells at Briony and Cecilia tells her not to be rude to her little sister. I thought that Cecilia’s reaction to the news of the vase breaking was very suiting. She was surprised at first then completely indifferent about the news.
The most shocking thing in the reading is when Robbie walks into the room and you are just like wait I thought he was dead! At first he doesn’t even notice who it is, but when he comes back into the room he is just like, oh it was you. He progressively gets angrier at Briony until Cecilia finally intervenes and saves Briony. Robbie and Cecilia agree that Briony has to tell her parents the truth about Robbie and take some legal actions to clear Robbie’s name.
The scene where Briony finally meets up with Robbie and Cecilia, while being completely made up was satisfying in a way. Briony is finally faced with the reality of her crime witnessing Robbie's broken psyche she literally see's for herself the emotional scar she has left. While I think Briony still wasn't punished nearly enough I think this part would have made at least a satisfying end to the book.
It was interesting reading this part knowing that it was completely a fabrication. Briony could have made that scene go any way she wanted but she decided to make both Robbie and Cecilia cold and unforgiving as a punishment to herself. Clearly Briony really does feel remorse for her crime and is able to not be a self-centered meany all the time haha
It seems that it is time for the final climax of the book. The central theme and title finally culminate in the confrontation between Briony, Cecilia and Robbie. The final and true atonement begins and ends in this scene. I’m not entirely sure what Briony expected coming in, whether she expected forgiveness for her actions, or maybe just recognition in her attempt to atone, or perhaps she expected nothing and she just attempted to cleanse herself of her guilt. I cannot say for sure. The scene where Briony reveals to Cecilia and Robbie that Paul Marshall, not Danny Hardman, was the rapist was particularly poignant. That scene shows how easily someone could make a mistake and believe that they are right completely despite the facts to the contrary. It serves as a way to humanize Briony to Cecilia and Robbie, but it doesn’t seem to make them more forgiving towards her. It just makes them angry at Paul, and rightly so. Briony’s apology was, I don’t know any other way to put this, perfect. When you do something so horrible that affects so many people in horrifying ways how can you make an adequate apology? Anything you say will be inadequate, and what she said was completely realistic. When you feel so much guilt that words cannot begin to express how completely sorry you are you end up saying something stupid and inadequate like Briony.
In this section, Briony visits her sister Cecilia. The scene is very awkward and it seemed as if there was a lot of tension between Briony and her sister. Like the soldier she treated in the hospital, Briony has two options, thirst or pain. Briony “longed for a glass of water, but she did not want to ask her sister for anything” (320). Briony would rather be thirsty than have to ask her sister for a glass of water. On the other hand, the soldier drank his water and it caused him immense pain. Briony would like the reader to think that the pain she was suffering was greater than the pain of the soldier because her pain was harder to overcome.
Reading this section already knowing about the ending makes it very interesting. I could see that Ian McEwan was writing it as thought Briony was guiltily making things better than how they turned out. At Paul and Lola’s wedding, when the preacher asks if anyone does not think these two should be together, I really wanted Briony to stand up and shout, even if it would have only been in her fictional version, “Paul was the one who raped Lola.” There would be gasps from the close family and confusion from people that did not know about what happened, thinking why is this nurse yelling stuff. I know that would never happen, but it would be a very interesting what if.
This section we finally get to the scene that the whole story has been leading to. Well, the fake fiction within fiction happy alternate ending that a made up character decided to put in her story about her own life. This book did not initially seem like one that would just completely mess up ones mind, it mostly seemed like some old timey upper class blah book about a vase. But it has been really interesting to see the hints at fallacy in McEwan's writing of Briony's writing about Robbie's time in the war. The scene where Briony finally saw Robbie and Cecelia was really enjoyably anticlimactic for me at first. When Robbie walks past her and thinks she is just some other nurse, I really enjoyed that and thought that Briony must be exploding from nervous on the inside. Then when Robbie was finally acting as pissed off as he should be, Briony seemed to just take his anger away from him by thinking like he's just another soldier having a temper tantrum and continuing to live in her fantasy where nothing bad can really happen.
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Briony finally makes the “daring journey” to Cecilia’s apartment.
