Blog Post #4 - Atonement

Part two and three of Atonement  by Ian McEwan is a drastic change to the first part. Instead of chapters its broken up into days (past and present), and it no longer switches between characters. In part two the point of view is Robbie's, now called "Turner", as he struggles through France in World War II. Part two is scary to read, with McEwan's attention to detail we get a graphic description of everything Robbie sees. Part two stood out to me because of the character development of Robbie, who is now referred to as Turner. He goes from a soon-to-be student in love with Cecilia, to a guilt stricken soldier (thankfully still in love with Cecilia because I love good love stories);

"Briony would change her evidence, she would rewrite the past so that the guilty became the innocent. But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren't enough people, enough paper and pens, enough patience and peace, to take down the statements of all the witnesses and gather in the facts. The witnesses were guilty too. All day we've witnessed each other's crimes. You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die? Down here in the cellar we'll keep quiet about it. We'll sleep it off, Briony" (246-247).

After this Turner sleepily (and definitely sickly) decides that he should take the boy's leg from the tree, because he feels guilt for leaving it there. This small section of Turner's thoughts highlight part of the change he's had to do. First of all, he goes by Turner now, which shows his growth into a soldier. Next, the actual concept of guilt. To Turner, it's "cheap" because everyone has it, and if everyone has it, does anyone? Although he's sleep deprived and injured while his thoughts ramble on, they hold a lot of value. Despite being an innocent man, he is riddled with guilt from war. He feels responsible for the deaths he has witnessed, and in order to survive he has to move on and avoid thinking about them. Finally, Turner mentions Briony. Briony is the reason for his punishment, and this moment is not the first time he's mentioned her. He hates her and the lies she told, and thinks its because she likes him (which is crazy). What about her guilt for getting Turner into prison? Into the war zone? And even with her change of evidence, it wouldn't change the many years he's spent imprisoned. This gets us into her guilt in the next part, which is a whole other conversation.