briony, cinnabons and conservative jews

Is Briony credible? Could she actually be a living, breathing human being? How does McEwan make the character seem so real?

Briony is definitely a credible character. Not only does she have thoughts and actions, but she has hopes, dreams and aspirations. The Trials of Arabella, for example, show her true desires, as does her stories later in the book. The scene where she sees Robbie and Cee at the fountain serves to make Briony real. She is made real because she is not just a passive viewer of the event, but as a result goes on to think about how she could write something wonderful about it. The way that McEwan gives her her ideas makes her seem real. I don't often think about whether a character is real or not, but now that I do, I realize that Briony seems real because she goes through a process to discover her true thoughts and desires. When a character is more two-dimensional, usually they come to an action relatively quickly, which makes the decision forced, or the decision is overly drawn out, making it obvious that it is a pivotal point. McEwan assumes that his readers are smart, and figures that they will know when something is significant and when it is not.


What, then, is McEwan's opinion of Briony?

I think that McEwan really likes Briony. At the beginning of the novel, before the plot starts to develop I thought that Briony would be the main character, that the whole book would be from her perspective. Instead, Robbie and Cee's sections are necessary for plot. Briony is more of the conduit to McEwan's thoughts, I think. He represents his ideas, maybe even his childhood actions and thoughts through Briony. One complaint that I had about Briony is that she is a bit too advanced intellectually for a ten year-old. Yeah, I get that she's smart, but most ten year-olds that I know don't go around thinking about writing a novel about a scene from three different people's perspective. I think that McEwan is very sympathetic towards Briony, and that he thinks that Robbie and Cee's treatment of her is unfair. Since McEwan (and, obviously, the reader) has insight into Briony's mind, McEwan knows her motivations, knowing that she is not as horrible as Robbie and Cee think that she is.


What is your reaction to Briony? Are you sensitive to her and to her situation? Do you feel empathy toward her? Does she deserve what she "gets" in the story, or is her fate undeserved?

I touched on this in the last question, because I hadn't read this question yet and I don't what to change it. I think that Briony's fate is undeserved, that she is treated extremely harshly, that a decision that she made when she was really young followed her the rest of her life. I know that we have all made decisions that we wouldn't make again, especially when we're ten. Also, I am sympathetic towards her because sometimes I harbor the private thoughts that Briony has, about writing, I mean. I think about how I would write a certain scene, make it in the mold of some of my favorite writers. I do think, however, that the reason that the reader is partial to Briony is because we don't get into the minds of Robbie and Cee until after the event. We don't learn very much about them until their own narrative sections. We hear from Briony both before and after, and the before is when we learn about her character.


Does Briony say anything to you personally? How do you relate/respond to her? Why do you respond the way that you do?

Again, I talked about this in the last question. Briony speaks/relates/whatever to me because of the way that I think about writing in my everyday life. While it may not be as constantly as Briony does, or as constantly as McEwan makes it seem, I still think in similar ways to Briony. Also, sometimes I feel like I am really naive in some areas of my life. A lot of times I do things that I have a feel for, or act the way that my instincts tell me to, later to hear someone talk about how my actions had a name or mean something about my thoughts. This happens a lot in terms of politics. I have no idea what I am, I just know what I think, but I don't know if it is liberal or conservative (because those are the only things that people can be nowadays). At the same time, however, people tell me that I would be a good politician or lawyer because of the way I deal with people/speak. I don't realize what I am doing however, or how it will turn out. This relates to Briony, finally, because she oftentimes doesn't understand her reactions, but she just acts in a certain way, not sure why. Sometimes, it turns out to be wrong, but oftentimes her instincts are correct, even if she doesn't know that's what told her to act.

This isn't the most reader friendly blog I know, and I commend anybody other than Chia who managed to get through it. Also, sitting in an airport waiting for "high winds" in NY to subside and listening to teenaged-conservative Jews talk about baseball can be distracting. Especially since they don't know what they're talking about.