Character of Briony Flashcards
1
Q
How is Briony obsessive?
A
- ‘obsessed by a desire to have the world just so’
- her room was ‘a shrine to Briony’s self controlling demon’
1
Q
How does Briony suffer?
A
- ‘nothing in her life was sufficiently interesting’
2
Q
How is Briony shown to be immature?
A
- ‘struggles between good and evil, heroes and villains’
- ‘failure to grasp that other people were as real as you’
3
Q
How is Briony shown to be self centered?
A
- ‘precisely why she loved plays, everyone would adore her’ (in response to Pierrot saying its ‘showing off’)
4
Q
How does Briony react to the letter
A
‘It was wrong to open people’s letters, but it was essential for her to know everything’
5
Q
What is the significance of ‘the rosary to be fingered for a lifetime’
A
It shows Briony’s reflective comment of lasting guilt
6
Q
Briony’s guilt
A
- ‘the rosary to be fingered for a lifetime’
- ‘a person…easily torn, not easily mended’
- ‘she was unforgivable’
- ‘her familiar guilt’
7
Q
Lack of Atonement
A
- ‘no atonement for God, or novelists’
8
Q
Lack of culpability
A
- ‘There was our crime. Lola’s, Marshall’s, mine.’
9
Q
Punishment
A
- she is not punished directly for her crime
- ‘then language itself’ (she stands to lose her life’s joy)
10
Q
A
