Briony In Ian Mcewan's 'Atonement'

Atonement

In the novel Atonement, written by Ian McEwan, the young Briony find out what it feels like to live with eternal grief and regret. Briony accuses one of her friends, Robbie, for raping her cousin because of her jealousy of him being in love with her sister Cecilia and not herself. Throughout the novel the main focuse is if Briony will find atonement after her false accusation against an innocent man.

Firstly, we find out what Briony feels after realising her mistake with accusing Robbie for raping her cousin Lola, even though she knew it was not Robbie who comitted the crime. Briony says ”How guilt refined the methods of self-torture, threading the beads of detail into an eternal loop, a rosary to be fingered for a lifetime.” (pg.173) while she watches the policemen arrest Robbie. Furthermore Briony begin to understand what she has done and she tries to comfort herself with

”It seemed a kindly gesture and Briony was touched by her sister 's capacity for forgiveness, if this was what it was. Forgiveness.” (Pg. 185) Furthermore this is when Cecilia touches Robbie one last time and Briony do not know if Cecilia will ever forgive Briony like she forgives Robbie.

Thirdly, about sixty years later we find out that Briony wrote the book Atonement about her sister and Robbie so she could try to make up for her mistake. ” No Atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.” (Pg. 371) Briony explains that she tried to make up for her grief and give Cecilia and Robbie a life together in her book instead. Even though she wrote the book, Briony explains that she will never feel completely forgiven and that Robbie and Cecilia will never experience their atonement in real