Writers write with the purpose of presenting and explaining some sort of universal theme relating to human life, which survives in history through generations, along with the stories they create, because they are written down and read by others who keep that tradition and the values connected with it ongoing. Briony fools the reader at the end of the novel, stating that the happiness achieved by Cecilia and Robbie meeting up again were nothing more than illusions presented not to detract the reader from the actuality of those events, but to better lead the reader to her intentions of preserving their love and happiness together. The reality of their deaths would not "constitute an ending" (350) in all fairness to the two lovers as they are the true victims of Briony's reckless aggression in her bold accusation of rape. She owes them the very joy in their lives of which she stripped and with the lovers themselves dead, she has no other way to make amends for her mistake than document the survival of their love.
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2. Quote: "She had never seen men crying beforefrom this new and intimate perspective, she learned a simple, obvious thing she had always known, and everyone knew: that a person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn, not easily mended" (286-287).
Analysis: This juxtaposition serves to connect the situation of Cecilia and Robbie to the tragedy which was World War II. In the same way of which Briony easily tore apart the lives of Cecilia and Robbie, the Second World War is destroying the lives of everyone on Earth. Like the trust broken between Briony and Cecilia, and the humans easily killed in the war by guns and bombs, World War II is not a crime that can be easily repaired. Humankind is still, to this day, suffering from the horrors of that "mistake" in the exact same way Briony, as she nears 77 years of age, still grieves over the guilt haunting her and the pain she imposed upon her victims: people she cared so deeply about.
