『속죄』에 나타난 트라우마적 오독/“놓친 읽기”와 트라우마에 대한 (미완의) 증언으로서의 글쓰기

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the cause and nature of trauma in Atonement, while examining the function and significance of writing in overcoming and testifying trauma. The protagonist of the novel Briony suffers from traumatic sense of guilt because her false accusation of an innocent man, Robbie, leads him to be a victim of World War II. Briony’s false accusation is brought about by Briony’s mis(sed)-reading of the love-making scene between Robbie and Cecilia as Robbie’s brutal attack on Cecilia. Later, Briony determines to bear testimony to Robbie’s innocence by writing about it. In short, her narration is an attempt to reconstruct her trauma and the imagined atonement for Robbie. Briony’s writing also functions as a witness and testimony to her traumatic experience which is essential to traumatic awakening or awakening of moral consciousness. Her testimony, however, remains incomplete or unfinished one because Briony’s writing cannot be published until Lady and Lord Marshall, the real rapist of Lola, dies, because they will be sure to exert their powerful influences to prevent its being published. Besides, even if Briony survives them, her writing cannot be completed because of her vascular dementia which will soon make her “fade into unknowing.” As Briony, through her writing, cannot make atonement for Robbie who is already dead during the war, Briony’s trauma can never be solved or overcome. The main function of Briony’s writing lies not in its possible atonement, but in its possibility as (unfinished) testimony which make traumatic/ moral awakening possible.