We discussed in class that while Embassytown by China Miéille and Atonement by Ian McEwan are extremely different novels, they do
seem to have one common theme; the lie. In Embassytown,
the lie is what sets the Hosts free from their addiction. The lie is healing,
releasing, saving, but in Atonement,
the lies are take on a level of complexity. In Atonement, the lies take it’s
characters captive, but it sets others free.
Briony
tells two lies major lies in this story. The first when, she tells the police
Robbie sexually assaulted both Cecilia and Lola, although she knows Paul
Marshall was Lola’s assaulter. The second, though, comes in a different form.
At the end of the novel, Briony discusses her new book “Atonement”, and informs
everyone that the story is a lie. In her novel, Robbie and her sister Cecilia
are able to live a life together, but in reality Robbie dies of septicemia
while fighting in the war at Dunkirk, and Cecilia dies from the bomb at Balham
Underground station. They never got the life together that they dreamed of. The
same 2 lies serve as different determinants.
It would be
easy to conclude that McEwan is conveying the weight and destruction of a lie,
but that is not so. Briony’s accusation of Robbie ruins the hopes of Robbie and
Cecilia having life together. On the contrary, in a very twisted way, it
creates opportunity for life to Lola and Paul Marshall. Is Briony’s act still
horrible if Paul and Lola are able to live a life together? The lies Briony
tells both destroy her, and save her. Her first lie not only ruins Robbie and
Cecilia’s lives, but also hers. She saturates in her own guilt, never able to
atone, never able to forget, but too cowardly to admit her mistakes. Her entire
life takes on a new direction. She abandons the possibility of studying and
decides to become a nurse. She wants to do something practical, something where
she can help people, but also arguably to punish herself. By becoming a nurse
she attempts to match her guilt with punishment. On page 260 it says, ”This was
her student life now… she had no free will, no freedom to leave. She was
abandoning herself to a life of strictures, rules, obedience, housework, and a
constant fear of disapproval”. To Briony, to lie and write a happy, long life
for Robbie and Cecilia is her only way to possibly reach atonement. She says
that page. 350, “As long as there is a single copy, a solitary typescript of my
final draft, then my spontaneous, fortuitous sister and her medical prince
survive to love.” Her last lie is her last attempt effort to atone with herself
and with her sister and Robbie. This
novel, this lie, is one she uses in attempt to set herself free. The lie’s
device in this novel is neither a primarily saving grace nor a total element of
destruction. With each lie, something is born and something else dies.
While I agree that Briony’s lies lead to negative consequences for the characters in Atonement, they do not produce any real good besides Briony’s time being a nurse. In regards to the marriage between Lola and Paul Marshall, Briony’s lie from the beginning of the novel—that is, her falsely accusing Robbie of sexually assaulting Lola—does not facilitate this marriage. When Lola and Paul Marshall are married, there is no explicit indication in the novel that Lola is oblivious to Paul being her assaulter from years ago. Thus, Briony does not shield Lola from discovering the identity of her assaulter; Lola goes into the marriage aware that Paul is guilty of the action.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, as this blogger mentions, Briony’s decision to become a nurse is the result of her guilt; thus, perhaps her lying does lead to some good. The reader can infer that Briony does not follow in Cecilia’s footsteps and go to university because she cannot bear reliving the same history as her sister and Robbie. As Cecilia writes in a letter to Robbie, Briony is “saying that she wants to be useful in a practical way. But I get the impression she’s taken on nursing as a sort of penance” (199). Therefore, Briony’s lies cause irreparable harm in Atonement, and the only good they do is lead Briony to become a nurse for a period of her life.