Quarter 2 SSR Response

For the second quarter, I chose to read a novel called Atonement, by Ian McEwan which is divided into three major parts with a final resolution from the author. The first section of the book tells a story of one day/night in 1935 at the Tallis family property north of London, England. It concentrates on Briony Tallis, the thirteen-year-old youngest daughter of three, who strives to be a writer. As she prepares for a play she has written, she witnesses a spectacle between her older sister Cecilia and the son of the family chairwoman Robbie Turner. What is an innocent scene is greatly misinterpreted by the young imagination, which will initiate a series of events with eternal consequences. Then the second part takes place five years later where it follows Robbie Turner as a soldier during the war in France after he served three years in prison for his crime and is now able to exonerate himself by serving in the army. Lastly, part three picks up with the eighteen-year-old Briony who has applied as a nurse in London. Suffering from guilt for her misconduct as a girl, Briony dreams nursing will act as a penance for her sin.

While the book includes several fascinating characters, one of the characters that struck me the most was Cecilia who is Briony’s strong, beautiful, and independent sister. Out of all the character in the novel, I think that I took a liking to Cecilia because of the hardships she had to face. In the novel, she realizes that she is in love with Robbie Turner whom her sister accused of rape, so she had to choose between her family or her love life. She ended up choosing Robbie over her family; however, she loved her sister so much that making that decision must have been so difficult for her which made me sympathize with her. Also, Cecilia, I would argue, is a dynamic character since, in the beginning of the novel, she was someone who had a soft side for those she loved especially towards her sister; however, in the middle of the novel, she cuts off her own ties to her family and promises to wait for her lover, Robbie.

I think that Cecilia became my favorite character because of how similar she is to my sister who is as confident as a lion. She has the audacity to do what she ever she wants even when people are watching her which is how Cecilia lived when she decided to wait for Robbie. Also, I think she became one of my favorite character in the novel because of how her story ended, I wish that her final moments were different, but it made a great twist in the story.