The End of the World as We Know It

Briony is a dreamer, always looking for the inspirational story, whether it is in her imagination or inspired by reality. The problem is that she does not always know how to separate the two. As described by Briony’s mother, Emily, Briony is “always off and away in her mind, grappling with some unspoken, self-imposed problem, as though the weary, self-evident world could be reinvented by a child.” And, because Briony is a child, no matter how hard she tries not to be, she cannot be blamed for the misinterpretations that she makes.

After watching Cecilia dive half-naked into a fountain, Briony receives an apology letter from Robbie, which she is meant to deliver to Cecilia. She reads it, and believes that Robbie’s intentions are to attack Cecilia. Her naivety and lack of knowledge and/or experience makes her overreact and change her opinion of Robbie, regardless of how long she has known him. She believes him to be a monster, even though she has no actual proof.

Briony gets her “proof” when she catches Cecilia and Robbie having sex in the library. She describes the incident as an “attack, a hand-to-hand fight. The scene was so entirely a realization of her worst fears that she sensed that her overanxious imagination had projected the figures onto the packed spines of books.” Cecilia and Robbie could not meet Briony’s eyes, which only confirmed her belief in that something horrible happened. She compares Robbie to a hulking mass engulfing Cecilia. Shocked by what she has just witnessed, Briony cannot help but run from the library, even after Cecilia and Robbie have both left.