Atonement Part 2 🔫 Flashcards
‘there were horrors enough but it was the unexpected…
detail that threw him afterwards and would not let him go’
robbie, beginning of part 2, managing through war
‘severed cleanly…no sign of blood or torn flesh.. it seemed to be on…’
‘display for their benefit or enlightenment: this is a leg’
So which way, Guv’nor?…
they called him that to settle the difficult matter of rank
he intended to survive…
he had one good reason to survive
when they shut their eyes…
they saw those mutilated bodies
no letters from her…
no way back
he had been diagnosed, with clinical precision…
as morbidly over-sexed, and in need of help as well as correction
robbie, in prison, letters to cecilia
this moment had been imagined and…
desired for too long and could not measure up
robbie and cecilia meeting in a cafe on his leave
he had shrunk…
in every sense. Prison made him despise himself.
robbie and cecilia - his inner monologue as they meet in a cafe
the gesture had to…
carry all that had not been said
robbie and cecilia saying goodbye, their hands squeezing as her bus came
Cecilia had not spoken to her parents, brother or…
sister since November 1935 when Robbie was sentenced
they chose to believe the…
evidence of a silly, hysterical little girl
cecilia writing to robbie, her frisdtration evident
they encouraged her…
by giving her no room to turn back
cecilia writing to robbie, her frisdtration evident
I’m beginning to understand the…
snobbery that lay behind their stupidity
cecilia writing to robbie, her frisdtration evident
I believe…
in you completely
cecilia writing to robbie - her mindset and opinion evident
she’s such a …
fantasist, as we know to our cost
cecilia writing to robbie - telling him about briony’s role
she’s taken on nursing…
as a sort of penance
cecilia writing to robbie - telling him about briony’s role
he walked / across / the land /…
until / he came / to the sea
robbie duration of war
he and Cecilia would no longer be isolated…
their love would have space and a society to grow in
robbie dreaming and planning their life after war
he had even conjured…
her onto the end of his bayonet
robbie imagining the ‘dozen ways he might find revenge’
Yes, she was a child at the time, and he did not forgive her…
he would never forgive her. That was the lasting damage
his business was to…
survive, though he had forgotten why
continuation of war, horrors of war and the crime, effect upon soldiers
In Pt2 what is Robbie referred to as?
Turner
What does McEwan focus on in Pt2?
The horrors and effects of war
What is one part in Pt2 that we can be sure Briony did not fabricate?
The letters between Robbie and Cecilia
Whose POV is Pt2 written in?
Robbie’s
- really its Briony writing as Robbie
what is the significance of ‘guvnor’ to settle the issue of rank?
- due to being in prison he could not have rank
- he is also, naturally, a lower class than those around him
HOWEVER - he is a natural leader and more impressive and able than those above him
