Sweet Emotion: ‘Atonement’ Characters Upon Reading

            A 2013 Emory University study revealed reading improves language and motor skills for up to five days after reading. It also discovered subjects were able to remember things better, perhaps due to more blood (i.e. oxygen) being funneled to the brain, especially when a narrative arc is involved. This triggers “mirror neurons,” which enable the reader to relate to and empathize with the characters. Additionally, reading about a character’s actions requires the same neural activity in the reader as actually performing the same task. Would this be the same for the characters in story if they read? A look at several characters in “Atonement” suggests they have emotional, and sometimes, physical responses to their readings.

            Briony’s first critical read for “The Trials of Arabella” comes courtesy of her mother, Emily Tallis, who displays looks of “alarm”, and “snickers of glee” later, followed by “grateful smiles” and “affirming nods” which all indicate she enjoyed the play, even giving it a “stupendous” review. Mrs. Tallis’ reactions to the tale of misfortune turned love story follow the arc of the play accordingly. “The Trials of Arabella” also foreshadows much of the narrative for “Atonement” itself.

             

            Though she is not reading at the time, Robbie asks Cecilia how she her reading of “Clarissa” is going. When Cecilia responds “boring,” the novel's narrative inertia reflects her own ennui. But, Robbie, who is rolling a cigarette for Cecilia, prods her to keep reading, that “it gets better.” This makes Cecilia think Robbie can detect “her taste for the full-bodied and sensual,” just prior to him offering and lighting her cigarette. While Cecilia is a proxy for the lead in “Clarissa,” there is no doubt this encounter literally ignites the sexual dynamic between Robbie and Cecilia.

            The sexual motif is further amplified when Robbie begins to write the cursed note to Cecilia. At first he jokes, “I don’t think I can blame the heat.”  Even the mere thought of seeing “Grey’s Anatomy,” after years of studying it, arouses Robbie to fantasize about Cecilia. He types more versions of the note with the book opened to the inflammatory page.

            Later, Robbie hands the note to Briony for delivery to Cecilia. A compulsion to “know everything” leads Briony to read the note. Upon reading it, she feels threatened and “immediately sens[es] the danger contained in such crudity.”  The “order of their household” is in jeopardy, as well as Briony’s own longing for Robbie.

            These passages are short hand for the narrative conflict and illustrate the dynamic between the three main characters, who will each endure personal adversity when they leave the country estate.  It is fascinating to find within these few simple passages that even characters in a novel are swept by emotions and physical stirrings when they read.