Even as Cecilia is shocked and disappointed to see her younger sister, she grants Briony entry into her apartment. The two former close sisters, talk casually about nursing and the war, but Cecilia maintains her very cold demeanor towards Briony. As they talk, Robbie appears in the kitchen, unaware of Briony’s presence at first, but is then is also shocked that she is in Cecilia’s apartment. I found that this scene to be less deep and meaningful than it was in the movie. Robbie obviously displays his full on anger towards Briony for realizing her crime, but the Cecilia in the scene seemed to be less harsh to Briony than she was in the movie. However, the only harsh remark Cecilia bestowed to Briony was the the fact that Cecilia would never fully forgive her sister. However, what I found to be strong in this scene was the change in loyalty between Briony and Robbie from Cecilia. Cecilia’s loyalty lies completely and solely to Robbie now. This is made clear when Robbie moves in to attack Briony, and once again, Briony is saved by Cecilia who intervenes. “But Cecilia slid between them. With her back to Briony, she faced Robbie and placed her hands on his shoulders. He turned his face away from her. ‘Look at me,’ she murmured. ‘Robbie. Look at me. . . . Come back . . . Robbie, come back.’ (Page 324). The words ‘come back,’ however, are directed at Robbie and not Briony, further isolating Briony from her sister and realizing that she will never, nor should she ever be forgiven. Furthermore, what I found ironic about this section was whom Cecilia and Robbie assumed who raped Lola: Danny Hardman. “ ‘And if you can remember anything at all about Danny Hardman, where he was, what he was doing, at what time, who else saw him – anything that might put his alibi in question, then we want to hear it.’ . . . ‘Old Hardman was probably telling the truth. Danny was with him all that night.’ . . . ‘What do you mean by that? What are you saying?’ ‘It was Paul Marshall.’ ” (Pages 326 – 327). What was interesting near the end of this section, is that as long as Briony had blamed Robbie for the rape, Robbie and Cecilia have always assumed it was Danny Hardman who was the assailant. But it is actually Briony, who is able to swing what Robbie and Cecilia have imagined into reality.
In this reading we finally have the big confrontation scene between Briony, Cecelia, and Robbie. I will admit that I began to strongly disapprove of Briony because she was being kind of self-absorbed. She keeps thinking about how uncomfortable SHE is, and how rude Cecelia is to HER, and so on. And I can sympathize with that, because it’s an awfully uncomfortable thing to apologize to people who treat you so coldly and refuse to forgive you at all. But I’m finally starting to feel like it’s about time that Briony own up to what she did. I mean, nobody likes apologizing, but it still needs to be done. Briony is still paralyzed by fear though, and not even fictionalizing herself is enough to get her to finally just do it. But I’m not mad at her—I feel sorry for her. Anyway, she does finally do it in the end, and although she feels that her apology “sounded so foolish and inadequate” (329), I think she finally did what she had to do all along.
I thought this reading was so tragic, mainly because Briony wants so badly to reconnect with her older sister, but their relationship can never be repaired. That’s why the broken vase was so significant, as I’ve now realized. When Cecelia registers that the vase cannot be fixed, even though it was okay the first time, and that there’s nothing she can do about it, it is really Briony realizing that their relationship is broken and that it forever out of her control. Because Cecelia is dead. However, I do put a lot of blame on Cecelia for that fact. As I mentioned in my blog for the first section of Part 2, I think Cecelia is really putting her romantic relationships before her family. I’ve said it once before: I love Robbie, and I think their relationship is so sweet and romantic, but at the end of the day, Briony is just a little girl, and one whom Cecelia used to love, no less. She’s her sister. Briony’s crime was terribly immature, even for her age, but regardless, thirteen-year-olds will make mistakes! And as I said in some of my earlier blogs, Briony was partially motivated by the fear that Cecelia was going to get hurt. As long as we’re talking about immaturity, I think that Cecelia is extremely unjustified in holding a five-year grudge against not only Briony but her entire family.
Then the drowning incident all those summers ago was brought up, and then I finally started to believe that maybe her resentment of Robbie from all those years ago was a factor in her crime. Maybe it wasn’t a primary factor, but I suppose it was still there. I don’t know, I’m just trying to reassess Briony’s motives that night, and I wonder if it really was fear that was the main factor. Could it be both? They don’t seem to fit together for me; why would she still like someone she’s scared of? It also makes sense to me that she could have been resentful of the fact that Cecelia’s attention had been diverted, given the last paragraph of this reading (which made me feel awful for Briony), So yeah, I’m not sure about that.
Finnally, some confrontation and communication. Yes it wasn't the world's healthiest conversation - Robbie, after all, threaten to break Briony's neck - but it was nice to seem some real life character interaction. Most of the book has been introspective and stream of conscience. In this section the plot moves forward, Briony gets out of her head, and I don't have to endure too many descriptions.
