Part 1 Flashcards
“Love which did not build a foundation on good sense was doomed.” ch1pg 3
“In the form of an impoverished doctor.” ch1pg 3
“Nothing in her life was sufficiently interesting or shameful to merit hiding.” ch1 pg 5
page 3
Quote from Briony’s “Trials of Arabella,” mirrors the relationship of Cecilia and Robbie and how Briony perceived their relationship. Their relationship was secretive and lustful - contradicting 13 year old Briony’s view of love, showcases Briony’s young age and immaturity. Play is written before the incidents between Cecilia and Robbie, however due to Briony’s unreliable narrative we could assume that old Briony creates the characters in Trials of Arabella loosely based off of Robbie and Cecilia. Sets up the plot of Atonement - an indication to the events that will transpire.
The prince in Trials of Arabella parallels Robbie’s character, both well educated lower class men who have interest in medicine. Reiterates Briony’s unreliable narration as suggests that the characters in her play are based off of real life events.
“Nothing in her life was sufficiently interesting or shameful to merit hiding.”
Briony’s orderly and good two shoes nature means that she does not have experiences, which is expected at her age. Therefore she uses the experiences of the other people in her life as inspiration for her writing - Cecilia’s and Robbie experiences and secrets are publicised without their permission, the trails of Arabella mirroring Robbie and Cecilia.
“She took her daughter into her arms… that hot smooth little body she remembered from its infancy, and still not gone from her, not quite yet”
ch1pg4
A reminder that Briony is still a child
This is now from Emily Tallis’s perspective. This random shift in perspective again forces the audience
to question the narrator. J
“She was one of those children possessed by a desire to have the world just so” ch1pg4
“Big sister’s room was a stew of unclosed clothes, unmade bed, unemptied ashtrays, Briony’s was a shrine to her controlling demon.”
ch1Page 4/5
Direct contrast regarding the way she views her mother and brother compared to her sister. Appears to be reprimanding Cecilia for the mess in her room, uses assonance to emphasise her room and how is compares to Briony’s. Immediately highlights the differences between the two - Cecilia’s rebellious, lustful, bold personality contradicting Briony’s orderly, innocent, dreamy personality.
Repetition of ‘un’ suggests that her sister doesn’t finish things. This is a contrast to Briony whom the audience first meets finishing something, and whose finished product they are themselves reading.
This is foreshadowing for Cecilia whose life is unfinished (in that she dies at a young age) and who is even unable to finish sexual intercourse, due to Briony’s interruption. The model farm highlights
Briony’s need for control and is a demonstration of her authorial desire to play God.
Ironic that Briony’s “controlling demon” gives the impression of not being able to cause havoc, when it is exactly that which results in Robbie going to prison and Cecilia walking away from her family forever
“Another was a passion for secrets.”
“A secret drawer… and here she kept a diary locked by a clasp, and a notebook written in a code of her own invention.”
“Imagination itself was a source of secrets” ch1pg7
ch1Page 5
Theme of secrets and how they affect people and the future - Briony’s learns and withholds many secrets throughout the book that alter the narrative. She learns about Cecilia’s and Robbie’s relationship when she was not meant to, reads the letter from Robbie that was meant to be a secret and holds backs the truth who truly raped Lola - a secret between the two of them.
the ‘secret drawer’ is an allusion to Jane Eyre, which adds an element of gothic fiction to the novel to foreshadows future events.
“unapologetically demanding her family’s total attention as she cast her narrative spell” ch1pg 7
Foreshadowing
hints of evil
“refugees from a bitter domestic civil war should have mattered more to Briony” ch1pg 8
The description of the Quincy family as being in a civil war emphasizes the damage the parents conflicting relationship has had on the family. They are victims of their parents divorce.
Although this metaphor is rather dramatic, the narrator underlines that Briony is not all that touched by their predicament. Instead it highlights her childish imagination, she does not understand nor is able to empathise with her cousins, instead she chooses to describe it a war scene.
“a love of order also shaped the principles of justice”ch1pg7
Refers to Briony’s strong desire for control and clarity
highlights Briony’s internal conflict: While her love of order is initially presented as a positive trait, it becomes a major source of her destructive actions.
