Our Discussion about Atonement...

7/8/2013

By now I imagine you are making your way well through Part One of the novel. There's a lot going on there! Let's start with Briony. What are your observations about her character? Do you like her? Is she a believable character?

And remember - it's okay if we disagree here - let's just always be respectful of one another's ideas as we share our own. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say!

22 Comments

Katie Henderson

7/9/2013 01:02:01 am

I do not like the character of Briony because she is very quick to jump to conclusions. She consistently jumps to conclusions without real proof and her imagination taints her vision because she sees things as a little girl with a lot of self-pity. She is very apathetic an she does not take into account other people's emotions when she does things for herself. I do not like Briony so far in Atonement.

Adrian Gheju

7/10/2013 03:22:31 am

At this point in the book I would have to agree with Katie. I feel Briony is a character that that jumps to conclusions far to quickly and her vivid imagination leads her to judge people prematurely. I also feel that Briony is a control freak. She seems to think that everything should go her and way and has a hard time accepting change. At the moment I very much dislike Briony.

Rebecca Errey

7/10/2013 06:11:20 am

In my opinion I'm not a fan of Briony. I also agree with Adrian and Katie, Briony never seems to think things through, I feel she just jumps to conclusions. She seems that she really doesn't want to follow other characters ideas, it always has to be her way. I feel that she is selfish, and doesn't seem to care about others. I also think that she doesn't enjoy when something needs to be changed. At this point in the book that is what i think of Briony.

Alisha Szozda

7/10/2013 09:18:52 am

I personally do not like Briony as well due to how her personality is portrayed. She entertains a high amount of self pity when she doesn't get what she wants such as when the play doesn't workout. She also expects too much from other people such as her family members and the world around her. A quote that shows how she portrays herself to be controlling is, " Briony was a shrine to her controlling demon: the model farm spread across a deep window ledge consisted of the usual animals, but all facing one way- towards thier owner- as if about to break into song and even the farmyard hens were neatly corralled."(page 5)
As innocent as she might seem to be at the beginning of the novel, it continues to fade away as she lies about not reading the letter Robbie gave her to give to her sister, Cecillia. Briony does not see the true picture, she describes Robbie as the "maniac!" based on not knowing what really happens. She tends to just assume things like Robbie being a bad person. This brings to effect the theme of perception that is introduced in the novel. In this case I feel that she is not a believable character.

Natalie Kozlowski

7/10/2013 09:39:43 am

In my opinion, Briony is a believable character. Since she is still a child, thirteen years old, she seeks for attention. For example, at the beginning of the novel, she decided that her cousins must take part in her play, not considering their thoughts and feelings. She does not wait to let her cousins relax after their journey, settle in for the night, or even think that her cousins may be upset about their parents' divorce. Furthermore, she felt it was necessary for her to play the role of Arabella instead of Lola because she imagined Arabella to have the same characteristics and personality as her. As Lola asks Briony if she may play Arabella, Briony mentally objects, thinking that only she can play Arabella because "no other possibility had crossed her mind, because that was how Leon was to see her" (McEwan 13). Briony's thoughts let us understand that her play was, as Pierrot stated, to show her off and to obtain Leon's appraisal. These characteristics deem Briony as childish, hot-headed, and hasty.

However, as a child, Briony does possess somewhat pure intentions. At first we learn that Briony enjoys to write due to her active imagination, but as the story continues, her imagination causes her to confuse fiction from reality. For example, Briony sees Cecilia undress in front of Robbie due to "his insistence", believing that he "issued a command Cecilia dared not disobey" (McEwan 36). Briony wants to protect her sister just like Cecilia protected her whenever Briony had nightmares. Briony is set to wedge herself between Robbie and Cecilia only because Briony loves and cares for her sister. Briony's intentions are pure and honest, however she allows her intuition to overpower her perception of reality.

Though her personality is realistic and believable, she doesn't appeal to me because she lets her ambition, and her need to be adored, mix wrong from right.

