Atonement and guilt

• 'First his own life ruined, then everybody else's' pg 217
• 'What was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was...' pg 261
• 'The witnesses were guilty too' pg 261
• 'You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die?'
• 'It wasn’t only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding' pg 40
• 'She was confirmed again in her view that evil was complicated and misleading' pg 183
• 'Let his name be cleared, then let everyone else adjust their thinking' pg 233
• 'She could hardly feel sorry for herself. She was the one who had cut herself off from home'
• 'Growing up…godamnit! You’re eighteen. How much growing up do you need to do? ' Robbie to Briony
• 'Briony knew what was required of her. Not simply a letter, but a new draft, an atonement, and she was ready to begin' pg 349
• ' I gave them happiness, but I was not so self-serving as to let them forgive me' London 1999
• 'she was unforgivable'

  • her own guilt is inescapable
  • acknowledges her crime
• 'a rash.... like dirt on her skin/ stained'

  • brionys wrong doings haunt and stain her
  • guilt of her crime
• 'that paul marshal, lola quincey and she briony tallis, had conspired'

  • briony attempts to lessen the blame
  • tries to reduce the guilt of her actions
• 'one of these men might be robbie.... he would turn to her with gratidue... and forgive her'

  • reveals the truth o her career in nursing
  • sees it as an opportunity to atone and ask for forgiveness
  • selfish action?
• 'but i get the impression she has taken on nursing as a kind of penance'

  • cecilia in a letter to robbie about briony
  • briony has taken a selfish opportunity not to help people but to help herself
• 'Briony felt familiar guilt pursue her with a novel vibrancy'

  • guilt is pursuing her
  • her guilt will relentlessly attack her forever
  • guilt is hitting harder than ever
• 'my fifty nine year assignment was complete'

  • feels extreme guilt
  • large amount of time spent trying to atone
• 'they chose to believe the evidence of a silly hysterical little girl'

  • moment of self awareness
  • shifting responsibility?
• 'she was unforgivable'

  • moment of awareness
  • does indeed feel guilt
• 'That was our crime- Lolas,Marshalls, mine'