Lies Finally Catch Up: A Literary Analysis of Atonement - Book Report/Review Example

Lies finally catch up: A Literary Analysis of Atonement Introduction This is a literally analysis of Ian McEwen’s book Atonement. The book features five characters and Briony Tallis is one of them. Briony is a thirteen-year-old who is accuses Robbie, another character, of rape and is a co-protagonist. Cecilia Tallis, sister to Briony, is another protagonist who later falls in love with Robbie. Robbie Tuner is the son of a worker in the Tallis family. Leon Tallis is the first born of the Tallis family while Emily Tallis is the matriarch of the Tallis family. The first chapter of the book tells the story that happened during one fateful night, in 1935, in the Tallis estate located north of London. The chapter pays close attention to the youngest of the three daughters, Briony. She wishes to become a writer and has already written a play that she intends to perform during dinner with her brother who is returning home. Before the final preparation of the play, Briony happens to see Cecilia, her elder sister, and Robbie Tuner interact (Ian McEwen 115). Briony Tallis innocently misinterprets the situation, due to her active imagination, which results to as series of events that have long-lasting consequences in the book. Briony became suspicious of the two as she started intercepting letters meant for Cecilia from Robbie. After reading these letters, she decides to take action protecting her sister from having sex with Robbie, which he clearly expressed in the letter. Just before she could do so, she once again caught the two making love. Briony Tallis, once again, misinterprets it for assault and finds grounds of her earlier worries. Robbie did not have good intentions for her sister. Coincidentally, on the same night, their cousin Lola happened to be assaulted while Briony Tallis was searching for her. Being her vindictive self, Briony Tallis convinces everyone Robbie had assaulted Lola and he is ultimately sent to jail. Five-years later, Robbie is released from prison and he retreats to France as a soldier. He is injured during the war and he later retreats home where Cecilia is waiting for him (Ian McEwen 34). At this time, Briony is eighteen and is guilt-ridden from her actions as a young girl and she hopes that the memory fades away. She also writes for a post in the London journal. During her frequent visits to her sister’s place, she finds Robbie and is surprised that he is still alive. During her conversation with Robbie, she admits her guilt and asks if he could forgive her. In her journal, Briony neither writes about the survival of Robbie from the battle nor does she mention her sister; rather she writes about their demise. They give her a list of things she would do in order to clear Robbie’s name. She does not achieve this until the closing stages of the book where Briony and a corporal who served with Robbie hold a family re-union. During this family re-union, held in the same place that the crime happened, Briony reveals to her readers that Cecilia and Robbie are alive and she never mentioned it so that their love could last. She further concedes that this was her last act of atonement for her actions against their love. Lies can destroy a man and his relations with others. They are bound to reduce his value in society and ultimately his character as a man. A simple lie was the source of all the suffering and torture that Robbie experienced over time and Briony over time as well. “A person is, among all else, a material that can be easily torn but not as easily mended” (Ian McEwen 103). This means that it may be very easy to destroy someone and helping him or her pull his or herself together may prove to be more challenging task as compared to the way that they were destroyed in the very first place. Robbie went to jail out of a false confession by Briony that she had witnessed him rapping her older cousin Lola. Robbie went through a string of suffering from the jail to the military where he almost lost his life. In addition, Robbie lost his dignity in the society as a man and the esteem that the society held him with we can be sure was no more there. Robbie could have had a chance to help the society as any other man would have done, but he did not because of the negative reputation that he had. This is evident when he gives Briony instructions of the things she would have done in order to help him reclaim his name. Briony spent her life in the circles of life trying to atone for her sin as a young girl. The lie she told does not matter if a young innocent girl with a low understanding told it, but it is the same one that had the power to destroy her life (Atonement 402). Briony herself knew that seeking forgiveness form Cecilia and Robe was a white horse hence she offered an apology to them and asked what she could do to atone for what she did. This was not going to be an easy journey for her either, and took dedication of an entire lifetime living to atone for her wrongs. A simple lie by a young girl resorted to being the story of her life and that of the accused, Robbie, and his lover Brionys’ sister Cecilia. A life of a human being is gentle and delicate and we should be very cautious when we speak or say anything pertaining them since it may be detrimental to their lives and your own as well. Ian McEwen, the author, quotes at the end, “A person is, among all else, a material that can be easily torn but not as easily mended” (Ian McEwen 367). This in the year 1999, and Briony had confessed that she was dying during the family reunion. The author gives an epilogue as an active participant on the crime scene. This makes the audience realizes that Briony and narrator are the same people. The problem of a fifty-nine-year old Briony had always been how she could achieve atonement with her absolute ability to decide the results she is also god. There was no one, no entity or higher form that she could pray to, or be reconciled with or offer her forgiveness (Ian McEwen 350). At this time, Briony is pleading with the audience trying to make them understand that they are the only people who can understand her situation. This is because they are the only ones who can deny or grant her atonement for the evil that she had committed. Her perspective is that there is no other any other higher being apart from the one whom she would seek forgiveness from. In this context, she is referring to her audience as the only source of hope since they have the capacity to read her intent and the effort she had put in making sure that she made it up to Robbie and her sister Cecilia. She made a small mistake in her childhood stage and spent a lifetime trying to make up for it, but always proved that mending the mistake was a more difficult task. Robbie’s arrest was because of an innocent girl’s concern to protect her elder sister and cousin. Anything that transpired during that fateful night had nothing to do with Robbie not even her sister Cecilia making love with Robbie since it was out of her consent. Paul Marshall, who later came to wed Lola, was responsible for the rape case (Atonement 337). Robbie also did not find it easy either since he had to serve a jail term, and later found himself in a military mission, which almost cost him his life. All through, since maturity began, guilt ate her up and she always tried to find a way out to help pay for her wrongdoings. She was still dragging the debt of making it up to her sister and her husband though it was never simple. This further a firms my sentiments that lies can destroy a man, the entire relations of the man, their value to the society as a man, and finally their character as a man. Works Cited Ian McEwan. Atonement. Dialog, 47(4), 399-401, 2008. Print. McEwan, I. Atonement. New York: N.A. Talese/Doubleday, 2002. Print. Read More