Atonement

Having finally finished Atonement, I can say that I am very impressed with McEwan’s ability to tell a story. I was left shocked and satisfied because though the story does not end with a “happily ever after” tone, it does complete itself. I was perplexed because I felt certain ways about the entire situation before I knew the real truth, and the ending caused me to challenge my initial thoughts.

After finishing Part 3, I was interested by my own lack of sympathy for Cecelia and Robbie in the last few scenes. For some reason I find it too hard to place all of the blame on Briony. The circumstances were too influential to make this only her crime. It wasn’t her fault that she was only a young naive girl, Robbie and Cecelia could have picked a more appropriate time and place to have sex, Emily could have been a more attentive parent… the blame is endless. The last interaction seems to justify Cecelia and Robbie’s anger, though I just cannot agree that Cecelia and Robbie are complete victims. I ended the chapter feeling sorry for Briony and fed up with Cecelia and Robbie.

Though, I am not sure where to place my own thoughts knowing that the emotions shown are all through the lens of Briony. All of the anger held by Cecelia and Robbie are merely perceived by Briony who has a guilty conscious, and she is also assuming this is how they felt because she never did get to meet with them. I was left asking, what would their accurate emotions have been? Would Cecelia have been more understanding if Briony had really met her?

Finally, was McEwan planning on adding the last chapter from the beginning, or does Brinoy in the sense of her being an author, reflect McEwan’s own inability to perfect his story? I feel that he might have written the last chapter on a whim after the story was complete, or at the very least used Briony’s frustrations as a storyteller as a method of expressing his own challenges creating the story.