The idea of “justice” is distorted by Briony’s perspective: Her need for order leads her to hastily judge a situation without considering the full context, resulting in an unjust outco
Briony is deeply invested in creating order in her world, often through storytelling and imaginative play.This need for order extends to her understanding of right and wrong, where she sees situations in very black and white terms.And this phrase foreshadows the devastating consequences of her misjudgements.
Who is the narrative focalsiser in chapter 2?
Cecilia
Allusion toClarisa ch2pg21
Cecilia and Robbie briefly discuss Samuel Richardson’s novel,Clarissa(1748), in which the heroine is seduced and raped by the villain, Robert Lovelace. The allusion acts as another form of foreshadowing of events to come inAtonement.
Allusion toClarisa ch2pg21
Cecilia and Robbie briefly discuss Samuel Richardson’s novel,Clarissa(1748), in which the heroine is seduced and raped by the villain, Robert Lovelace. The allusion acts as another form of foreshadowing of events to come inAtonement.
the accumulated inactivity of the summer weeks since finals…
ch2, pg18
Cecilia and motivation: she went to university to study, but back in 1935, women were permitted to university, but did not receive the same qualification as men- Cecilia as a modern woman
no one was holding Cecilia back, no one would care particularly if she left/ she simply liked to feel like she was prevented from leaving
ch2,pg21
Cecilia seems to take pleasure in her superficial sense of suffering- After her return home from university, life is not the same. there seems to be a micro-parallel with the bigger, societal picture as war is about to take place, and when the men return-if they return- nothing will be the same
“Denying his help, any possibility of making amends, was his punishment” ch2, pg30
repeated references to ‘punishment’, ‘amends’ and ‘banishment’- CRIME: Cecilia is making it so that Robbie cannot amend for his wrongdoings, and that a form of his ‘punishment’ stems from sexual, provocative torment, as Cecilia is unattainable to him
“There was something between them, and even she had to acknowledge that a tame remark about the weather sounded perverse.” ch2 pg25
“Something between them”: This phrase alludes to a hidden connection or chemistry between the characters, hinting at a deeper relationship beyond their surface interactions.
“Even she had to acknowledge”: This emphasizes that the character is consciously aware of the tension, even if she might be trying to deny or suppress it.
“Perverse”: This word suggests a sense of wrongness or inappropriate behavior, possibly stemming from the social constraints or the nature of their relationship.
Sexual tension:The sentence likely indicates a strong sexual attraction between the characters, where even a casual remark can be interpreted as suggestive due to the underlying desires.
Social constraints: The “perverse” nature of the comment could also be a result of social norms or class differences that prevent them from openly expressing their feelings.
Subconscious awareness: The character’s recognition of the “perverse” nature of the comment demonstrates their awareness of the hidden dynamics of their interaction, even if they may not fully understand them.
Overall, this sentence captures the delicate and often confusing nature of unspoken attraction, where seemingly normal interactions can be imbued with a deeper meaning due to the underlying tension between individuals.
‘The vase came away in his hand, and split into two triangular pieces which dropped into the water and tumbled to the bottom in a synchronous, see-sawing motion, and lay there, several inches apart, writhing in the broken light’. ch2 pg29
Symbolic of their fragile relationship and foreshadows the distance that is going to be forced between them.
‘She had arrived at one of the nursery’s wide-open windows and must have seen what lay before her some seconds before she registered it.’ ch3 pg37/38
Framing - Briony observes the fountain scene through the window
‘It was difficult to see because the roiling surface had yet to recover its tranquility’ ch2pg30
Foreshadows repercusions
What is significant about the narrative in chapter 3?
There are moments of narrative shift to future tense Briony retrospectively reflecting on the fountain scene:
‘The definition would refine itself over the years. She was to concede that she may have attributed more deliberation than was feasible to her thirteen-year-old self.’ ch3,pg40
‘six decades later she would describe how at the age of thirteen she had written her way through a whole history of literature… to arrive at an impartial psychological realism which she had discovered for herself, one special morning during a heatwave in 1935.’ ch3,pg41
The constant shift between a childish & adolescent perspective in this chapter, creates a contrast between young and old Briony. Implies that she will look back on this day when she is 73, foreshadowing the importance of the scene at the fountain.