In the beginning part of this novel we didn't see much interaction between Cecelia and Briony. And when they did interact, there were clear roles - Cecelia was the adult, Briony was the child. Now Briony is an adult and this is the first time Cecelia sees her as such. Cecelia no longer needs to hold back; her sister is an adult and should bear and understand the consequences of her actions. Cecelia doesn't see Briony as her kid sister, or even her sister anymore. She sees a woman who betrayed her.
Robbie is understandably outraged to see Briony. He has spent years coming to terms with his situation and suppressing his feelings about the Tallis family. But it is nice to see this Robbie - that is the Robbie that Briony created - with a happy home life. I know that later Briony said that she created this story to give Robbie and Cecelia some happiness - but I don't think she did. She gave them life long baggage, no family to turn to, and anger to last a lifetime.
In this section, we finally see Briony confront Cecilia, after many years of separation. There’s still an air of scorn from Cecilia, but that’s understandable. Robbie’s bluntness about breaking Briony’s neck initially made me laugh, but this also revealed Robbie’s bubbled up and unresolved anger (before, we’d seen his pain and regret).
I think if I hadn’t watched the movie, I would have been wondering how McEwan could possibly end this book: I have to admit that I am beyond satisfied with this ending. I love the idea of using writing as atonement. This book has proved that words are almost more powerful than actions (Briony’s false accusation, Cecilia’s “Come back to me”), and Briony’s final effort at writing her book successful brings about the most powerful action of all: atonement.
I loved this scene. Every inch of it. Every. Inch.
I wasn't just reading the scene - I was there. I was in Briony's head. I could picture everything clearly (the movie helped in that department...) and I could see it all playing out before me. I think Briony did a very realistic job of "writing" this scene. She wasn't easy on herself. She recognized the pain and anger Cecilia and Robbie would have and let it spill out onto paper. This must've been the most difficult part for her to write for a couple reasons. One, she hadn't seen either of them in years, so she had no idea how/if they had changed at all. Two, it was yet another form of penace and punishment for what she did. And three, it hadn't even happened. This confrontation would've been so much better than no contact with each other at all for the rest of their lives.
I loved this scene. Every inch of it. Every. Inch.
I wasn't just reading the scene - I was there. I was in Briony's head. I could picture everything clearly (the movie helped in that department...) and I could see it all playing out before me. I think Briony did a very realistic job of "writing" this scene. She wasn't easy on herself. She recognized the pain and anger Cecilia and Robbie would have and let it spill out onto paper. This must've been the most difficult part for her to write for a couple reasons. One, she hadn't seen either of them in years, so she had no idea how/if they had changed at all. Two, it was yet another form of penace and punishment for what she did. And three, it hadn't even happened. This confrontation would've been so much better than no contact with each other at all for the rest of their lives.
In this section, Briony visits Cecilia. When they first start talking it was almost painful to read because it was so tense. Briony finally admits to someone other then herself that she had been lying when she said that it was Robbie who attacked Lola. Briony seemed to think that telling someone would lift all the weight off her back and Cecilia would forgive her and they would all live happily ever after, yet Cecilia doesn’t forgive her at all, rightly so in my opinion.
Soon, Robbie enters the room. At first he does not recognize Briony and just goes into the bathroom. Once again, Briony shows she only cares about herself, and instead of being happy because she had just discovered that Robbie was alive and well, she is just worried about confronting him. I think that if we hadn’t watched the movie and talked about it, I still wouldn’t have realized what was happening and what Briony was just writing in her novel. Briony makes up her fantasy in which she is not forgiven and nothing is completely set right, yet Cecilia and Robbie are happy which I think is the first unselfish thing that Briony has done. Although I do think she is completely naïve for thinking that writing a book in which she is not forgiven will be enough to gain atonement.
Finally Briony confronts her avengers. It felt a tad unrealistic but overall it was a rightfully tense and awkward scene. Briony does all she can to say that she is sorry, although "I'm sorry" is not enough to make such a life changing crime o k.
I liked the part when Cecilia and Robbie where kissing and Briony focuses on something outside. I felt like Briony was finally giving them some privacy. Robbie and Cecilia give Briony a list of things she must do to make things right again. Which i feel should have been done years before, but thats an obvious.
Overall the scene moved slowly but i felt like the slowness of the scene mirrored Briony's over due apology and time that it took for her to mature. I loved the ending, "[n]ot simply a letter, but a new draft, an atonement, and she was ready to begin."(330) It felt like the perfect ending.
So even though it was only about three pages, it seemed like forever until Briony got to Cecilia's apartment. Before she gets to her destination the reader is bombarded with images of things along the way. Things that I don't necessarily care about. I mean it's wonderful that Briony has self diagnosed herself with hypoglycemia but can we get on with it? And the fact that she stops at a cafe really hammers home that she is dragging her heels.
