AP Lit Atonement Essay PDF

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2010 ap lit atonement essay...

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2010: Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has also said that exile can become “a potent, even enriching” experience. Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.

The chain smoking character of Cecilia, in Ian McEwan’s Atonement ,suffers an exile following her complacent support of the rape accused Robbie Turner, who is subject to the harsh stigma associated with his socio-economic status. Cecilia’s exile solidifies the Tallis’ theme of isolation, illustrated by the sense of aloneness experienced in their home, and reflects the overall meaning of the work in that Cecilia’s death following her exile highlights the unchangeability of the past, requiring those who possess regrets to atone, rather than repair, the errors of their ways.

Although throughout the novel, Cecilia Tallis exhibits consistent traits of isolation and loneliness, one must look towards the disillusions presented to the reader to truly understand the nature of her mental state, the most insightful of which is the representation of Cecilia and Robbie following Robbie’s wartime experience. This, of course, is merely a fragmented fantasy devised by the debatably insane character of Briony, but holds meaning nonetheless. In this, Cecilia and Robbie are happily reunited, returning from the war with a newfound vigor, and ready to continue on their lucrative lives, assuring to leave time to obtain revenge for the women who sent them through the worst years of their lives. In this, we can clearly see the contrast between reality and illusion, with the reality being the two lovers died, alone, and permanently, not able to be rewritten into the lives they once possessed, highlighting the overall meaning of

the book, as their resurrection through Briony’s novel reflects the unchangeability of the past, and the necessity of atonement for one to find solace in their actions. Furthermore, this illustration of the lover’s lives that could have been, reveals insight regarding Cecilia specifically, as it highlights her mental state throughout the entire novel. In the illusion, Cecilia is content with life, and makes a notable effort to keep her life in order, illustrated by the cleanliness of her room, that of which is described to be dirty and reeking of cigarette smoke in the following sections. This contrast between cleanliness reveals the state of order in Cecilia’s life, indicating her true level of disorder throughout reality, all of which being necessary to further understand the nature of her exile from the Tallis family.

Exile, in it of itself, represents the point of no return, the point in one’s life in which they hold no chance of reprisal or repair. Now, in the context of the novel, exile holds far more meaning, as that very lack of ability to repair the misdeeds of one’s past is compounded by the traits of individual characters such as Briony or Jack, and is left to be explored throughout the pages, as it is a major component of the overall meaning of the novel, that being ones lack of ability to change their past, and the necessity for atonement. In the case of Cecilia, exile presents no enrichment, and leads to complete alienation from essentially all that she loves. Cecilia is cast out of her family for no legitimate reason, something Cecilia knows all too well, making the situation all the worse, as Cecilia’s family’s quickness to accuse and exile causes all the more emotional destruction. This exile highlights, first of all, Briony’s specific view of her actions, that being something she must atone for, as Cecilia and Robbie are the central characters in Briony’s self conflicts. Second of all, Cecilia’s exile, combined with the immense implications of

her death, highlight the consistent themes of isolation present throughout the novel. These themes are most evident in the descriptions of the Tallis house, with allusions to ancient lonely castles, and ghastly echoes of emptiness that give chills to all those who endure them, giving off some pretty strong hints of aloneness. This aloneness is used by McEwin to better complicate his characters, by giving them each their own, individual, sets of conflicts and characteristics, while simultaneously allowing for the overall complexity between the relationships of characters to be aggrandized, as this sense of isolation gives way to an erroneous level of lack of sympathy. This lack of sympathy is a constant presence throughout the novel, making it all the more difficult for those requiring atonement, to atone for what they have done, as they are incapable of understanding the true damage they even cause....