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New Historicism – Cecilia and Robbie’s love

The first three-fourths of Atonement is essentially Briony’s interpretation of the events that led to Robbie’s imprisonment and eventual death (along with the death of her sister). Only in the last few pages do we learn that events didn’t occur as the reader thought they did. This forces the reader – particularly the new historicist – to question almost everything in the story.

New historicism “views historical accounts as narratives, as stories, that are inevitably biased according to the point of view, conscious or unconscious, of those who write them” (Tyson, 286). History is not linear, and there’s no way to know what was really happening between Robbie and Cecilia between him being led away in handcuffs and their deaths. Briony only has the letters, found in the War Museum (350), to attempt to piece together what might have been a very complicated love affair between her sister and Robbie. Those letters, according to Robbie, were censored (192) and “could never be sensual, or even emotional.” Briony likely attempted to decode the letters, and one has to wonder what messages got lost in the translation.

Briony even suggests she’s changed the story, stating “No one will care what events and which individuals were misrepresented to make a novel” (350). Even had she not blatantly offered the idea, new historicism demands the reader question interpretations of historical accounts because they are subjective.

The reader can’t take for granted that what Briony is writing about Cecilia, Robbie, or anything else, really, is the true historic account because she has an agenda. She’s writing the novel to make right what she made wrong. For example, it’s doubtful Briony would include details about Robbie or Cecilia (if she even had any details about them) that would make them anything less than soulmates wronged by a child with an active imagination.

Put simply: Briony doesn’t know enough about Cecilia or Robbie. The book states the sisters don’t speak and have kept their distance from their family, so how would Briony know anything about Cecilia’s state of mind while she waited for Robbie during the war. While Briony may believe she’s giving an accurate account of her sister’s lost love, her point of view can’t help but cause a bias. Despite living under the same roof, Briony and Cecilia are two very different people, with two very different cultural backgrounds.

Just as the new historicist questions Briony’s narrative, he must also question the letters she uses to fill in the gaps in her story, particularly those of Robbie’s time after prison. The writer of those letters also has an agenda. Who were they for, and why did he send them?

Briony confused military terms in her descriptions of Mr. Nettle’s letters (339),and it seems she could, and likely did, embellish the accounts of Cecilia and Robbie’s letters to make her story more coherent or to fit her narrative. Briony states, “I’ve regarded it as my duty to disguise nothing – the names, the places, the exact circumstances – I put it all there as a matter of historical record” (349). New historicism teaches us that no historical record can be objective. Briony may not be changing “exact circumstances,” but she is shaping the narrative to fit her point of view. The reader already knows Cecilia and Robbie never get back together once he leaves for war. There was no final meeting between Robbie, Briony, and Cecilia. But the hypothetical readers of Briony’s last novel won’t get a complete story. They are getting the account of one woman, who only lived through a portion of the events she’s writing as a “historical record.” She may believe she’s giving an honest account, but consciously or subconsciously, she’s just stating what she believes might have taken place.

Briony’s reading of the letters would likely differ greatly from someone else’s reading. The interpretations of the letters, or narratives, are defined by the reader’s cultural background. If a stranger reads Cecilia’s letters, he or she could and likely would come to different conclusions than Briony did. After all, she’s using her background and knowledge of her sister (despite their separation and fractured relationship) to interpret the letters and turn them into her narrative of the events that took place.

Briony states her “sense of obligation, as well as her instinct for order, was powerful” (39). While this is allegedly true when she’s 13, it could very well still be true decades later, when she’s using letters written between the sister she didn’t speak to and Robbie, the man she wrongly imprisoned. Briony feels remorse in her later years, and is trying to make amends for her wrongdoings, all the while interpreting love letters in an attempt to write a love story. Readers of Atonement don’t get to see the letters, only Briony’s interpretation of them mixed with her own embellishments.

 

Works Cited

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Random House, 2001. Print.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 2nd. New York: Routledge, 2006. 281-315. Print.

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By rob – 17 February 2012

Cultural Criticism and Atonement

Ian McEwan’s novel, Atonement, takes its readers on a journey with a family torn apart by the events of one hot summer night in the pre- World War 2 English countryside.  It is a search for ultimate forgiveness.  McEwan explores the themes of truth, love, morality, and forgiveness.

In 2007, a motion picture was made based on this novel.  Whenever a work is transformed from words on a page to moving pictures, there is much to consider. The director of this film, Joe Wright, had many choices to make in the creation of this film.  Some of these choices alter the way the audience interprets the work, though not always in a good way.

