BA#7 Atonement

I believe the main secret in the book is Briony's secret from everyone. She is a pretentious, immature, selfish little girl who began holding secrets from everyone for her own self interest. When most kids are little they like to pretend they are soldiers or like to go on secret missions, well Briony's secret missions were to spy on others and through her imagination take situations out of context in order to keep herself entertained. In turn she ruined her life, her families life, and her older sister Cecilia's life. Not to mention what she put Robby through. Through her immature antics of personal private investigating she drove Robby into a downward spiral. 

The only good thing that turned from her immature games was that Cecilia and Robby grew deeper in love and their relationship became stronger. "'I'll wait for you. Come back.' She meant it. TIme would show she really meant it. After that they pushed him into the car, and she spoke hurriedly, before the crying began that she could no longer hold back, and she said that what had happened between them was theirs, only theirs. She meant the library, of coarse. It was theirs. No one could take it away. ' It's our secret,' she called out, in front of them all, just before the slam of the door." This simple quote led me to believe the intensity of their love and differed my thoughts about comparing this situation to other stories we have read. Most of the stories we have read have been about questionable love and awkward relationships. This story to me was about true love and its courses. Although Briony kept secrets that eventually set off negative repercussions throughout the rest of the story, it ended the way it should. In the end if people are meant to be together things have there way of working out. 

BA# 7 Atonement

I think that the secret of the seriousness of Turner and Cecilia's relationship was validated on page 249 - "Ill wait for you was elemental. It was the reason he had survived." This shows how important C was to Turner and reflects the intense control she had over his will.
This confirmation reveals the secret whose strength was questioned and undermined all along, especially by Briony. This secret is that the love between Turner and Cecilia is real, it is no longer concieved as a childish thing or an illicit relationship.
This secret reflects the relationship in the story of Blackbird concerning Ray and Una. The reader is meant to question throughout the play the context of their relationship as well. They are kept guessing how genuine Ray was about Una - did he have real love for her or was he a pedifile?? These secrets have different ending points in the readers mind though. In Atonement we are given the answer that dignifies Turner and Cecilias relationship is mutual and heartfelt, whereas Blackbird never explains Ray's motives for having sex with Una or if he really loved(s) her.

BA #6 Atonement

In McEwan's Atonement there were a ton of secrets. The secret's that Briony first start to see, with Cecillia and Robbie, first near the fountain, then in the library, are really what starts everything. Briony, instead of asking questions, or trying to get to the bottom of things, she makes her own assumptions about what seems to be happening, and clearly they are wrong. But the whole point to Briony was that she wanted to have secrets to keep and hold on to. Briony is a lonely child, she's the baby. The youngest of families usually get all the attention, they want it, they need it. And with Briony, it's like she's a generation behind everything. She's not just the youngest there is quite a large age gap between her and Cecilia and an even larger gap between her and Leon. So she's kind of the odd man out. Her dads always out of town and working, and her mom gets migraines quite often. And she was this huge house that she lives in and there seems to be no one around to give her that attention. I think that Briony, having secrets is like having someone give her attention, it's similar to that feeling. Not only that, she can make the secret worse and more ellaborate than it actually is. With her mind, she can create and make what ever she wants of it. And that's where she went wrong. I relaly think Briony knew that what was happening between Cecilia and Robbie was innocent and nothing to bring attention too. But i think that was boring to her, it wasn't the secret she wanted it to be, so she elaborated, and look what happened.
All in all this whole book seems to be packed full of secrets.

BA # 6 McEwan's Atonement

A secret in Atonement was the secrets Briony kept from everyone. Briony had a "passion" for secrets, and this was another secret she kept from everyone.
"Another was a passion for secrets: in a prized varnished cabinet, a secret drawer was opened by pushing against the grain of a cleverly turned dovetail joint, and here she kept a diary locked by a clasp, and a notebook written in a cold of her own invention. In a toy safe opened by six secret numbers she stored letters and postcards." Page 5

Another secret in Atonement was also the secret that Briony was spying on her sister, Cecilia and the household cleaner's son, Robbie. She was looking down from the upstairs window, hidden and unseen by the two.
"Unseen, from two stories up, with the benefit of unambiguous sunlight, she had privileged access across the years to adult behavior, to rite and conventions she knew nothing about, as yet." Page 37


The secrets are significant because it shows that Briony is a very secretive person, and keeps alot of "secrets" to herself.

BA #6 Atonement

Atonement is full of secrets. The novel itself is built on the secret and the consequences they have. Briony starts of the novel by misinturpreting the encounters between robbie and Cee, number one by the fountain, number two the letter, and number three when she walks in on their moment in the library. I think Briony's jelous of how Robbie wants Cee and not her, in her small mind she cannot see past the crush she has on him. Ultimatly she destroys her family. Briony's distain for Robbie is aparent on page 119 when Robbie goes to ask the twins a question and Briony advises them not to answer. In her childish mind she is trying to protect them , but she really has no clue. It is all to aparent she has already condemed Robbie. Later when the rape is confirmed she is all too quick to swear she saw Robbie, when in reality it is quite obvious it wasnt him. Again, class plays a part in this situation when the Robbie is accused and convicted on the word of a hartbroken, cold, child. Briony condems Cee and Robbie, new love birds to a life apart. With a book built on nothing but emothion, I felt nothing but disdain for the spoiled, babied, child who tore her world apart in seconds. Even in part two where she goes and tries to apologize and make ammends with her sister, I feel is she is doing it for her own selfish reasons. The true test of strenght comes in the end, the last page of novel, where all comes together and is revealed. Attonement is Briony's gift, her apology to Robbie, Cee, her parents, her cousin, and ultimatly to herself. "When I am dead, and the Marshalls are dead, and the novel is finally published, we will only exist as my inventions... The problem these fifty nine years has been this: How can a novelist acheive attonement..." She gave Robbie and Cee the time they so desperatly yearned for and deserved, the years they never had together. Inher selfishness she gave them the one thing she yearned for, the chance to take it back. All in all, i admire the courage Briony had to expose the true story, even after fifty nine years of living a lie...