Ian McEwan's "Atonement" - Briony's personality

Authors Avatar

Student Name: Henrik Suoheimo                                                       Date: Monday, 31st of May                                                

Ian McEwan’s Atonement:

Briony’s Personality

Summary: this dossier work is based on the book “Atonement”, by Ian McEwan, and analyses the personality of the main character, Briony.

Controlling

In page 35, we find a whole reflection on the control Briony has over her hand; 

“She raised one hand and flexed its fingers and wondered, as she had sometimes before, how this thing… came to be hers, entirely at her command…”.

She is fascinated by control, and naturally, her hand is a fascinating thing to look at. This also reflects her self-love; usually people don’t find their body parts mesmerizing.

However, where we can clearly see her love for control and order is in her room, which is very organized, unlike the rooms of her family members, which highlights her distinctiveness;

“She was one of those children possessed by a desire to have the world just so. Whereas her big sister’s room was a stew of unclosed books, unfolded clothes, unmade bed, unemptied ashtrays, Briony’s was a shrine to her controlling demon; the model farm spread across a deep window ledge consisted of the usual animals, but all facing one way –towards their owner”

Join now!

We must note that words such as “posessed” suggest that this desire is very strong. It is also very unusual for a child to organize his/her toys this way. It reminds me of autistic children, who like to arrange their toys, usually according to their sizes.

Love of order

Naturally, with a love for control, she has a great love of order, which is reflected in her regret of not having written a story for Leon, and going for a play, which resulted in a disorganized mess (page 37);

“The simplest way to have impressed Leon would have been ...

This is a preview of the whole essay