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.
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I agree that Briony holds a lot of secrets. Like you said on page five she keeps a diary and has a notebook wrttien in code. Also on the same page it says that no-one can touch her "walls, and various dolls that she has" I think the reason for that is because she has hidden things locked away in there. I think that because she had a hidden removeable floorboard in her room. And on top of that they say she keeps no secrets and tells the truth, I think they say that to throw you off.
I agree with what Annie is saying in that the Briony is a very secretive person. Yes she keeps a secret compartment in her room and never lets anyone see her stuff, but I think it goes beyond just being significant because it shows she is a secretive person. I feel that when reading that passage you really get a sense of who Briony is and this will become important later on when she is keeping the secret about Robbie. I also agree that the secret she kept when she saw her sister and Robbie by the fountain is significant but not just because she keeps it a secret. Seeing it and not saying anything about it or asking her sister about it to clearify their relationship was the beginning of her disliking Robbie. Even though she was unsure of what she saw, she didnt think it was a good conversation they were having and then later, upon reading the note and seeing a mysterious figure in the woods near her cousin, she assumes it is Robbie and that her accusations of him being a bad person were true. I think that these two secret not only portray Briony as a secretive person but also, since they are in the first few chapters of the book, they really give you a look at what the tone and the basis of the novel is really going to be about.
I also agree that Briony is a secretive person. Even later on in the text when she is working as a nurse she contunues that secretive diary even though her time is quite limited.
In the beginning of the text, when she is starting the Trials of Arabella play, she never states out loud that she actually wants to be Arabella. It seems like through out the whole text, that Briony tends to keep her real feeling and desires to herself. She even states that she almost lives vicariously through the characters in her plays and lets her true feelings out through them.
Another idea is keeping the secret of the truth behind Robbie and Lola's rape. I think that although she was a young girl, and was in the mind frame that he was a maniac that she still should have been at least truthful that she wasn't positive of whoe she saw in the woods.
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