Briony was a thirteen-year-old girl of leisure from a well-to-do British family during World War II. She was a plain, simple, and very organized girl who basically believed that there was a place for everything and everything had a place in which to be. In fact, she had a miniature farm set with miniature animals on a window ledge, and all the small barn-yard livestock were facing the same way (5). Her room was the only one on the entire floor that was neat and tidy, for she was a child that was “possessed by a desire to have the world just so (4).” And, like every quiet child, she had an outlet.
One of her passions, aside from secrets, was writing. She felt that, through her musings, she had her own little world that she could control. Every story had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and she could control the characters – make them do as she wished when she wished – and could make a story happen in an orderly fashion (7).
But underneath that calm exterior, her creative mind and child naivety served an unwittingly darker purpose.
Briony was a quiet girl. Verily, her family encouraged her to read her stories aloud to them in the library, and they were surprised at the girl’s exuberant, blithe, and animated gesticulations; Briony, as she read, demanded “unapologetically her family’s total attention (6).” Indeed, ironically, the little word witch “cast her narrative spell”, as McEwan put it, in more ways than one (6).
Perhaps if the girl had a less active imagination, she would have understood the events that she witnessed from her perspective in chapter three. From her window perch in the library, she saw Robbie, a servant man’s son, and her older sister Cecilia by a fountain exchanging gestures, and the next thing she knows, she sees her sister strip down to her skivvies (36). What a scandal! Her sister stripping down to her undies in broad daylight in front of a man!
Briony goes on to think that it would be a “temptation for her to be magical and dramatic, and to regard what she had witnessed as a tableau mounted for her alone, a special moral for her wrapped in a mystery(37).” But what transpired in front of her wasn’t just some private play exclusively for Briony. Even though Shakespeare said that all the world’s a stage and all the people merely players doesn’t mean that that saying literally translates into all the people surrounding her are acting parts in a soap opera. McEwan even goes on to say that “this was not a fairy tale, this was the real, the adult world in which frogs did not address princesses, and the only messages were the ones that people sent…” and that… “It was also a temptation to run to Cecilia’s room and demand an explanation (37).” Had the young girl burst into her sister’s room and demanded an explanation about the events that transpired in front of her that day like a more adult person, a great deal of heart ach could have been avoided. Her sister would have perhaps survived to see the end of the war, and perhaps Robbie would have too.
Instead, the little word witch let her mind carry her away to distant planes where she let the compulsion to put things into their explained place get the best of her. She couldn’t have known what happened truly, because she was not there. She could only know what she believed, and because she was but a child, her knowledge of the real world was very limited. And, also because she had quite an imaginative little mind, she immediately jumped to the conclusion that Robbie was forcing Cecilia to do something against her will. She doesn’t seem to understand why “…Robbie imperiously raised his hand now, as though issuing a command which Cecilia dared not disobey…. At his insistence she was removing her clothes, and at such speed…. What strange power did he have over her? Blackmail? Threats? (36)” Briony doesn’t even get the whole story because she backs away from the window so as not to see “the sight of her sister’s shame (36).” Instead, she let her child’s fancy take flight. Instead, Briony seemed to hit it right on the head when she realized “how easy it was to get everything wrong, completely wrong. (37).”
The year was 1935. Children were much more sheltered than they are today. People didn’t just strip down to nearly nothing outside in broad daylight in front of a man for everyone to see. And because children were so much more sheltered, they didn’t know how to deal with something as shocking as that. How could she have known that her story would have lead to such heartache and destruction? The little word witch didn’t have it in her to be cruel; she didn’t have it in her to reek destruction and absolute entropy (5). But, ironically enough, that’s exactly what she did because she was only a child who let her eyes and her over-active mind get the better of her. She was the kind of reader who wanted to know what really happened (350). But, instead of just sitting there questioning the events, she made something up to help explain it. She decided that she would write it down three different ways, for “the truth had become as ghostly as invention. She could begin now, setting it down as she had seen it…. The scene could be recast, through Cecilia’s eyes, and then Robbie’s (39).”
Yes, the truth did become as ghostly as invention. Briony invented what really happened. There was nothing illicit going on at the fountain as she thought. Because she was just a child, she invented it to help her cope with what could be traumatic events. She thought that Robbie was assaulting her sister, forcing her to do something that could be quite embarrassing and shameful to Cecilia. She really couldn’t have known that she would set into motion events that would rip apart her family, causing her sister never to forgive her.
Briony saw the world through a child’s eyes. There was good, and there was evil. There was no grey in between, there was no line to cross. In her eyes, ever since she was Robbie that day, he was evil. And when Lola said that Robbie had assaulted her, he became the devil itself (155).
What else can a child do but relate things to other events which they have already experienced? Briony had to find another way to cope with what happened regarding events that transpired with Robbie. She didn’t understand because she was so young and naive. She asks later in her life “how can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God (350)?” She compares herself to God because with age comes wisdom. As she grew older, she understood what happened and saw how foolish and frivolous her actions were. She knows that there’s no way for her to get reconciliation because she was rash and young and inexperienced. Naivety can be endearing, but it can also be the downfall of many things, including a family. Words spoken in the heat of the moment can never be taken back, for a word is a powerful, wounding weapon. It digs deep into the hearts and stays there for years. Youth can be a troublesome thing. Words spoken by those who are young but still old enough to know better should be taken with a grain of salt and followed up on to be sure words spoken are true.
Works Cited
1. McEwan, Ian. Atonement. Anchor Books, New York, New York; 2001.
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