Cecilia

Question 1

Isolated/neglected

Answer 1

‘But her father remained in town, and he mother , when she wasn’t nurturing her migraines, seemed distant, even unfriendly’ ch2,pg20
‘No one was holding Cecilia back, no one would care particularly if she left’ 2:21

Question 2

messy/chaotic

Answer 2

‘her big sister’s room was a stew of unclosed books, unfolded clothes, unmade bed, unemptied ashtrays’ ch1 pg 4
‘she spent some minutes making adjustments in order to achieve a natural chaotic look.’ 3:23 - oxymoronic phrasing juxtaposes Briony’s desire for orfer

Question 3

Caring/nurturing

Answer 3

‘This would not be the first time she had rescued Briony from self-destruction’
‘She wanted to comfort her sister, for Cecilia had always loved to cuddle the baby of the family’
‘come back, she used to whisper. It’s only a dream. Come back.’
‘Such stroking and soothing murmurs would have been a release for Cecilia… Addressing Briony’s problems with kind words and caresses would have restored a sense of control.’
ch4,pg44

Semantic field of caregiver - Cecilia adopts a motherly role in Emily’s absence

Question 4

Marginalised

Answer 4

‘not that they actually awarded degrees to women anyway’

‘He had precise ideas about where and when a woman should be seen smoking: not in the street, or any other public place, not on entering a room, not standing up, and only when offered, never from her own supply - notions as self-evident to him natural justice.’
‘The light hearted ironies she might have deployed among her friends deserted in his presence, and she heard her own voice become thin when she attempted some docile contradiction.’
pg46
asyndetic listing. Her father had traditional views towards women.

Question 5

Conscious

Answer 5

‘Coudl his first have gone to his head?
‘Had she sounded condescending?’
2:26

Question 6

Affection for Robbie

Answer 6

‘there was Robbie, who exasperated her with his affection of distance’ 3,22
‘There was something between them, and even she had to acknowledge that a tame remark about the weather sounded perverse.’

Question 7

Unsettled

Answer 7

‘If one turned one’s back to the front entrance and glanced down the drive… the view was fine enough, giving an impression of timeless, unchanging calm which made her more certain than ever that she must soon be moving on’ 2:19
Symbolic of Cecelia’s desire to leave and for freedom. She dreams of escape. Foreshadows the distance from her family.

‘She was often restless to the point of irritability. She simply liked to feel that she was pevented from leaving, that she was needed.’ 2:21