Atonement Part One...well mostly chapters 7 and 8

So, I'm not going to summarize--you read it.  That was your assignment.  I am going to respond to these two chapters. 

Chapter 7
Briony.  Oh Briony.  I kinda hate her.  But this beautiful chapter is so filled with important imagery, symbolism.  I hope you notice how Briony can't resist the urge for story to impose itself and how the "story" she imposes on the poor nettles is so violent and destructive.  Her anger toward Lola and the twins is never really articulated but completely understood.  She's angry about the destruction of her art, and the whole scene is cathartic, a rite of passage.  She is in that awkward place where anyone who has attempted to create art through writing realizes that her fiction is immature.  It's uncomfortable.  and she feels young and insignificant.  I like that she is determined to "dispell" her insignificance. 
       I also LOVE the following sentences:  "Her reverie, once rich in plausible details, had become a passing silliness before the hard mass of the actual.  It was difficult to come back.  Come back, her sister used to whisper when she woke her from a bad dream."  This is an image that will return later!  Look for it.  I missed it in this chapter the first time I read the book, and I love that it's here, reading it the second time. 
       Another important sentence:  "Briony had lost her godly power of creation, but it was only at this moment of return that the loss became evident; part of a daydream's enticement was the illusion that she was helpless before its logic..."  This idea of the writer as god is a motif to look for.  It's more subtle than the motifs in Heart of Darkness. but it's there.  Look for it!
Chapter 8
Robbie Turner.  I love his complexity.  I love the way McEwan develops his love for Cecilia in this chapter.  It's so realistic.  To fall in love literally with the girl next door.  And she's out of his social sphere.  Nice romantic obstacle.  This chapter makes you forget that this book is a bit of tragedy.  It is.  I forgot, thought it was a romance, but the title indicates a wrong that must be righted.  Right?  Atonement.  Atonement: –noun


1.satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.

2.(sometimes initial capital letter) Theology. the doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and humankind, esp. as accomplished through the life, suffering, and death of Christ.

3.Christian Science. the experience of humankind's unity with God exemplified by Jesus Christ.

4.Archaic. reconciliation; agreement.
 
Well, I guess the element of redemption could change the story from a tragic one to a more uplifting one.  I don't want to give anything away, but we're reading a tragedy....I'm a writer and I like what McEwan is saying about his craft through his novel.  but I'll wait till after part three to discuss further discuss that point. 
I really do love Robbie, though.  I love that he's real.   Mr. Darcy is an ideal, and an unattainable one, at that.  I know Robbie.