Atonement

TASK:

Watch the first half of the 2007 movie adaptation of "Atonement". While you watch, take notes and answer the following questions:

1. What sort of social and cultural setting does the Tallis House create? What emotions and impulses are being acted upon or repressed by its inhabitants?

2. A passion for order, a lively imagination, and a desire for attention seem to be Briony's strongest traits. In what ways is she still a child? Is her narcissism - her inability to see things from any point of view but her own - unusual in a thirteen-year-old? 

3. Why does Briony stick to her "version of the story" with such unwavering commitment? Does she act entirely in error in a situation she is not old enough to understand, or does she act, in part, on an impulse of malice, revenge, or self-importance? 

4. As she grows older, Briony develops the empathy to realise what she has done to Cecilia and Robbie. How and why do you think she does this? 

Answers:

1. The Tallis House is a huge house that makes us realize how rich are the Tallis, but the problem of it, I think, is that it seems too far from the city, and that's why I think Briony doesn't seem like a normal 13 year old girl.

2. I think narcissism is normal for a 13 year old girl, they usually want to show their attributes to the world and everyone to see them, but Briony took it to the extreme to a level that isn't normal for any age.

3. I think that her need for attention is so big, that she can do anything to take obstacles from her way.

4. Because she get's a mature point of view that makes her understand what is right or wrong from a better perspective.