Response to pages 34-37, Homework Oct. 9th

Today in class we covered pages 34 through 37 in teh text which focus on Briony's thoughts about her play and her sister's bizarre encounter with Robbie Turner. During class, I noticed that most people were focusing on the wording of what was bring said and the specific lines, while I thought of it in a broader sense. Briony talks about two things most prevelently in this section...a. not understanding other people's needs and desires within her play...and b. viewing a scene from a bird's eye view in which she can interprete the actions in any way she sees fit.

A. In the first few paragraghs, the feeling that stuck out most in my mind was Briony's inability to focus and understand other people's needs. While I don't think Briony is willingly selfish, I think she's been allowed to grow up in an enviroment where she's only needed to access her own needs. Being the youngest by a huge gap, Briony isn't used to working with children her own age, such as her cousins, and thus she's inpatient with them during play practice. As a character I cannot assume certain things, such as Briony being selfish due to the way I think she was raised, but I do think her actions prove a self-centered little girl who is unaware of the individuals around her. Her thoughts may be grown up and her stories may prove brillance for a child her age, but the way she interacts with other people makes Briony seems somewhat immature.

B. As Briony watches the scene between Cecelia and Robbie from above, she gets the unique oppurtunity to make her own assumptions about the situation since she isn't able to hear the dialogue. Instead of allowing her to access the situation rationally, Briony just uses it to fuel her hate for Robbie by making the entire scene seem to revolve around something he did, when in actuality she knows nothigna of the sort. I think that during this short part of the book, readers learn that Briony's imagination isn't as creative as we might have previously thought, but rather she uses it as a tool of manipulation to make situations ideal in her mind.