Briony the Storyteller

Briony is introduced as a young playwright. Young. Playwright. These two words cannot describe her more. Briony always seems to be telling a story of her own, especially when she witnesses a situation she may not understand. For example, she watches her sister by the fountain with Robbie, who Briony is familiar with. She doesn't necessarily understand what is going on, so based on her sister and Robbie's actions, she more or less fabricates a story. The reader, however, is well aware of the scene by the fountain, for the previous chapter zooms in on the seemingly innocent, playful, and a bit flirtatious interaction between Cecilia and Robbie. However, Briony assumes that, because her sister removed articles of clothing, there is some sort of sexual interaction or attraction between the two; even if this is true, the situation is portrayed in a different light in the previous chapter, and neither Cecilia nor Robbie are seen as sexually-driven characters.

It seems as if Briony's interpretation of Robbie and her sister more or less changes the course of the book. She sees Robbie and Cecilia's relationship as dangerous. She witnesses another scenario in the study where her sister and Robbie are having sex, but because she is young, she perceives the situation in a different way. She truly believes that her sister is being attacked by Robbie, a sexual deviant, and needs to be rescued. Her "big lie" where she claims to have witnessed Robbie raping her cousin, Lola, is yet another example of how her misinterpretation led her to indirectly cause harm to Robbie (and Cecilia), and even herself.

In class, we perpetuated a discussion about Briony. Somehow, started talking about a conflict between Briony's supposed desire to manipulate the storyline (need for power) and her naivete. Personally, I believe that, although Briony has some desire to control and produce a situation that she feels is adequate (i.e. Trials of Arabella), this does not apply to how she misinterprets events. She is merely immature and ignorant, especially when it comes to sex and relationships.