Impossible Satisfaction

Does Briony Tallis atone for her crime?

To answer this question first, readers must look at the dictionary definition of the word atonement, which the Merrism-Webster dictionary defines as “reparation for an offense or injury.” In Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, Briony’s crime clearly presents itself as the “offense or injury” needing atoned for. The reader follows her as she forces innocent Robbie into jail and separates her sister from him. Robbie and Cecilia end up dying in the war. Briony’s crime follows her through her whole life. She attempts “reparation” for her sin by imagining what could have been if her sister and Robbie lived and bringing their love back to life in her draft.

Secondly to answer this question, readers must look at what the dictionary offers as a second definition for the word atonement: the word satisfaction. Even though Briony allows Robbie and Cecilia to have a second chance at love in her novel, they are not physically alive. They cannot give Briony the forgiveness she seeks, leaving her ultimately unsatisfied. As a writer, she knows this and does not even include the couple’s forgiveness in her draft.

In conclusion, the only person Briony atones for is the reader. She creates a fictional ending that satisfies her imagination and the reader’s need for a whole, complete story. The story that she tells, however, does not atone for her actual crime. Robbie and Cecilia die in reality, making it impossible for them to forgive her. Because the only place the pair can offer her forgiveness is in the pages of her fictional draft, Briony can never find complete satisfaction, making full atonement for her offense unattainable.

“It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.” -Briony Tallis