Sunday, October 26, 2008

"Atonement" applies to most every character in the novel: they're all trying to achieve it in some way or another. The way it applies to some is simply more obvious than others.

In the case of Robbie, he's obviously trying to achieve atonement for something he didn't do: he wants to be proven innocent, so that people don't think he's the rapist anymore. He was never able to achieve this, though, because Briony never told them what really happened. Lola's atonement was much more subtle, though. I believe she knew it was Paul the whole time, and that's actually the reason that she married him: she wants to atone for the fact that she was raped. Basically, she married him because she felt she became 'worthless' after the rape. Of course, this doesn't seem like it would work; it actually seems counterproductive. It's very likely that Paul would only continue to abuse her after the marriage.

Briony's experience was the most important, though; hers was the basis for the entire book. Briony spends her entire life trying to atone for what she did to Robbie. It's the reason she wrote the book: to show what she wishes she would have done to fix the problem. Of course, this doesn't fix the problem, at best it might make her feel better.

I don't feel sorry for her. Yes, she must have been miserable because of what she did, but she should. It is her fault; and as soon as she realized what she had done, she should have done whatever she could to fix it.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Out of the different authors and works that we've studied so far, I found that James Dickey was pretty interesting. I thought that the way he wrote was unique. He did not use any fancy literary techniques: he simply wrote about things as they were, the way he understood them through his five senses. The imagery was interesting.

As our discussion group researched his works more, he only became more interesting. The poems did not seem to have very much in common at first... but as we found out more and more about his life, his personality, and his experiences, we began to see how the poems and his life tied together so perfectly. Everything seemed to mirror an experience he had, or somehow reflected his way of thinking.... and they even came to have more in common with each other.

Finally, I found it pretty cool that he not only attended Clemson, but played on the football team here!

All in all, while he might not have been the best of people, morally, he was a very interesting person.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Deep in the trenches, bodies clash together. Men fight it out, using their bodies as weapons against each other. Some fall, but none think this loss is in vain. A blur, and someone charges past, breaking open the barrier.

Colors, numbers, meaningless words. A man calls out loudly, leading the troops. He steps back, and an object sails through the air. It hits the ground. Everyone yells, angry.

The battle has been lost, but not the war. We try to break through that barrier again: make that object hit the ground again. Three times, and we are able to succeed. A new man calls out those meaningless words, and we get that object.

The man runs, runs, runs. He reaches the end. Victory! The war has been completed.