Blog Post: Response to Atonement

Question Addressed in Class: If you were in the shoes of Robbie, would you forgive Briony? / Did Briony achieve atonement?

For this discussion the majority of the class said no which is understandable. As a reader, I believe that it is impossible to tell mainly because Robbie never had the chance to either forgive or keep a grudge against Briony. It would only be natural for the audience to argue that Robbie would never forgive Briony for all the things that lead him into turmoil. But we must consider Briony's case. Briony had written this book for a sole purpose; to achieve atonement. She had been writing the book for over 50 years, which in fact is more than half her life. In another words she has been in search of forgiveness for 50 years. Through this we can assume that her hatred for herself is much greater and longer than of the hatred Robbie held against Briony. Without a doubt, Robbie's hatred was significant but in my perspective, Briony’s hatred on herself would directly affect her more significantly than would Robbie's hatred against her. However by the end of the book, Briony confesses that she fabricated the ending where Robbie, Cecilia and Briony meet and that Robbie and Cecilia lived happily together. She explains that "her version of the book will be the one that will 'survive to love' rather than the sadness of 'what really happened'" (GradeSaver). She also exposes the unfortunate truth that Robbie and Cecilia both died in the war which also means that they never had the chance to meet. As readers this complicates the situation because we cannot factually tell whether Robbie would have actually either kept the grudge against her or that he would have ultimately forgiven her. Nevertheless, according to the evidence we are given Briony seems to want the audience to sympathize with Robbie than Briony herself. In the given situation Briony believes that she can't be forgiven. In the end of the book she makes a final statement or plea, in this case, saying, "How can a novelist achieve atonement when with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her [...] It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all" (Briony, Ian McEwan Last few pages). In conclusion Briony accepts her fate (of not actually being able to achieve atonement) and that the ‘attempt was all’.