One of the positive decisions is in the way young Briony is introduced.  the audience hears, then sees, Briony at work on her play; the sound of the typewriter is intense, adding tension to the scene.  When she is finished, the clacking intensifies, becoming a cacophony as she walks quickly through the house to find her mother.   This typing sound is used frequently when Briony is the focus of a scene, reminding the audience of her fanciful imagination and tendency to create stories.

Some of the most important scenes early in the story, such as the fountain scene and the library scene, are seen first as Briony sees them, then from the real perspective, letting the audience know what Briony sees versus what is actually happening.  This is an interesting approach, as it emphasizes Briony’s youth and naiveté, as well as her propensity to jump to conclusions without knowing the facts.  It also, though, causes the audience to sympathize with Briony.  When the shot is from Briony’s perspective, it does appear that Briony would have cause to be concerned.

Another aspect of the novel that becomes more prevalent in the movie version is the importance of water.  In the movie, water is associated with almost every major scene: the fountain scene, in which Robbie and Cecilia’s relationship really begins; as the distance that separates Robbie and Cecilia during the war; and, in the movie, the cause of Cecilia’s death.  This is an aspect of the story that is very important, but is made more obvious on film.

There are some negative consequences to some of the adaptation and direction choices in the film version of Atonement.  For example, Emily Tallis and her strained relationship with her husband (and his connection to the war efforts) is never mentioned. The father is only mentioned once during the film.  In the novel, Emily is depicted as struggling with her own trust and control issues as she battles constant migraines.  The reader gets to hear her voice.  None of this is evident in the movie. In fact, many of the domestic scenes are cut drastically, which puts the focus of the movie solely on Briony, Cecilia, and Robbie.  Many of the social class and gender issues are lost by doing this.  Late in the movie, Robbie tells Briony that nobody stood up for him because, despite his education, he was still “just a servant.”  This is an awkward scene, because none of those issues are made very clear in the beginning of the film.

The other huge omission in the film adaptation is most of the war.  The movie picks up as Robbie and his comrades approach and find the beach.  There is none of the horror and true struggle that is illustrated throughout the novel. This does two things.  First, it takes away from any of McEwan’s personal sentiment regarding the horrors of war.  There is a reason he so graphically describes the violence and destruction of the war.  Second, the war is meant to parallel the tumultuous events taking place within this family.  Not showing the absolute struggle Robbie endures while trying to make it home to Cecilia diminishes his determination and the passion he has for her.  In the film there is only one scene in which Robbie’s wound is shown, and only briefly.  This makes his death at the end feel sudden and unexpected.   Also, though, and more importantly, in the novel, his wound is symbolic of his wounded heart that only Cecilia can heal.

The end of the movie is completely different from the novel. Briony, on a talk show, admits that she is dying, and she proceeds to confess her “sins” to the world (presumably).  Briony is made into a very sad old woman, for whom the audience should feel sorry.  After reading the book, though, many readers may not have this feeling towards Briony.  In the book, she is a difficult character to like.

The movie was critically acclaimed and successful; however, by cutting out too many crucial scenes, it loses its power and merely becomes a story of unrequited love and forgiveness, without addressing the larger social issues that accompany this story in the novel.

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By vickie – 16 February 2012

Finding a “Higher Form” in Atonement

Briony Tallis searches for someone to forgive her in Ian McEwan’s Atonement. Her rhetorical questioning concerning a nonexistant God in the writer’s world raises the reader’s awareness of the lack of an “entity or higher form” in Briony’s lifetime (350). From whom should Briony seek atonement? The search at the end of the novel reflects her longing for a final
consolation, one which would help her find peace; the prior text, however, traces many relationships with women who serve as mother figures, but fail to give her the security and guidance she needs to avoid the mistake which plagues her life.

Hidden upstairs much of her time in a darkened room, “feeling the black-furred creature begin to stir, Emily Tallis surrenders her motherly duties to migranes (62). McEwan devotes several pages to her thoughts on mothering; her love for the youngest child, Briony; her dismay at Cecila’s smoking; and her distance from Leon (60-67). Emily’s ability to act on her love for Briony and her charges, the Quincey children, are hindered by her chronic condition. The reader understands that the inablilty to interact at crucial moments in the story, for instance when the family is readying for Leon’s return and the
quiet and forshadowing moment when Marshall is first in the nursery with Lola, progresses the notion that the lack of Emily’s much-needed supervision will lead to an unsafe environment for Lola and the boys, not to mention the loose-reined imagination
of her youngest. Emily floats on the outskirts of reality, blames those who walk barefooted in it, and trusts her “tentacular awareness” to reach her children (63). An octopus, unfortunately, cannot grant forgiveness, nor build the security in Briony to ignore her inner fears for her sister. What horrible acts can occur in the imagination of Briony while her mother rests in a dark room?

