Atonement

In one sense, Atonement is a book about misreading situations and the consequences this can have. Identify episodes of misconception from the book and discuss what the author says about the humancondition to invent stories in order to make sense, or place order, into an otherwise chaotic world.

Colegio Los Nogales 11
Daniela Gómez Osorio Atonement-------------------------------------------------
Tammy Dobrzynski December 7/2011

Atonement’s conception of reality

Atonement relates the love story between a wealthy girl, Cecilia, and herboyfriend, Robbie. They can’t be together because the girl’s little sister, Briony, blamed Robbie for the rape of her cousin and this is why he is sent to jail and later to fight in the Second WorldWar. In Atonement, the author uses the different characters to represent the reactions of each of them in various situations and how they interpret the reality of the moment. During the story there aresome episodes in which misreading of the events occurs and so the consequences of these change the course of the story.
Robbie and Cecilia have always been attracted to each other for long time butneither of them tells the other one what they really feel. In an event of the book Robbie and Cecilia are talking next to the fountain in Cecilia’s garden. Robbie has a vase in his hands, which is afamily heirloom of Cecilia’s family, and he drops it into the fountain after a discussion with Cecilia. She is very upset and takes off her clothes to get into the fountain and recover her familyheirloom. Meanwhile, Briony is a little girl who is always imagining things, is watching this through the window of her room. Her imagination plays a trick in her mind and makes her believe she sawsomething different from what was really happening. She misinterprets the mistake Robbie did and believes he is being aggressive with her sister.
Briony sees her older sister, Cecilia, as a maternal...