Explore the development of the protagonist in Part 1 of "Atonement".
Briony Tallis is introduced in the summer of 1935 as an unusual 13 year old aspiring writer with a passion for order and secrecy. She is the baby of the family, almost an only child. She begins writing clumsy, imaginative short stories at age 11 where we begin to realise her "melodramatic" and creative mind.
In the starting of the novel Ian McEwan paints Briony as an obsessively ordered child who craves attention from her plays and has a vivid imagination and melodramatic mind. "Briony had designed the posters, programs and tickets, constructed the sales booth". From this we recieve an intense personality Briony achieves and begin to construct our thoughts about her. This could forshadow something bad to occur later on in the novel to do with a conflict from her order and self control.
In the beginning of the novel the reader is told that Briony's fascination with storytelling is rooted in her "passion for secrets" and longing for affection. All of Briony's passions such as her storytelling and her love of secrets grow from an obsession with her over imaginative life. Her secrets are made up of things she has kept "In the box were treasures that dated back four years, to her ninth birthday when she began collecting" As Briony herself acknowledges secrets are not secrets unless they possess the allure of hidden knowledge; "Hidden drawers, lockable diaries [...] the simple truth: she had no secrets". Her secrets are apart of her imagination and therefore lack the power to draw in the attention she needs and seeks. We also understand Briony has a need to always recieve affection when "Briony studied her mother's face for every trace". This highlights Briony longs for her mother's love and attention as she carefully sits and examines her mother's "shifting emotion". This may also suggest Briony's mother cannot hide her changing emotions and may be keeping something from her daughter. This could forbode a dark secret later on in the novel.
Near the of Part 1 in "Atonement" Briony's character has developed into something completely different from the 1st chapter. The sympathy we once had for Briony disappears when we learn she has opened the letter Robbie has written for Cecilia. Her feelings become apprant when she admits "it was wrong to open people's letters, but it was right, it was essential, for her know everything". Here we understand how Briony is very nosey and enjoys becoming apart of people's business. This act she takes makes the reader feel shocked and horrid at her actions and do not really like Briony as a character any more. The word "essential" emphasises the need she requires to be apart of everyone's business. Her character here has now developed into a judgemental girl.
Briony becomes a jealous character as she witnesses her mother showing a lot of attention to Lola. Briony states "her only reasonable choice then would be to run away, to live under hedges.." This shows Briony is an insecure girl whose who is making rash decisions about leaving, as she sees no alternative. This shows her psychological state as being very melodramatic. This begins to also show the contrast between Briony and Lola which may forbode a drastic change occuring in the novel. It could also connote the missing mother and sister figure she longs for as she desires for so much attention. The lack of feminity is brought apparant here as we see Briony has no sense of dress or fashion.
We learn Briony has a selffish side towards her. She isn't really bothered about people's feelings apart from her own. "not even her own fantasies, rose to her challenge, and dispelled her insignificance". The reader sees she is such a self involved character and feel sorry for her and we feel she is quite isolated and alone.
In chapter 13 when Briony falsely accuses Robbie, it is hard not to have harsh feelings against her. "It was rather like a christmas morning sensation of being about to give a present.." This shows her eagerness and excitement of being able to tell a lie. She describes the feeling as the same as "Christmas". However, McEwan has painted such a good job of her character by then, that it is entirely consistent with who she is that we cannot really feel too strongly against her as we expect something like this from her as it was in line with her personality.
To conclude as we read Part 1, Briony's character develops over a short period of time. Ian McEwan crafts Briony in such a clever way to keep the reader interested. The reader depicts Briony in such a way that on one hand Briony has the character of an angel but on the other hand there is a certain shrudness to her which is revealed later on in the novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment