Chapter Summaries part 2 Flashcards
part 2 section 2 summary?
(robbie)
- Robbie lies in the barn and smokes while Mace and Nettle snore.
- He recalls his three and a half years in prison and how he joined the infantry to secure an early release.
- He also thinks about his only meeting with Cecilia between prison and war at a London teahouse in 1939.
- They are shy with each other, despite the many letters they have exchanged.
- Their time is up too quickly, spent in small talk.
- Cecilia is a nurse in training, and she has severed all contact with her family.
- As they walk to the bus, he squeezes her hand and then they kiss passionately.
- They promise to meet at a borrowed cottage during his two-week leave, but the war prevents that.
- The last letter he receives from Cecilia tells him that Briony wants to change her statement to the police, and so they both see hope for a new start.
part 2 section 3 summary?
(robbie)
- The three soldiers walk away from the farmhouse.
- After some time, they come upon the main road and see lines of trucks bound for Dunkirk.
- The road is full of retreating soldiers and displaced families.
- They watch the sky, looking out for German planes.
- A major tries to enlist them in a mission, and Nettle argues with him.
- Robbie senses danger and runs for cover as a bomb falls and destroys a truck on the road.
- In the aftermath, the major again tries to engage the three, but they refuse and keep moving.
- They trudge on, their only thoughts of reaching the water.
part 2 section 4 summary?
(robbie)
- Robbie continues on.
- He thinks of Cecilia’s last letter and the possibility of rebirth and “a triumphant return.”
- He “would simply resume.”
- If his name could be cleared, he could “find Cecilia and love her, marry her, and live without shame.”
- But he is still tormented by thoughts of Briony’s act.
- He thinks back to a possible motive, an encounter they had in June 1932 when he taught her how to swim in the river on the Tallis’s property.
- After the lesson, she had asked him if he would save her if she fell in, and he had said he would.
- To test him, she had jumped in, and he had saved her.
- She had claimed that she had wanted him to save her because she loved him.
- He wonders if she waited on the bridge that fateful night for him because she still loved him, and if reading his letter to another had set off her jealousy. No matter her motive, he refuses to forgive her.
part 2 section 5 summary?
(robbie)
- There is more confusion on the road as Robbie and the others retreat.
- French soldiers hurl insults at them, but many of the French civilians carry on with their normal activities, such as teaching their sons how to kick a ball.
- German planes fly overhead, and Robbie runs.
- He tries to help a mother and her son, but they do not move because they are in shock and end up getting killed.
- All Robbie can think about is water until Mace brings him a dead man’s water bottle.
- As they get closer to their destination, Robbie catches “the taste of the sea.”
- They approach a bridge where a sergeant pulls out men for duty.
- Mace instructs Robbie to limp between him and Nettle so he does not get chosen.
- After more walking, Nettle takes off his boots and flings them into a field, but Robbie persuades him to put them back on.
part 2 section 6 summary?
(robbie)
- As Robbie, Mace, and Nettle continue to walk, Robbie increasingly gives in to the delirium state induced by his wound.
- They finally reach the beach at Dunkirk, but there are no boats and no potable water.
- Angry men take out their frustration on a Royal Air Force man, but Mace creates a distraction and saves the man’s life.
- Robbie and Nettle search for Mace but do not find him and end up saving a pig for an old woman.
- She gives them food and drink as a reward.
- They find a room, already occupied by many other men, and settle down to sleep.
- Robbie shouts in his delirium, and Nettle tells him to quiet down.
- Robbie’s last words before he goes to sleep and dies are “I promise, you won’t hear another word from me.”
