The novel Atonement is written in four parts. In part one of the novel it follows Briony a thirteen year old girl who loves to write. Her brother is coming home for a visit and is bringing a friend. She enlists her cousins to be in in a play that she wrote. Her cousins are staying with them while their parents go through a divorce. Her cousin Lola is two years older than her and wants to play the lead, Briony agrees but struggles because it’s not how she wrote the play. Before her brother and his friend arrive, Briony witnesses her sister take off her clothes and get into a fountain in front of Robbie, the charwoman's son, and a close friend of the family. She misunderstands what she sees and thinks Robbie forced her sister to do what she did not want to. In reality, a piece of a vase broke off and Cecilia, her sister, went to retrieve it. When her brother and his friend arrive, Cecilia is excited as they have always been close. Briony however, upset with how the play is going ran off. Leon, the brother, tells Cecilia that he invited Robbie to dinner, which she is upset about due to their earlier altercation. Meanwhile, Robbie is at his home on the grounds of the house writing an apology letter. One is sexually explicit, as he has realized feelings he has for Cecilia, the other is very formal. On his way out to dinner he comes across Briony and asks her to deliver the letter to Cecilia. Only after he has given her the letter does he realize it is the wrong one. Briony delivers the letter to her sister and Cecilia realizes she has read it. Later, Lola comes to Briony with chafed wrists and a scratched back saying her brothers attacked her. Briony confides to Lola what the letter said. The two are called to dinner. Briony walks into the library and sees Cecilia and Robbie being intimate. Once again she mistakes it as forceful. At dinner the boys run away and everyone separates to find them. Briony witnesses her cousin Lola getting Raped. It is very dark but she is sure it was Robbie. She accuses him and he is arrested.
In part two, it explains that Robbie was to spend many years in prison, but if he went to War for Britain he would be released so long as he lives. Throughout the course of part two, it is explained that Robbie and Cecilia are still in love and both believe him to be innocent of the crime for which he was accused. Due to the fact her family all accused him she cut them off and became an emergency nurse treating wounded soldiers. We see some of Robbie's traumatic experiences and learn that he is wounded. Himself and two other soldiers are walking toward Dunkirk where they are waiting to be evacuated. Once he and the two men arrive they are exhausted, Robbie is somewhat delirious and cannot remember what he is trying to survive for. After one of the men wakes him up from his sleep he tells him they will be evacuated the next day. Robbie remembers why he wants to live. Then it moves to part three.
In part three, Briony is again the main point of view however she is now eighteen. She followed in her sister's footsteps and became a nurse. She continues to write and realizes that she feels guilty for her accusations as she no longer believes it was Robbie who attacked Lola. She meets up with her sister who she has not seen in the five year period and finds her and Robbie together. She agrees to write statements to her parents and Robbie explaining his innocence and any details she can remember from that night. She tells them that she believes it was Paul Mitchell, the brothers friend, who attacked their cousin. At first they do not believe her then she tells them, she has just come from Lola and Paul’s wedding. Robbie and Cecilia walk her to the bus. The novel then switches to part four.
In part four, it follows a 70 year old Briony who is waiting for her novel Atonement to be published. Due to the fact the novel uses everyone’s real names it cannot be published until the Mitchells are dead. This won’t happen until after Briony’s death. In the last four pages of the novel it is revealed that Briony never got to see her sister or Robbie again as Robbie died at Dunkirk and Cecilia died at the Bombing of the Balham underground station, the same year. She only knew that they were still in love because their letters to each other were in a World War Two museum. Briony states that she wanted to give the couple eternal love, which she had taken away from them. She claims that she gave them some peace and whenever the book is read in the future Robbie and Cecilia will be together.
Themes
Guilt: This theme should be obvious as the entire novel follows Briony and her trying to repent for what she did as a child. First, she doesn’t go to Cambridge so she can become a nurse, and she writes the novel trying to give her sister and her lover peace. Many people question if she actually reached atonement as she never actually corrected the problem with Robbie and Cecilia. Innocence: Briony loses her innocence in the first part of the novel. Personally, I had much debate about when it was. It could be when she sees the intimate relationship of her sister and Robbie, when she heard/witnessed Lola’s rape, or when she somewhat knowingly accused Robbie of a rape he did not commit. Innocence: Briony loses her innocence in the first part of the novel. Personally, I had much debate about when it was. It could be when she sees the intimate relationship of her sister and Robbie, when she heard/witnessed Lola’s rape, or when she somewhat knowingly accused Robbie of a rape he did not commit.
Social Class: Throughout the novel social classes play a big role. Briony wants to not only save Cecilia from a forceful relationship, but she wants to save her from being with someone below their own social class. Cecilia is the only one that realizes that social class does not matter and admits her love for Robbie. She is also willing to disown her family when they accuse Robbie of rape. Paul Marshall is a rich man and he was never once considered for the crime. He also then uses his money to keep Atonement from being published while he and Lola still live.
Perception: Everything done in Atonement is a deception to the mind. Briony thinks she’s an adult but it is clear she is a child because she cannot see beyond her own personal world. This is evidenced in her deep need for order and her obsession with the play she wrote. This allows her to perceive everything she saw wrong. In each of the events that she misinterpreted. She either could not hear or see this is symbolic of her still being a child.
Favorite Quote
"[...] I tried to persuade my reader, by direct or indirect means, that Robbie Turner died of septicemia at Bray Dunes on 1 June 1940, or that Cecilia was killed in September of the same year by the bomb that destroyed Balham Underground station. That I never saw them in that year" (350).
This is my favorite quote because it is revealed that Briony's character has been deceiving the reader the whole time. The reader thought that the two got to be together but we find out they are both dead. Briony decides that this is her atonement and that she has given them the happiness that she took away from them in the first place. Personally, I don't believe if one hurts someone they can personally decide what will make it better. By the end of the novel Robbie's name is still not cleared therefore, I don't believe Briony achieved atonement.
Argument Overview
Briony Tallis is unsuccessful in achieving atonement.