Coming of Age as a Writer

The novel of the week was Atonement by Ian McEwen.  I thought it was a great novel with an interesting twist of an ending.  To explain this novel deeper and to gain greater understandings of it, we went to the British Library, the HMS Belfast, and the Florence Nightingale Museum.

"Propaganda is really no more than a communication of ideas designed to persuade people to think and behave in a desired way." -Philip Taylor

At the British Library, we learned about propaganda which only focuses on one appeal. One thing that stuck out to me at this exhibit was the social media accept.  They had a display of a huge screen at the end that last a significant event in history, like the Inauguration of Obama.  Then, several thousand tweets popped on the screen and kept changing.  The positive, negative, and neutral comments were all identified by a different color.  Because this exhibit accurately portrays propaganda as only focusing on one appeal, we can see how it relates back to Briony in the novel.  When she writes her plays, she wants her audience and the reader to only focus on one thing and that is the message.  Her messages can also only be interpreted in one way-just like the exhibits. 

This whole exhibit was about propaganda.  However, I think the pressing question in many of our minds was whether or not the exhibit about propaganda was propaganda itself or not. 

On Wednesday we visited the HMS Belfast. There, we compared the daily struggles of life as solider to those of Robbie Turner in Atonement. 

Some struggles that Robbie definitely faced were proper healthcare and homesickness.  At the Belfast, we learned that the lived in a very unsterile environment, just like Robbie probably lived it.  Also, Robbie lied his way into sanity."  He did this by writing-a common suggestion for soldiers who were homesick or death with shell shock. 

Florence Nightingale Museum on Thursday

The similarities between Florence and Briony in the novel are quite similar. 

Both Briony and Florence had a caring heart.  Briony in the end, lied in her novel to gain atonement for what she had done and tried the best she could to get Robbie and Cecilia back together which showed her caring nature.  Florence wrote to soldiers' families after they died, which also showed her compassion as not only a nurse but a writer. 

This is the lamp that Florence used.  She used it when she couldn't see and it allowed her to be constantly gaining experience, just as Briony gained experience through travel.  Both of their experiences traveling influenced how they thought and wrote.  It also greatly affected their communication. through writing.