Zamil Hirani

7/10/2013 10:41:00 am

I believe that Briony is a believable character as she is merely thirteen years of age. Kids of her age are known to be very impressionable and are known to be too immature to comprehend the entirety of what is going on. However it is due to Briony being too young and naive to inquire more about what she saw that I dislike her character. She continuously is jumping to conclusions and is immature (though as earlier stated it can be expected from a thirteen year old). When her play fails to materialize she chose to give up on it despite the fact the twins were eager to perform it. She planned the performance to please herself and she halted the production for the same reason, which demonstrates that she is a very selfish individual. What really makes me dislike her is how she very hastily accused Robbie of the occurrence in the forest. She began unsure of what she witnessed, but the time came to speak with the authorities, she convincingly lied and got one of her very own best friends from childhood convicted.

Aditya Subramanian

7/10/2013 12:38:23 pm

I personally, am not a big fan of Briony mainly because she is very quick to jump to conclusions. She seems to be in her own little word (due to her immense passion of writing) to really comprehend the reality of a situation. Briony gives off the impression that she is a perfectionist and not really a team player as she always expects everything to go according to her plans and sadly, life is not as simple as she makes it out to be. It is true that Lola guilted her into stealing the star role of the play, but as to the roles of the twins she was not very sympathetic to them considering their age. An example of this is when the narrator was describing her thoughts as to Jackson wetting the bed and all she cared about was that his punishment be hastened so that he could return immediately to contribute to her play. At the moment, I dislike Briony, for her personality is too selfish and calculating.

Maha Rizvi

7/10/2013 01:33:37 pm

I also personally do not like the character of Briony very much because she is the kind of girl who does not appreciate what others are already doing for her. She is incapable of understanding the fact that everything cannot be her way and how she wants things to be. Her one specific behaviour that I did not like was the part where she just abandons the play without telling anyone else because she feels that her cousins are not acting upon her demands. But rather, I think it was her who was unable to handle and control everything properly and just left without acknowledging that her cousins at least tried in such a short notice. Also, Briony, as others have already stated, reaches to conclusions very quickly and does not even try to learn about the reality which shows her level of immaturity. She is a very unstable character, in my opinion.

Tre Nicholson

7/12/2013 01:24:33 am

Personally, I do not like Briony. Shes way to quick to accuse and jump to conclusion. She's really controlling and she's also every selfish and doesn't like when things that planned have to be changed. In addition to that, she has a very big imagination which clearly gets Robbie in trouble.

Nick Suwalski

7/12/2013 08:13:36 am

I do not like Briony. Briony to me is bossy and self-centered. She cares more about her play than caring about the feelings of the twins and Lola. They are hardly there before they are getting bossed around. She is very emotional. She is very intelligent for a thirteen year old. She has talent in her writing. Why does she lie about Robbie? Is she shocked by what she sees in the library or at the fountain? Is she jealous of her sister?

Because she is thirteen, it is quite believable that she would be shocked by the reality of relationships between men and women. Real love is not quite as pretty and neat like the story of Arabella.

Pranav Gavirneni

7/13/2013 01:32:24 am

I am not very fond of Briony. At the very end of part one she makes a very drastic decision that causes Robbie to get arrested. She tells the cops a story that she had made up. Since she is a child and she is very imaginative she is not able to tell the difference between her imagination and the reality of the world. She seems like a believable character to me because as I just said, she is a child. She accuses Robbie because of the events she had just recently experienced. Especially the letter and the library scene. She is to young and to innocent to understand what was actually happening and she imagined that Robbie was harming her sister that she loves so very much. She also is a perfectionist, she wants things to go exactly the way she wants it to.

