Who Is Briony Tallis In Atonement

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Briony Tallis, the protagonist of Atonement by Ian McEwan, develops throughout the novel, through power of literacy and writing, social class and guilt. Identity plays a role in this novel as Briony dreams of being a famous writer in London, however she gives up the upper class lifestyle and becomes a nurse during the war in order to try and repent her mistakes of blaming an innocent of rape. She develops into the person that readers can observe during the end of the novel, as an older woman, who has lived her life in guilt and becomes a nurse in order to help war victims and atone for the mistakes she committed as a child. In addition, when Briony realizes how her false accusation ruined lives, she spends her whole life trying to mend her…show more content…
Emily Tallis is the mother who has a older daughter, Cecilia, a younger daughter, Briony, and a son, Leon. Along with the Tallis's, their help, Grace and Robbie Turner are present in the novel. Grace assists the family and Robbie is her son. Briony is a young girl who struggles with differentiating between reality and imagination. When first introduced to readers, Briony is portrayed as a reserved and controlling young girl who is sadly aware that she has no secrets. The novel follows Briony's journey as she grows and learns about the world surrounding her. The novel begins with her writing a play, The Trials of Arabella, to perform for her brother. As her cousins come stay with her family, Briony constantly feels inferior to her mature cousin Lola. She is also suspicious of Cecilia and Robbie's relationship. Their relationship starts tense at the beginning of the novel however, throughout the novel, their relationship intensifies and transforms into love despite Robbie being sent to jail because of Briony's accusation. Briony confuses reality and imagination when viewing her sister, Cecila and Robbie having sex and eventually blames Robbie of rape. Robbie is sent to prison and then the novel transitions to years later, when Robbie joins the army to shorten his punishment and Briony becomes a nurse in…show more content…
Through the underlying causes of Briony's accusations, I want to investigate what influenced her accusation against Robbie. This could include social class issues as Robbie was lower class than Briony and was receiving her father's help in order to complete his studies. The social class issues are also present when Danny Hardman, the Tallis's servant is immediately accused of raping Lola because of his lower class. Also, Paul Marshal, the wealthy family friend, escapes from his crimes of actually raping Lola because of his higher class and position. Further, Briony's accusations could have been made because she was too young to understand the difference between fictional plot and characters in her stories and reality. This could explain why she jumped to conclusions while viewing Cecilia and Robbie. This could tie into the power of writing and the extent that it caused Briony to falsely accuse Robbie. The theme of identity and guilt will be investigated to determine if Briony ever achieved atonement. When Briony realizes how her false accusation ruined lives, she spends her whole life trying to mending her mistakes. This is done through giving up going to college and writing a whole novel in order to atone for her lies. Guilt is a universal concept in this novel as even Lola marries Paul Marshal in order to escape her guilt of allowing Robbie to be falsely
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