I'm not sure why, but I thought there would be relief when Briony finally made it Cecilia's apartment, but there wasn't. What's worse, I felt as if there needed to be some culminating action. But there wasn't. Everything between Briony and Cecilia was cool, measured, and superficial. One line that stood out to me was a description of the apartment, "Some of the tidiest nurses on the ward lived in stews in their own rooms, and she would not have been surprised to see a new version of Cecilia's old chaos. But the impression here was of a simple and lonely life," (p 316). This description showed how Briony's estimations how how things might turn out to be were way off. It seemed that she underestimated the complete effect of here action. How much her sister has changed because of her circumstances. This quotation is so sad because Cecilia can't afford to be whimsically messy anymore. And when Robbie's enters it just furthered this idea of the extent of harm that Briony caused. Robbie just seems to damaged, like the person he used to be has eroded away or at least is greatly suppressed. The only thing that brings him back from the dark place that is inside him is Cecilia. I think if I didn't know the true ending to this book I'd be happy with this one at the end of this section. But I'm not sure if I would have rather: cynically read this book knowing that the two people who deserve the happy ending not only don't get to be together but also die pretty horrifically,(as I did) or have been overly joyed that Robbie is alive and then have my hopes and dreams absolutely obliterated in the next chapter. I guess I'll never know.
Finally Briony and the lovers meet again. This is a significant part in Brinys novel because this is where she really makes a story. In a very naturally Briony way all she can really do is apologize, but that isn't enough for Cecilia and Robbie. But she knows that, she knows that they could never forgive her. So she does what she believes is right. Which is tell the truth, as well as allow them to have their love. When she first sees Robbie she can't believe it and when he realizes its her he cant believe it and wants to hurt her. When she leaves you really feel like everything is done and sealed. Like things will be okay. That is a great way to end the story. Letting they're love live on as well as have Briony prepared to do what she needed to fix everything.
Finally Briony has to face a confrontation. She goes to Cecilia's apartment because she needs to talk with Cecilia and she won't answer her messages. We finally get it from the source that forgiveness will never be granted. That the pass is pass, nothing Briony does will change it, and that Briony will forever be thought as a traitor. Even though forgiveness will not be granted, Briony admits to the lovers who the crime was really committed by. I felt annoyed that after all the time that had pasted, both Cecilia and Robbie believed it to be Hardman.
I kind of would rather have this as the ending than what the ending really is. It is far to perfect, but it shows her atonement will never be complete.
Writing her atonement as a book... Ridiculous..
So Briony finally visits Cecelia after years and years. She visits her in a one bedroom apartment after Lola and Paul's wedding. Although Briony does not expect her apology to be accepted, she still gives it a shot.
They do not feel like sisters anymore, instead, old friends with a bad history that separated them. Robbie walks in and doesn't even see her for a second. When he does, he is both shocked and mad. He felt all this bottled up anger that came rushing back. He was finally face to face with the person who put Cecelia and him through all this suffering. He tells her he doesn't know whether he should throw her down the stairs or snap her neck. Neither of which are appealing greetings. Robbie and Cecelia tell her what she can actually do to atone for what she has done.
The climax finally happens. Briony meets with her sister and Robbie. She is able to apologize for her crime but they don't believe or forgive her. Robbie is able to let out all his anger and hate towards Briony for ruining his life. They tell her that they want her to tell the truth but that they will never forgive her. Briony understands. In this chapter, Cecilia and Robbie still believe that it was Danny Hardman that raped Lola. Briony tells them the truth saying that she had just come from Lola's wedding to Paul Marshall. They are angry and understand that Lola will never tell the truth, that she'll just protect Marshall. As Briony leaves, she sees them together and happy for the last time before deciding to get atonement.
The end of the book is depressing because we find out the truth for all the characters. Briony lets readers know that Robbie died at war and Cecilia died in a bombing. That they never were together in the book but she wrote it because she felt that they deserved a happily ever after. At the end of the book, I feel sympathy for Briony because she was just a young girl when she committed her crime but then again her lie caused the unhappiness and death of Cecilia and Robbie.
The end is nigh!! Hooray! Briony finally meets the man that she accused of rape, as well as her sister. She apologizes of course, and basically begs their forgiveness. This being a semi-realistic movie/ and story, that apology is rejected, as it should. Briony spills all the secrets that she knows, gives Robbie the true story. And she leaves, trying to absolve him of his crimes... which turns out to be a bunch of crock.