Sarah Moslehi

7/13/2013 09:58:57 am

Similar to most peoples thoughts, I very much dislike Briony's overall personality. I find that she often presumes to false evidence or no evidence whatsoever. From early on in the novel Briony behaves in very controlling and demanding manner. I feel that Briony sees much of the world around her as an introduction for her strories and the people around her as characters within them. She always seems very pleased when things go her way, however if they do not it's as if her world is abruptly turned upside down. Seeing that she is so controlling, I have come to think that the reason for her obsession with telling stories is that it is one area in her life she can specifically manage and direct all on her own. Briony carries an attribute of immaturity with her as she quickly jumps to conclusions without thinking of what the consequences may be. As Pranav mentioned, she accuses Robbie of a crime that she misinterprets because of the pervious events she has recently experienced. This misinterpretation causes Robbie to be arrested and taken into custody. When explaining what she has witnessed, Briony states "I saw him with my own eyes." Although Briony says this, she soon starts to contemplate whether or not she has misunderstood or fantasized what she has witnessed. However, even though she realizes she is unsure of what she has seen, she does't dare to tell anyone about her thoughts. Briony feels the need to punish Robbie as he has failed to meet the vision in which she imagines and loves him. Seeing that Briony does not accept or declare her own mistakes, demonstrates how immature and unfair she is. Proceeding on with her lie is not only unfair but consequently damaging to Robbie as well as herself. I really do not enjoy much of her behaviour and feel that she has a very impulsive and abrupt personality. This being said, there have been multiple times that I almost feel sympathetic for her character, and find that I often hope she comes to improve on her personality as well as her attributes.

Eshan Mankotia

7/14/2013 12:08:06 am

I know this is a very uncommon opinion, but I don't like Briony at all. I think she is bored, so she is trying to be involved with the life of her sister, as nothing happens in her own. Her noisiness leads to her finding out about her and Robbie, which skews her perception of him.
So when Lola is attacked later, she assumes it had to have been Robbie, and tells everyone what has happened, potentially ruining his life forever.
I really think that she should have talked it out with her sister first.
I suppose she is believable, but I don't have a younger sibling (thankfully), so I guess I couldn't say for sure.

Donna Voll

7/14/2013 01:06:46 am

In the novel Atonement, Briony Tallis is painted as an attention seeking thirteen-year-old who is self-absorbed and immature. Personally I do not like Briony. She demonstrates a strange combination of childishness in her responses to those around her. Briony validates maturity in her determination to write prolifically. Briony is clearly intelligent; she radiates her love of secrets and fiction while writing short stories, plays and other works in her spare time.
What compels Briony to transform everything into a story? Her need to be the center of attention and Briony’s "controlling demon" (McEwan 5), work together to enable her to write. Briony wants everything as she perceives it - her deception gives her power. Briony uses people for her own ends.
She is a believable character. Briony is credible - a thirteen-year-old girl who is finding herself and is struggling with puberty issues, jealousy and a sense of righteousness. Briony is convincing when she lies because of her portrayal as an innocent and wise youth.

Kahil Patel

7/14/2013 02:56:45 am

In my opinion, Briony is a young immature girl who seeks attention all the time. She has a vivid imagination and presumes facts without any proof. I personally dislike Briony since she blames people for facts that have no evidence, such as Robbie being blamed for Lola's attack. She views Robbie as a bad person simply through her imagination. Briony personally does not know Robbie but assumes him as a bad person from reading the letter that Robbie gave to her to give to Cecilia. This immature behaviour is the result of her age and puberty. Apart from blaming others for their wrong, Briony is also a selfish character. She demonstrates her selfishness from wanting every thing to happen according to her plans. For instance, for her play she thinks that her cousins are not acting upon her demands. This causes Briony to cancel her play. Briony also presents greediness from acting greedy with Lola. When Lola asks Briony if she can play the main character of Arabella, she responds saying that Lola isn't capable of playing the role of Arabella except herself. Overall I view Briony as a selfish, greedy and a victim mentality (a person who blames others for their wrong). I personally don't like Briony because she is too negative.

Esra Aborig

7/14/2013 06:14:16 am

I personally do not like Briony’s character whatsoever, she evidently is an attention seeker and very immature. She’s quick to jump to conclusions and cannot contain her imagination resulting in unfortunate happenings. In the fountain scene, Briony is unsure of what happened between her sister Cecilia and Robbie so her imagination casually fills the gaps in the story and insists that these misobservations are nothing but the truth, at the expense of Robbie and Cecilia’s lives. I don’t think that Briony does this with malicious intentions but due to her needs to be the center of attention and have everything go her way.

