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Textual Analysis Of The Movie Atonement

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Atonement is told by an omniscient narrator, making the events described inherently untruthful. Briony, the all-knowing narrator and one of the main characters, takes this to a whole new level. By the end, most of the events of the movie can be questioned as to what is real and what is not. All we know for certain, is that the movie, directed by Joe Wright, follows the story of a novel within the fictional world of the film. Briony is an elderly woman dying from vascular dementia, and writes a fabricated autobiography, recounting events of her life with her own twists. This is the final and most important act of deception in the movie, and it exposes Briony’s weaknesses. Briony’s altering of the true events of her life expose her inability …show more content…

The author always decides what happens and all loose ends can be tied as they see fit. This is evident when she claims to see Robbie rape Lola. It fits her suspicions of the family servant, which she comes up with throughout the day as she observes Robbie and Cecelia relationship. Without bothering to know the truth, she concludes that her crush must be a sexual predator. Robbie raping Lola makes for a good story without any plot holes and Briony plays the hero. Sadly, this is not reality and even in her old age, and supposed wisdom, Briony still cannot help herself from pretending to be God. “So in the book, I wanted to give Robbie and Cecilia what they lost out on in life. I'd like to think this isn't weakness or... evasion... but a final act of kindness. I gave them their happiness” (Atonement). Briony never truly learns or understands of the consequences of her actions. When she has the opportunity to achieve some sort of atonement for her terrible sin, on television, Briony fails miserably. Instead of telling nothing but the truth, she convinces herself that by giving Robbie and Cecilia a life together in ink, she has somehow made it real. In the end Briony only deceives herself, exposing her weakness to the world while managing to remain oblivious to

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