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Arianna Alfano

Mrs. Lithgow

English 12 British Authors

October 18, 2018

The Problem-Solution Rhetorical Mode: Briony’s Obsession with Perfection

Life poses a multitude of problems, and the only way to avoid the consequences is to find

solutions. For humanity, the need for reassurance and control over their own circumstances is

essential to survival; however, very often, people take their yearning for control too far.

Unfortunately, for many individuals, the primary issue that they face throughout their existence

is an ingrained need for perfection. This exact matter is seen all throughout the course of the

novel Atonement. As seen through her mindset and the narration, Briony has an intense passion

for order and refinement. As a result, she strives for perfection in everything that she does. This,

in turn, causes her to create false endings and work to create closure in many situations, and

while many find this a somewhat unrealistic standard for a novel, it actually furthers the meaning

of the work as a whole. The entire premise of the novel, Atonement, revolves around Briony’s

creation of a problem by taking a great misstep as a result of childhood misunderstandings. This,

in turn, causes her to go about solving the issue of imperfection that lies in her life, as a result of

this, by establishing a happy ending for Robbie and Cecelia in her novel. Therefore, throughout

Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Briony’s obsession with perfection and futile attempt to achieve

atonement for the accusation of Robbie by writing her happy endings highlights the messages of

sins being unforgivable and atonement remaining unattainable.

From the very beginning of Atonement, it is quite apparent to the audience that Briony is

a perfectionist. In fact, in only “One,” the characterization of Briony clearly illustrates that she
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has a great love for organization and, in some ways, flawlessness. As is stated, Briony had “a

simple truth: she had no secrets. Her wish for a harmonious, organized world denied her the

reckless possibilities of wrongdoing” (McEwan 5). From this, it can be related that her need for

security went far beyond any other desire. She could not even imagine acting out in an impolite,

unnecessary matter. Essentially, Briony felt that she needed order to survive. This can be seen, in

one sense, from the way in which she aligned her stuffed animals in her bedroom. As described

in the novel, “[Her] window ledge consisted of all the usual animals, but all facing one way—

towards their owner” (McEwan 5). With this, it could be inferred that Briony was a young girl

who wanted even the smallest details to align with her unrealistic vision of reality. In her placing

the animals just as so, she was creating a universe that was centered around her—that was free

from mistakes or the harsh pain of existence in this world, which would later be realized as a

result of her awful mistake. Additionally, from this short excerpt, the concept that Briony desires

a world with management and rules is illustrated. McEwan’s description of her need for control

over even the most minuscule details furthers the argument that Briony was plagued by the need

for organization, which allows for the readers to understand her very much perfectionist, Type A

personality. Even her creation of the drama, The Trials of Arabella, was not established for the

reasons which most people would produce a play but was intended to portray to Leon the

message of settling down and becoming less spontaneous. In fact, McEwan states, “It was…to

guide him away from his careless succession of girlfriends, towards the right form of wife, the

one who would persuade him to return to the countryside, the one who would sweetly request

Briony’s services as a bridesmaid” (4). As could be understood, Briony’s version of the world

greatly contrasted with the way in which Leon was spending his life. Leon’s having multiple,

unserious relationships with women of whom Briony did not approve made her willing to create
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an entire drama centered around the need for him to change the course of his life. While these

details may seem insignificant, they are important in that they allow the reader to see that Briony

did not want to see faults in her life. This is an essential aspect of the novel in that it explains all

of her further actions.

Without the characterization of Briony as an individual crazed by the need for a faultless,

coordinated society, there would be little explanation for the extent to which she went to bring

Lola “justice” by accusing Robbie. Even before the horrendous rape of Lola, Briony’s wish for

perfection was seen through her desire and intent to keep Robbie away from society upon her

reading his vulgar note to Cecelia. Specifically, it is narrated “But there was a maniac treading

through the night with a dark, unfulfilled heart…She must first protect her sister against him, and

then find ways of conjuring him safely on paper” (McEwan 157). Being that sexuality had been a

concept Briony’s mind avoided, she automatically felt it was dirty and somewhat monstrous for

Robbie to seek a sexual relationship with her big sister. Even in the word choice that describes

him, it becomes apparent to the readers that Briony has lost all respect and prior admiration for

Robbie. At this moment in the novel, Briony’s personal belief of what exists in a perfect world

and her refusal to rid of order in life causes her to be unable to imagine Robbie as anything other

than a “maniac.” This allowed for her to feel justified, at the time, with her later accusation. With

her perfectionist mind and inability to understand topics that she did not perceive as orderly,

Briony automatically believed that Robbie deserved to be separated from society. This mindset

becomes problematic because it ultimately allows for her to take certain missteps which ruin the

lives of those who care about her the most. More so, Briony’s ultimate crime is another way in

which the audience can understand how her obsession with perfection established a complication

which she felt inclined to resolve later in her life. Following the discovery of Lola in her
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traumatic, post-raped state, Briony insisted that the rapist had been Robbie, due to her prior

knowledge of Robbie and Cecelia’s sexual relationship. McEwan specifically writes, “Briony

said it again, this time without the trace of a question. ‘It was Robbie’” (166). This is significant

in that, through Briony’s misunderstanding and need to be right, she, in effect, aids in persuading

Lola that the rapist had to be Robbie. Simply because Robbie desired an intimate relationship

with her big sister, Briony came to the immature deduction that he must have been a villain who

simply wanted to fulfill his venereal needs, regardless of consent. While Briony’s initial reaction

to the situation was a result of childhood misunderstandings, the steps that she takes in response

to the rape—the ultimate problem she needs to solve in her adult life—can be seen as the result

of her wish for refinement in society. Without Lola’s entire belief that Robbie was the rapist,

