Part Three of Atonement by Ian McEwan, concludes with Briony’s work in the hospital. This section is filled with her endless interactions of tending to the wounded from war. From the earlier section the reader is told that Briony has entered the field of nursing so the shock value has now worn off for the reader at this point. However, this job fits her well. Nursing is structured, orderly, and meaningful. These rules do not allow her much free time to utilize her daydreaming nature, but this is for her benefit since she is grown up. But one thing does not change about Briony, and that is her writing. She keeps a notebook that has a role of her confidant, the “person” that she informs everything about her life to. She has a deeper line of communication with her journal than her parents! The reader sees how she encourages mystery surrounding her daily life and feelings to her parents by the statement, “it was important to her that her parents, especially her mother, knew as little about her life as possible.” This seems a bit harsh especially in this war torn time the family is living in. Reading further on, some passages reveal her internal hurting. She is remorseful for her deeds. If she wasn't she wouldn't dwell the incident. It seems as if Briony imagines herself having a completely different life. She is now becoming tough on herself and takes full blame. This is evident by the contrasting content of her journal entries described on page 264. The passage reads, “She liked to write out what she imagined to be [her characters'] rambling thoughts. She was under no obligation to the truth; she had promised no one a chronicle. This was the only place she could be free.” This mindset resembles her childhood and her love of fiction. Now the passage reveals a metamorphosis of maturity in Briony, “In later years she regretted not being more factual, not providing herself with a store of raw material. I would have been useful to know what happened, what it looked like, who was there, what was said.” This is a huge change in her mentality and outlook. We have seen this pattern before in Part One of the book. The moment she switches from nice fairytale like stories to tragic dramas including “confusion and misunderstanding,” as the source of problems instead of villains she experiences a "coming to age".
Another negative action that Briony takes full responsibility for is the union of Lola and Marshall. She is surprised not about the news of the wedding primarily, but the fact that her father was the one who informed her and gave her all the information she needed to attend the ceremony. This situation is peculiar. Her father is seen throughout the story as the distant character of this story. Him revealing this information and making it possible for Briony signals that he understands(but not fully aware of) her daughter’s past mistake. Again Briony is faced with another result of her recklessness; another life is ruined- from her perspective. She sadly realizes all the nursing hours in the world cannot erase the effects of that one night.
After witnessing the wedding of the Marshalls the reader is made to believe that Briony visits her sister and, surprisingly, Robbie to make final arrangements of her confession. And her tasks are simple: she is to explain everything to her parents, speak to a solicitor, and write out the whole story and give it to Robbie. After this encounter a burden is released since the truth is revealed. The text explains this figuratively stating, “Once through the front door, it seemed to Briony that she was stepping into another day. There was a strong, gritty breeze blowing, and the street was in harsh relief, with even more sunlight, fewer shadows than before.” The image of a gritty breeze symbolizes the dirt of lies floating away and the point of fewer shadows than before is translated as Briony stepping to the light-to truth. The act of Cecilia and Robbie seeing her to the train is a sense of closure and peace as this new time for the family unfolds.
The end reveals Briony’s life is Atonement(both literally and figuratively). Her final book and finale of her life is publishing a book that true account of her life intermingled with Robbie’s and Cecilia’s. Her false happy ending is not to please her readers; it is her “sorry” that is long overdue to her sister and Robbie. She has provided a space for them to have lived their dream. Her book is her final act in asking forgiveness. This could have been predicted due to the letter she receives from the Horizon editor. This letter proves very important in analyzing Briony’s weakness- her lack of courage and fear of confrontation. A weakness that was apparent in her childhood as well (confronting Lola about her role). This answers the question of “why did you wait so long to tell the truth Briony?” Fear is a powerful feeling, a feeling that brought the ultimate demise to love between two people of different worlds. However a sense of gulit and the result of suffering transends her cowardice and causes her to do what is right. This is how she becomes the herorine of her own story at last.
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