Another room housed the memory of another false figure. Auntie Venus “was no one’s aunt particularly” and lived for many years in the Tallis home. She “withered” away” a week before Briony was born (45-46). Many guests, including Briony at the end of
book, stayed in the invalid aunt’s abode. No one “questioned her right” to stay till her death (45), just as no one questions Marshall’s right to stay in a house that the reader knows he defiles. Auntie Venus is Emily’s mirror–no one questions Emily’s
inability to raise her family–validated by her husband’s trust to leave the home circle for extended periods of time. Briony has no valid heritage, no lineage of matriarchs to grant her desire to hear “You’re forgiven.”

Ironically, the surrogate mother, the housemaid Betty, is no help to Briony. Although she helps care for the Quincey boys, we do not see her offer motherly attention, at least motherly affection, to the young playwright. Even in her dealings with the boys,
Betty is “instructed to be distant and firm” (30). The readers understand from the bed-wetting punishment for Jackson that little safety dwells within her arms. McEwan avoids the stereotyped-version of the kinder Bettys who forgive and console
in literature. Briony would not find forgiveness; furthermore, little evidence exists to evoke the impression that she views Betty as a “higher form” (350), only a more powerful presence.

Perhaps the only character who wields the power to right a horrible conscience is Lola. Although her abrasive effect on Briony is evident from the start, she handles her brothers with acute intuition. When first arriving at the Tallis home, the boys are
sensitive and “tearful” (54). When Jackson breaches propriety and utters the words “divorce” and “The Parents,” Lola seizes his guilt and admonishes him (54). McEwan grants Lola the ability to “shock” the boys “out of tears”(54). No one presents a stronger
parenting ability withing the text. Had Briony found her more admirable as a cousin, she may have yeilded to her strengths instead forcing her own impressions on her when the rape occurred. Lola, too, may have found the desire to reward Briony with the truth.
Instead, Lola and Paul are guarded, literally and figuratively, throughout the following plot.

Obvious to the reader is the one mother figure who can grant forgiveness–Cecilia. Early in chapter four, she finds Briony in the fit of “serious weeping” over Lola and the play (40). Serving as a stand-in for their mother, Cecilia comforts her sister with her
old habit of “cuddling” Briony’s shoulder. Indicative of the growing tension within the text, Briony moves away from Cecilia and continues to rant her rage against others in which she percieves evil (41). The missed moment mirrors Briony’s later faltering
with the identification of the rapist. Cecilia, the one true forgiving entity, is further distanced, ultimately beyond Briony’s redemption, both spiritually and physically.

Left to her guilt and remorse, Briony contemplates the poor state of authorship, alone in its monocracy, alone in its choices (350-351). The text, pregnant with woman who appear to guide Briony through her emotions, isolation, and confusion,
offers multiple possibilities for her long-troubled fulfillment. Briony instead sees herself only as a writer. She is an empty and lonely artist, betrayed by her own imagination. Briony is far more than she perceives. She is an empty, lonely child.

Works Cited

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Random House, 2001. Print.

 

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By kara – 3 February 2012

Contradiction by Susan Kling

Contradiction

Deconstruction according to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms is “the close reading of texts in order to demonstrate that any given text has irreconcilably contradictory meanings, rather than being a unified, logical whole” (94). A book written by Ian McEwan titled Atonement illustrates how imagination and reality support this definition of deconstruction together with the torn relationship between Briony and her sister, Cecilia. Briony, the protagonist and a creative writer, enjoys controlling the action in each event, and the characters who are involved in it. Within each chapter, readers are experiencing different perceptions and conflicting interpretations. Passages borrowed from the Atonement will portray a scene where Briony has witnessed her sister, Cecilia, being attacked by Robbie, and a scene where Briony discovers her cousin, Lola, outside on the cold dark ground. These scenes prove that imagination and reality have become distorted and have impacted Briony’s relationship with Cecilia.

