Atonement is a fund concept in the Jewish and Christian religions. 'Yom Kippur', the day of atonement is the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. The need for atonement arises when an individual has committed a crime about which he feels guilty and for which he wishes to make amends, to the wronged party. Christmas too are required to atone for their sins if they want them to be forgiven by the confessor.
             She needed to atone for the crime she committed at the age of thirteen. "Within the half hour Briony would commit her crime." When Briony appears in the fountain and library scene, she misinterprets what she sees. Though she was very young, she genuinely believed in Robbie's guilt even if that belief was based upon a mixture of childish ignorance and indignation. However, Briony was not helped to reexamine her story but felt only encouragement to stick with it, since she was desperate for adult attention and convinced that she knew better than her sister Cecilia, and she could protect her.
             Thus, she will later be tortured by remorse. It is the night of the attack and early morning that followed that will trouble her more than the legal processes. "Her own vile excitement." "Briony center stage." She takes the letter from Cecilia's bedroom and give it to the inspector. Also she shows them where she had seen Robbie attacking Cecilia ; "that could earn her praise." The inspector tells her "just as you see me", "You saw him with your own eyes." Briony tells him "Yes, I saw him." "Yes she was a child. But not every child sends a man to prison with a lie."
             Briony's atonement starts when she abandons her ambition to go to Girton College, Cambridge , choosing to the humble job of nursing instead. Cecilia says "I get the impression she's taken on nursing as an act of penance." Briony's novel has been "My fifthy-nine year assignment.&qu...