Erij Elkamel

7/14/2013 06:51:22 am

Personally, I am not too fond of Brionny’s character. At this point, she seems to be an attention-seeking young girl who prefers that all attention is centered on her. For example, Brionny explains that her love for creating art and writing plays is due to the fact that “everyone would adore her” (11). In my opinion, this is not a likeable trait, but it is dominant in her personality. Also, Brionny’s character frustrates me as she wonders about things such as why her fingers move on command, when she clearly is intelligent enough to understand the mechanism behind such simplicity: “She raised one hand and flexed its fingers and wondered . . . how this thing, this machine for grasping . . . came to be hers, entirely at her command” (35). Although Brionny is portrayed to be very intelligent for her age since she writes novels, plays, and other works of literature, she is too childish. It is evident that childishness is a decision that Brionny chooses to pursue. An example of her immaturity is when she observes Robbie and Cecilia from her window, and instead of dealing with the fact that she can’t know the whole truth of the scene as a bystander, Brionny fills in the blanks with her imagination. After filling in the blanks of the scene, she realizes that “[t]he sequence was illogical” (39). However, she continues to assume that her made-up story is reality. Brionny is unable to understand anything that does not go along with her perception of how things should be, so she creates an entirely different reality, and she believes it to be the truth.

I really hope that Brionny’s personality progresses towards a more positive direction as the plot develops, as this would create more interest for me as a reader.

Fahad Almutairi

7/14/2013 10:36:49 am

In my opinion I do not like Briony, she seeks for attention and is immature to the world around her. Briony almost feels like an only child since she has such a huge age difference between her siblings. Since she feels like only child she becomes bored and this causes her to become very imaginative. Briony becomes distant from the world when she is writing her plays and living in her imaginary world. Since she is distant from the world it makes her have a high expectation for the people around her. For example, Briony's play does not go as expected. Briony decides to give up on the play when her cousins don't follow her plan and the cousins want to be in the play. Briony has a high expectation for her cousins and when her play failed she brought out her immature side. I think Briony is a believable because I have cousins who act similar to her and have her characteristics.

Victoria Guderian

7/14/2013 11:35:46 am

I do not like Briony mainly because of her controlling personality. When she is directing her play she has no patience for the actors. "At the end. It goes up at the end!"(34) Since the beginning of the novel she been very demanding and gets upset very easily. When her cousins are clearly trying their best to make her play a good show she yells at them because she is very impatient with their acting skills.

Sara Canini

7/14/2013 01:00:00 pm

I dislike Briony's character. She is does not compromise, nor does she waver in her perspective. Once she judges someone she holds it against them. She makes assumption before gathering adequate information. I think what makes me almost annoyed with her is he judgement of others and the way she makes assumptions. When one develops a perspective from past experiances, they also need to realize that similar things may not be true in all future situations. I could not trust someone like Briony. Her one fault could be fixed by simply consulting with other chacters. For example, if she had just talked to her sister, Cecilia, inocent Robbie would not have been arrested. Briony in part one has made me notice the value in gatherig informmation, and sharing opinions. You cannot judge someone until you have essentially "walked in their shoes".

Kevin Qiu

7/14/2013 01:12:29 pm

Personally, I am not very fond of Briony’s character. She is self-centered and an obnoxious 13 year-old girl who loves telling stories. At the beginning of the book, we see that Briony has thoughts of wanting to hurt Lola for intentionally destroying her play. Her imagination is what causes her to jump to conclusions as she cannot distinguish the difference between fiction and reality. The scene where Cecilia disrobes herself in front of Robbie is a perfect example of this. Without any evidence, she assumes that Robbie is blackmailing her sister and forcing Cecilia to drown herself. Near the end of part one, Robbie was arrested because of who Briony “thought” she saw near the temple. In reality, Briony has no idea who she saw and only believed it was Robbie because she wanted to protect her sister.

Ahmed Owity

7/17/2013 12:44:25 pm

I personally believe Briony is one annoying character. Annoying because she seems to be getting involved in things at such a young age. It has always been said "those who grow up too quick, never do grow up right", this quote could definitely be a trait in Briony future. Especially if she continues to be the way she is. To say the least, I am curious to see what more nosey things Briony does and what else she will get herself into

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