Turns out she didn't go. This really pissed me off, because she never really faces what impact her grave accusations caused. Firstly, Robbie is dead before she could talk to him, and her sister dies soon after. Now, she is trying to not only atone for causing an innocent man to go to jail, but trying to absolve herself of the deaths of two. Nice job...
In this reading Briony visits Cecilia and has the first face to face interaction since Cecilia left. The encounter is really awkward; Cecilia immediately lets Briony know that she is still pissed and always will be pissed. The one time Cecilia stands up for Briony is when the landlady yells at Briony and Cecilia tells her not to be rude to her little sister. I thought that Cecilia’s reaction to the news of the vase breaking was very suiting. She was surprised at first then completely indifferent about the news.
The most shocking thing in the reading is when Robbie walks into the room and you are just like wait I thought he was dead! At first he doesn’t even notice who it is, but when he comes back into the room he is just like, oh it was you. He progressively gets angrier at Briony until Cecilia finally intervenes and saves Briony. Robbie and Cecilia agree that Briony has to tell her parents the truth about Robbie and take some legal actions to clear Robbie’s name.
The scene where Briony finally meets up with Robbie and Cecilia, while being completely made up was satisfying in a way. Briony is finally faced with the reality of her crime witnessing Robbie's broken psyche she literally see's for herself the emotional scar she has left. While I think Briony still wasn't punished nearly enough I think this part would have made at least a satisfying end to the book.
It was interesting reading this part knowing that it was completely a fabrication. Briony could have made that scene go any way she wanted but she decided to make both Robbie and Cecilia cold and unforgiving as a punishment to herself. Clearly Briony really does feel remorse for her crime and is able to not be a self-centered meany all the time haha
It seems that it is time for the final climax of the book. The central theme and title finally culminate in the confrontation between Briony, Cecilia and Robbie. The final and true atonement begins and ends in this scene. I’m not entirely sure what Briony expected coming in, whether she expected forgiveness for her actions, or maybe just recognition in her attempt to atone, or perhaps she expected nothing and she just attempted to cleanse herself of her guilt. I cannot say for sure. The scene where Briony reveals to Cecilia and Robbie that Paul Marshall, not Danny Hardman, was the rapist was particularly poignant. That scene shows how easily someone could make a mistake and believe that they are right completely despite the facts to the contrary. It serves as a way to humanize Briony to Cecilia and Robbie, but it doesn’t seem to make them more forgiving towards her. It just makes them angry at Paul, and rightly so. Briony’s apology was, I don’t know any other way to put this, perfect. When you do something so horrible that affects so many people in horrifying ways how can you make an adequate apology? Anything you say will be inadequate, and what she said was completely realistic. When you feel so much guilt that words cannot begin to express how completely sorry you are you end up saying something stupid and inadequate like Briony.
In this section, Briony visits her sister Cecilia. The scene is very awkward and it seemed as if there was a lot of tension between Briony and her sister. Like the soldier she treated in the hospital, Briony has two options, thirst or pain. Briony “longed for a glass of water, but she did not want to ask her sister for anything” (320). Briony would rather be thirsty than have to ask her sister for a glass of water. On the other hand, the soldier drank his water and it caused him immense pain. Briony would like the reader to think that the pain she was suffering was greater than the pain of the soldier because her pain was harder to overcome.
Reading this section already knowing about the ending makes it very interesting. I could see that Ian McEwan was writing it as thought Briony was guiltily making things better than how they turned out. At Paul and Lola’s wedding, when the preacher asks if anyone does not think these two should be together, I really wanted Briony to stand up and shout, even if it would have only been in her fictional version, “Paul was the one who raped Lola.” There would be gasps from the close family and confusion from people that did not know about what happened, thinking why is this nurse yelling stuff. I know that would never happen, but it would be a very interesting what if.
This section we finally get to the scene that the whole story has been leading to. Well, the fake fiction within fiction happy alternate ending that a made up character decided to put in her story about her own life. This book did not initially seem like one that would just completely mess up ones mind, it mostly seemed like some old timey upper class blah book about a vase. But it has been really interesting to see the hints at fallacy in McEwan's writing of Briony's writing about Robbie's time in the war. The scene where Briony finally saw Robbie and Cecelia was really enjoyably anticlimactic for me at first. When Robbie walks past her and thinks she is just some other nurse, I really enjoyed that and thought that Briony must be exploding from nervous on the inside. Then when Robbie was finally acting as pissed off as he should be, Briony seemed to just take his anger away from him by thinking like he's just another soldier having a temper tantrum and continuing to live in her fantasy where nothing bad can really happen.
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