Self-Esteem

Self-Esteem plays an enormous role in the thoughts and actions of the narrative protagonist, Briony Larkin. She has been almost warped from birth into a certain role, and from then on has fulfilled this role as well as having more and more negativity placed onto her. Her name meaning the thorny vine to which the rose is attached is not a great start, as her sister being named Rose makes it very clear as to which of the sisters is the one to be protected, and the one who will be used as the protector. Since her mother died with Rose's birth, the only real maternal presence she had in her life was from her stepmother who did nothing but degrade and lower her self image to horrible degrees while making it seem like she loved her. Stepmother was able to convince Briony that she was...