ATONEMENT Flashcards
Features of a Postmodern text
Fragmentation, scepticism, questionable narrators
What is a pastiche?
Mimicking of other texts
Atonement as a metafiction
Reflection at the end- self aware
Fragmentation in Atonement
Unexpected narrative twist
Intertextuality in Atonement
Epigraph nods to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The vase
Symbolises the appearance of something ‘fixed’ but is really fundamentally broken
‘that ____, _________, _________ little girl’
‘that busy, priggish, conceited little girl’
‘_____-___ year assignment’
‘fifty nine year assignment’
‘guilty of a ______ rather than ___________ ________ ‘(via McEwan)
‘guilty of a mistake rather than intentional mendacity’
The image of the ruined tongue
Symbol for our incapability to render ourselves accurately or truthfully
Briony’s desire to control reality
Through the act of writing, seen in her farm animals in her bedroom
Effect of timeslips
Emphasises the separateness of different points of view
Perspective of class and impact on narrative
‘class tinted spectacles’ ultimately leads to Robbie’s imprisonment. The note- ‘cunt’- shocking to middle class
Lack of justice- Lola and Paul
Their continuation of wealth points toward social corruption
Guilt/atonement
Briony’s writing of the novel is her act of atonement- metafiction
Love
Breakdown of Lola’s parents marriage, sexual love
‘Briony was a ______ to her ___________ _____’
‘Briony was a shrine to her controlling demon’
‘A ______ to be ________ for a _______’
‘A rosary to be fingered for a lifetime’
‘Her mothers’ _________ _____’
‘her mothers’ heartless smile’
Dear Miss Morland, consider the ________ ______ of the ____________ you have ___________’
‘Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained’
‘her _______ ______ dolls’
‘her straight backed dolls’
‘______ and _________ were too chaotic for her tastes, and she ___ ___ ____ __ __ ___ __ __ _____’
‘mayhem and destruction were too chaotic for her taste, and she did not have it in her to be cruel’
‘it was a _____ face’
‘it was a cruel face’
‘quite the little ___-_________ _______’
‘quite the little pre-Raphaelite princess’
‘this wealthy young entrepreneur might not be ____ _ ___ ____ if he was willing to pass the time of day entertaining children’
‘this wealthy young entrepreneur might not be such a bad sort if he was willing to pass the time of day entertaining children’
‘an outrageous ___ __ ___ ____’ (about Lola)
‘an outrageous lie on her lips’
‘something ________, _____, perhaps even ______’
‘something elemental, brutal, perhaps even criminal’
‘some ________ __ ________’
‘some principle of darkness’
‘he was the __________ __ ____’
‘he was the incarnation of evil’
‘he’s ________ us for years’
‘he’s deceived us for years’
‘with a ____, ___________ heart’
‘with a dark, unfulfilled heart’
‘she meant it, and was _________ ______’
‘she meant it, and was perfectly honest’
‘she marched into the _________ __ ___ ___ __________’
‘she marched into the labyrinth of her own construction’
Quotations for Robbie’s suffering
‘vanished life’
‘wasted day’
‘not every child is so _________ and ______’
‘not every child is so purposeful and malign’
‘Briony had contemplated a _______ ________ ____’
‘Briony had contemplated a ghostly parallel life’
Quotations for Briony’s suffering at the hospital
‘fiercely pinched her toes’
‘rubbed her neck raw’
‘she would never ____ the ______. She was __________’
‘She would never undo the damage. She was unforgivable’
‘her secret ______’
‘her secret torment’
