Crime

Question 1

Punishment

Answer 1

Fountain Scene 2:27/28
‘She was being mocked, or she was being punished - she did not know which was worse. Punished for being in a different circle at Cambridge, for not having a charlady for a mother, mocked for her poor degree - not that they actually awarded degrees to women anyway.’
‘Denying his help, any possibility of making amends, was his punishment. The unexpectedly freezing water that caused her to gasp was his punishment. She held out her breath, and sank, leaving her hair fanned out across the surface. Drowning herself would be his punishment.

Jackson’s Punishment 3:32
‘During the night, Arabella’s disapproving father, Jackson, had wet the bed, as troubled small boys far from home will, and was obliged by current theory to carry his sheets and pyjamas down to the laundry and was them himself by hand’
‘Betty told Hardmand… she personally thought the treatment too harsh, and would have admministered several sharp smacks to the buttocks and washed the sheets herself.’
Pierrot asks Briony ‘Has he had the spanking?’
The lonely and bewildered twins symbolise the impact of absent parents. The way Jackson is punished for wetting the bed portrays a different set of attitudes towards children in the 1930s. The punishment contributes to the overall theme of atonement by showing how even seemingly minor actions can have significant consequences, as Briony’s perception of this event plays a role in her later actions.

Question 2

Crimes

Answer 2

Ch5, pg57:
“‘It’s a divorce!’ Pierrot and Lola froze. The word had never been used in front of the children, and never uttered by them. The soft consonants suggested an unthinkable obscenity, the sibilant ending whispered the family’s shame.”
“…saying it out loud was as great a crime as the act itself, whatever that was.”
Focus on words and the power of words emphasised by the personification of the word. Foreshadows the power of Briony’s words, which are in themselves a crime.
Divorce was very uncommon in 1935 and reserved for those rich enough to afford the legal costs, contributing to the sense of scandal. It is clearly a taboo subject among the children who fear it as a stigma, seen in Lola’s furious reaction to the very mention of the word.

Question 3

‘A tall nettle with a preening look… its middle leaves turned outwards like hands protesting innocence - this was Lola.’ ch7pg74

Answer 3

Foreshadowing Robbie’s protest of innocence, and Lola’s victim status.

Question 4

‘retribution was indifferent and granted no special favours to children’ ch7p74