Deceit creates a wedge between Briony and her sister. Briony knows what really happens the night of Lola’s rape, but she creates an imaginative version of what occurs before the rape to share with her family and the police to accuse her sister’s lover of the crime:

Since she was able to show them the precise location of Robbie’s attack on Cecilia, they all wandered into that corner of the bookshelves to take a closer look. Briony wedged herself in, with her back to the books to show them how her sister was positioned, and saw the first mid-blue touches of dawn in the panes of the library’s windows. She stepped out and turned around to demonstrate the attacker’s stance and showed where she herself had stood. (168)

Briony uses this information to convince the police that Lola’s attacker is Robbie. Briony wants to believe that Robbie is guilty of attacking Cecilia. The sister that she grew up with is not capable of agreeing to this type of liaison. The police must see the connection between the two crimes occurring on the same evening. Robbie surely is guilty of rape because Briony watches Robbie pushing Cecilia against the bookcase in the library. Briony creates her own version of the events in the library; it is not necessary for her to listen to Cecilia’s version because no other version can be true. In Briony’s own mind she knows what happened. Robbie must be convicted for his crimes. Briony, a young woman of thirteen, shares what she wants to believe is true without knowing or caring about the consequences.

Before this crime, Briony thinks of Robbie as a member of the family and a friend. She spends many hours alone with him, in fact, Robbie teaches her to swim. Now she sees Robbie as an obsessive, lustful man. Briony’s version of what happens that night in the library coincides with her perception of what happens the same night when Lola is raped. Briony imagines her own version of what occurs the night her cousin, Lola is raped:

She was nauseous with disgust and fear. Now the larger figure reappeared, circling right round the edge of the clearing and heading for the bank down which she had just come. She knew she should attend to Lola, but she could not help watching as he mounted the slope quickly and without effort, and disappeared onto the roadway. She heard his footsteps as he strode toward the house. She had no doubt. She could describe him. There was nothing she could not describe. (154).

Briony knows she did not witness the act of rape. It is too dark for her to discern the face of the man running away. The person she sees has a large figure. This can be anyone, yet there is no doubt in her mind that it is Robbie. Robbie is a rapist; who else can it be? She remembers what she believes to be true about the event in the library. She imagines what she wants to believe and disregards the reality of the situation. Briony is consumed with the need to control the action and the characters in her own story. She labels Robbie a rapist and destroys his life.

Briony combines these two events and creates her own perception of them. Briony believes that accusing Robbie will bring her closer to her sister, “But there will be a time, for this tragedy was bound to bring them closer together” (173). She wants her sister to realize that this is her way of protecting her from the person who takes advantage of her in the library. Briony knows that Robbie did not rape Lola but wants to believe it for her sister’s sake. She wants Cecilia to know how much she loves her and will do anything to protect her. She knows that Cecilia is not capable of such an action.

At this point, the reader is left to determine who in fact attacked Lola. Lola never verbally shares the name of the rapist. Briony is sure that she knows who attacked Lola even though she just saw a figure running away in the dark. Briony, a story teller with a vivid imagination, develops her story with little evidence. She begins imagining in her mind how the story will unfold, and who will be found guilty of the crime of rape. She does in fact charge Cecilia’s lover, Robbie, with the crime. She connects Robbie and Cecelia making love in the library the evening of the dinner party to the rape of Lola. Briony imagines what happens and distorts the reality of these situations.

When Briony confesses to Cecelia years later, her sister chooses not to forgive her deceitful behavior. Briony is sorry for destroying the lives of the people she loves and lives with her actions for the rest of her life. These two events can be interpreted many ways; what really happens is clouded by the imagination of Briony. The text continually deconstructs itself because of all the possible meanings of each event; even what the reader believes to be true can be deconstructed.

 

Works Cited

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Random House, 2001. Print.

Murfin, Ross, and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms.

3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. Print.

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By susan – 3 February 2012

Deconstructing Atonement “Briony’s Play”

Brittney Santiago
Eng 600
2/2/12

Deconstructing “Atonement”
Briony’s Play

Atonement opens with the very first line reading, “THE PLAY- for which Briony had designed the posters, programs and tickets, constructed the sales booth out of a folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the collection box in red crepe paper-was written by her in a two- day tempest of composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch.” (3) This line describes Briony’s preparation and work that went into her creating the play.  In chapter one Briony’s play is meant to parallel the actions of the rest of the novel. However in the play’s actions rise themes of forgiveness, passion and heroism. When the actions of the story actually stands for lies, violence, and betrayal. For instance in the last part of this line McEwan stresses that Briony misses two meals to put on this wonderful performance in contribution to her brother coming home. As the reader will come to find out in direct result of Briony’s false tale of the rape, is that Robbie will miss many a breakfast and lunch as he sits in prison.

