Losing Briony's mind

Jefferson Muncy – Visions | Dark Beauty (darkbeautymag.com)

In the end you get to know that Briony has a form of dementia. Her mind has always been an important thing for her because in her youth she always wondered if other people would also think like her and if they were not secretly robots in a human body. Her imaginative mind also caused a crime, which Robbie and Cecilia were the victim of. I think it’s kind of remarkable that she loses parts of her mind, because her mind was always the thing on which she was relying. It was the fundament of her books and everything she has done, the good and the bad. I’m not sure if it particularly stands for something but I just think it’s a remarkable thing.

I specifically chose this picture because it kind of visualizes dementia in my opinion. Because your mind is still there but it’s also a bit gone. That’s also how dementia feels for Briony, she loses parts of her mind and wants to be prepared for that.

The nurses

The collection that tells the story of women’s work in the First World War – Museum Crush

Cecilia shuts off every contact with her family after Robbie got arrested. She is finally sort of free, which she always wanted. She became a nurse and kept in touch with Robbie. Eventually she switches hospitals. When the war came, Briony became a nurse too instead of going to Cambridge to study. Briony writes a letter to Cecilia to tell her that she became a nurse too, she also tells her that she didn’t go to Cambridge as she was supposed to. That leaves Cecilia wondering why she didn’t go to Cambridge. The notable thing is that Briony starts at the same hospital as Cecilia. She also cuts off most of the contact with her family. It looks like Briony is following her sister’s path. Will that lead Briony to something? Or is it not going to turn out well?

In the end you get to know that Robbie and Cecilia lived a love filled life together. Briony becomes a well-known writer and that suggests that she in fact didn’t really follow her sister’s path completely, which is good because otherwise she wouldn’t have been a writer and that is what she always wanted.

Triton metaphor

Triton | Greek mythology | Britannica

I think that there might be some sort of metaphor hidden in the book. The metaphor would be the Triton fountain. Let me explain why; in the beginning the fountain is especially important because some key events happen there. In part three, the last part of the book, Briony gets a letter from her mom saying that a kid broke the fountain. He snapped of an arm and later the arm, who was supposed to be glued back on, was missing. Briony gets this letter during the war, I think that the breaking of the fountain could stand for the war because when there was no war the fountain was just fine and then the war started and it broke. The missing of the arm could stand for the aggravation of the war, because at the time the situation only gets worse.

The Fountain

Atonement (nickgottschalk.com)

This is the fountain where it all started, here you see a picture from the filmset. The most important piece of the book happens here, namely the part were Robbie and Cecilia break the very important vase. Cecilia thinks it Robbie's fault, so she jumps in the fountain almost naked to make him feel guilty. Robbie just stands there stunned and is secretly admiring her. Afterwards, Robbie goes home and can't stop thinking about what just happened and how much he loves Cecilia. He writes a letter to her, but he accidentally puts the wrong piece of paper in the envelop. As Cecilia reads it, she realizes that she is in love with Robbie. They both confess their love to each other, and it was supposed to be a happy ending. That happy ending was ruined by the imaginative mind of Briony, Cecilia's little sister. 

Oh just think of what would've happened if the vase didn't break, Cecilia wouldn't have jumped into the fountain and they would've probably never realised that they loved each other. Only if Briony didn't see anything the happy ending would indeed have been there. The rest of the book does show how deeply they love each other since they keep on writing letters, even when the war is happening.   

I think the part where Cecilia jumps in the fountain has a bit of a feministic touch. She is trying to make Robbie feel guilty and is like: 'Hah I can easily do this myself.'. I like that part because she shows that she can do it herself and doesn't need a man to fix things. Realising too that there wasn't really a feministic movement going on at the time it takes place. Therefore, it is a bit futuristic and I think it adds a bit of a different dimension to the book.