Briony began acting quickly to allow for order to be restored. Instead of allowing for Lola to take

the necessary steps following the attack, Briony—needing to feel fulfillment with restoring

harmony—tells the police that Robbie was the assailant. In fact, without a trace of evidence or

genuine conviction, she stated to the lead investigator “‘I know it was him…Yes. I saw him. I

saw him’” (McEwan 181). Even without fully knowing who was to blame, Briony insisted on

immediately finding a solution to the issue at hand. Ironically, this was her issue all along—the

inability to accept imperfection. This issue of Robbie’s arrest due to a false accusation,

obviously, is a problem because it caused an innocent man to be sentenced to jail time and,

eventually, emotionally and physically killed him and Cecelia. However, more so, it creates a

horrific issue for Briony’s more mature self—guilt. As has been established, Briony is a person

that fears disorder and having to be confronted with the issue of having made a detrimental

mistake causes her to have to live with imperfection that she works her entire life to resolve.
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Briony’s need for perfection, the overwhelming cause of her problem, would also be the

reason that she wished to find a solution to it. Following Robbie’s conviction, in her later teens,

Briony soon became aware of the fact that Robbie was more than likely not Lola’s rapist. This

causes her to confront her problem of imperfection daily. Thus, she attempts to combat the guilt

and disorder that she experiences by creating happy endings which are to intended to act as an

atonement for the accusation of Robbie. By the very end of “Part 3,” Briony wrote that she had

visited Cecelia unexpectedly and “seen him walk across the room…Briony wanted to tell her

how wonderful it was that Robbie had come back safely” (McEwan 338). In this instance, the

reader is supposed to comprehend that Robbie and Cecelia were never truly separated, for love

kept them together. This allows for everyone, even Briony, to believe for a moment that all is

right—order was restored, and the world had continued on in harmony. However, it was later

revealed that “Robbie Turner died of septicemia at Bray Dunes… Cecelia was killed…by the

bomb that destroyed Balham Underground station. That I never saw them in that year” (McEwan

370). From these two excerpts combined, it is supposed to be understood that while Briony had

never actually had a chance to correct the mistakes she had made, she attempted to find peace

and establish order through the creation of her novel and addition of such a chapter. Her solution

to the guilt that plagued her was to try to make things right once again—even if the solution only

existed in ink. She wanted, with all her being, to be able to go back in time and revoke her

statements. However, she realized that she had to live with imperfection—the problem—and

sought to redeem herself through her solution of a falsified happy ending.

On the contrary, while her solution was intended to create, in her mind, redemption, it

only furthers the concept that atonement is unachievable, and sins are rarely forgiven. Her futile

attempt at resolving the disorder that plagued her life by establishing a happy ending in her novel
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makes the case that it was impossible for her to achieve true forgiveness from those who could

have given it to her. In fact, it is stated “In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms.

No atonement for God or novelists, even if they are atheists” (McEwan 371). From this, the

readers can acknowledge that Briony fully understands that the work that she has put into the

novel will not make things right once again. Despite her keeping Robbie and Cecelia together, in

reality, no peace would have ever come to them beyond the grave. Briony had sent them both a

death sentence. In her sending Robbie to prison, she was giving him limited options, most of

which led to his ultimate demise. Additionally, as Cecelia still clearly was in love with Robbie,

she became a nurse who prayed for her beloved to come back to her. Unfortunately, it was a

result of this career choice that she died in the bomb that destroyed Balham Underground station.

While Briony was able to attempt to create closure in her life by giving the couple promise in her

novel, she, in any sense, was the reason for their misery, and through her concluding paragraphs,

it is understood that she comprehends this entirely. Briony’s novel was more of a way of

creating, for herself, a solution to her feelings of imperfection and guilt in her life than a means

of genuine atonement. Therefore, from her work to establish a happy ending, it only made it

more conspicuous to the audience that there was none.

Overall, McEwan’s novel Atonement has a multitude of lessons from which the audience

can learn, and, unfortunately, the most prominent of which are the themes of some sins being

unforgivable and atonement remaining unattainable. This concept is highlighted by an abundance

of factors throughout the literary work. However, it is most clearly illustrated through Briony’s

obsession with perfection. From the very beginning of the novel, it was established by McEwan

that Briony was a perfectionist. From the way in which she aligned her stuffed animals in her

room to the way in which she took charge of attempting to restore order following Lola’s rape,
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there is no denying that she was an individual who desperately sought harmony in the world.

Unfortunately, this, ultimately, led to Briony’s most significant problem. Crazed by the need for

organization and refinement of society, as well as some misinterpretations due to her

underdeveloped mind, Briony, through lying and false accusations, sent Robbie Turner, an

innocent, man to prison. This tragic misstep not only devastated Robbie and his love interest,

Cecelia, but also Briony. In the most basic sense, it created horrific circumstances for Briony’s

more mature self—the problems of guilt and imperfection. These problems, in turn, caused

Briony to desire atonement from the couple afflicted. Thus, in order to solve the issue of

imperfection that remained apparent in her life, Briony sought to redeem herself through her

solution of a falsified happy ending. Ultimately, though, the establishment of happy endings was

not relatable to what happened in reality—making the entire attempt futile. With both the

emotional and physical deaths of both Robbie and Cecelia as a result of Briony’s attempts at

perfection, Briony, admittedly, would never gain atonement, as it did not exist for the situation

she had created, nor any other issue. Thus, in the end, while Briony was a young girl filled with

admiration for perfection, her obsession soon led the principal issues of guilt and imperfection to

emerge in her life, and while she worked earnestly to combat these problems and to create the

solution of a happy ending for those afflicted by her mistake, her attempts at atonement would

remain futile to all those who understood, as the couple whom was supposed to “live happily

ever after” never even had a chance to live.

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Works Cited

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. London: Vintage Publishing, 2001. Print.