When Briony daydreams about how her brother Leon will react to her play she pictures him bragging to all his friends. “Yes, my younger sister, Briony Tallis the writer, you must surely have heard of her.” (4) This causes the audience to assume that Briony will do a courageous or wonderful act to which her brother will sing her praise. When, the story of rape accuses Robbie of taking advantage of her cousin and it is Cecilia who will go around believing Briony to be a liar not a hero, ultimately causing her disownment.

In Briony’s mind the marriage in her play determines sexual bliss and only in that will it be achieved. “In the aisles of country churches and grand city cathedrals, witnessed by a whole society of approving family and friends, her heroines and heroes reached their innocent climaxes and needed to go no further.” (8-9) In this passage she writes the wedding as an event of losing innocence. For after the wedding arises “sexual bliss”, and that it is the only right and acceptable way to lose innocence. This is how Briony conceptualizes love in McEwan’s ideology. In the story the rape, which is a violent and terrible causes the lost of Lola’s innocence. Briony creates a play of great passion that burns across the pages of her script. In the story McEwan creates a great passion as well, but it is not that of Briony’s it lies with Cecilia. Cecilia and Robbie’s passions burn the pages of the novel. So Briony/McEwan writes as if Arabella is Briony in the story. Yet, the theme of passion in the play parallels the love Cecilia has for Robbie.

The theme of heroism is captured in accordance to Briony by her main character Arabella. Briony believes that she should be cast in that role because, “Her purity of spirit would never be in doubt, though she moved through a blemished world.” (10) McEwan wants Briony who is so “pure” to have her purity threatened and to come out the victorious hero. Ultimately Briony has no heroics and ends up being the one of two villains in the story. Robbie’s good name is threatened and taken by her incredulous storytelling.

When the cousins arrive and Briony discusses the parts to them she in her mind must be Arabella. Lola comes into the pictures and uses the guilt of her parents divorce to soften Briony into letting her take the part. Once Briony gives in and lets her have it Lola takes the script and begins running the show. In reading this one is suppose to believe that Lola will ultimately have a story to tell in the novel. Although she may be the victimized heroine, who does come to be, Lola in no way is the star of the novel. Briony ends up taking that title back by making her witness to the crime the deciding factor in the sentencing. So although the event happens to Lola, Lola is pushed to a supporting role and Briony writes her own testament as the star’s monologue in the story that unfolds.

The play within the novel was written in to foreshadow themes of forgiveness, passion, and heroism. However, it in retrospect only foreshadows forgiveness. Yet, still there is no forgiveness, Briony does not reach atonement, like Arabella reaches forgiveness in the play. The themes foreshadowed in actuality from the play are those of lies, violence, and betrayal. There is a hint of heroism but not in terms of Briony but that in Lola for continuing on after her rape. In this case if you deconstruct the themes in the play you realize the true themes of the story.

Citation: McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Anchor Books, 2001.

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By brittney – 3 February 2012

Schweitzer Intro.

Hello Everyone! Nice to meet you all in class Saturday. This is my second semester of grad school at NKU, and I am a little undecided regarding the MAE, hoping this semester will allow me to put all the peices together.

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By chera – 17 January 2012

Hello

Hi, my name is Jeff Saalfeld. This is my first graduate semester. I graduated with a BA in English from NKU in the spring of 2011. I enjoy reading and playing soccer. I look forward to working with all of you throughout the semester.

-Jeff Saalfeld

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By jeff – 15 January 2012

Hello, all!

My name is Brittney Santiago. I am in my first semester of the MAE program. I am also getting my certification in creative writing. My interests are in fiction and screenwriting. I am about to start my first actual film project in a month. I am going to be writing a script for a short film and I am really excited!

I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Brittney

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By brittney – 15 January 2012

Atonement

Hello
My name is Susan Kling, and I teach Composition at Beckfield College. I am thinking about getting a certificate in professional writing. I am looking forward to working with everyone in class.

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By susan – 15 January 2012

Hello!

Hi everyone! My name is Vickie Knueven! I just graduated with my BAE from NKU, so this is my first semester in the grad program. My focus is Literature and Comp/Rhet, and I hope to teach at the college level. I am glad to see some familiar faces, so that I can start to get to know others in the program! I am looking forward to a fun and stimulating class!

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By vickie – 15 January 2012