Atonement

=Atonement=

Part 1: The novel began with young Briony Tallis writing a play for her older brother, Leon. Briony's three cousins - Lola, Pierrot, and Jackson - were living with the Tallis family, and they planned to participate in the play. Meanwhile, Cecilia has returned from Cambridge. She began to have feelings for her childhood friend, Robbie Turner, who also returned from Cambridge. Briony witnessed the tense fountain scene: Cecilia wished to fill a vase with water; she and Robbie accidentally broke it; Cecilia stripped to her undergarments to retrieve the pieces in the fountain. Leon and Paul Marshall arrived and invited Robbie to dinner. Before attending dinner, Robbie wrote an apology note to Cecilia; simultaneously, he wrote a fake, suggestive letter that she was never meant to read. He accidentally gave the suggestive letter to Briony, the messenger, who in turn gave it to Cecilia. Cecilia then realized her love for Robbie. Before dinner, Briony caught Robbie and Cecilia having sex in the library. Briony interpreted it as sexual assault on Cecilia. The twins, Jackson and Pierrot, ran away. The Tallis' dinner guests split up to find the boys. In the search, Briony caught Lola being raped, but did not see the man. Later, Briony falsely accused Robbie, while Lola stayed silent. Robbie found the twins but was still arrested because of Briony.

Part 2: Robbie was in jail for 3 years; he was then released upon his enlistment into the army. Cecilia refused to speak to anyone in her family after Robbie's arrest; she became a nurse. Robbie and Cecilia wrote letters to each other, and they only met once before Robbie was sent to war. Robbie is injured in France. He returned to the safe haven and fell asleep.

Part 3: Briony was training to become a nurse. Now she remembered that Paul Marshall was the man who raped Lola. Briony took care of Luc, the wounded French soldier; she told him she loved him right before he died. Briony attended Lola and Paul's wedding. Then she visited Cecilia, and also met Robbie. Neither Cecilia or Robbie could forgive Briony.

Part 4: Briony is now an old woman, age 77, and dying. She claimed to have written the first 3 sections of the novel. She admits that in her novel, Robbie and Cecilia end up together. In real life, however, Robbie died of injuries in Dunkirk 1 day before the evacuation, and Cecilia was killed by a bomb. She said that because they did not end up together and happy, she wanted to give them that happiness in her novel.


 * 1) Briony Tallis-- One of the main protagonists. She is the narrator for part of the novel. At the outset of the play, she is a young girl with an overactive imagination. Later in the novel, she is older and seeks atonement from her sister and Robbie. The readers see her transformation from child to woman as the novel continues.
 * 2) Robbie Turner-- Another narrator for a portion of the novel. He is a young college-aged man at the beginning of the novel, and he is described as polite and ambitious. He later joined the army and fought in World War II.
 * 3) Cecilia Tallis-- Briony's sister. She is in college at the beginning of the novel, and she loses touch with her family after the incident with Robbie. She is strongwilled and stubborn.
 * 4) Lola-- Briony and Cecilia's cousin who stays with them while her parents are getting a divorce. At the start of the novel, she is about fifteen, but she acts older than her age. She is raped by Paul, but later marries him.
 * 5) Paul Marshall-- Leon's friend from school. He is described as having "a cruel face" and is very wealthy. Robbie is imprisoned for the rape that Paul committed.
 * 6) Leon Tallis-- Cecilia and Briony's older brother. He cares for his sisters and is a friend to Robbie.

Part 1: -Scenes where Robbie and Cecilia consummate their love and family reunion for Briony's birthday both take place in the library here -Grandly built -Bridges lead over a lake, where a dilapidated temple resides; Briony's place -Fountain visible outside of Briony's window where Robbie and Cecilia's encounter take place Part 2: Part 3: Part 4:
 * The Tallis home in England
 * -Surrey Hills, England
 * Summertime in the mid-1930's
 * French countryside
 * Beach at Dunkirk
 * Middle of World War II
 * A hospital in London
 * Cecilia and Robbie's home
 * Mid-to-late World War II
 * London
 * 1999

Ming Vase
The vase is representative of the secret love between Robbie and Cecilia. The breaking of the vase leads to Robbie's letters openly declaring love and exposing the secret.

The Presentation of Trials of Arabella
The Trials of Arabella represent the fairy-tale intended life of Cecilia and Robbie. The botched presentation in the beginning of the book foreshadows the failure of the tale. In the end of the novel, after Briony completes her book of atonement, the play is successfully displayed by her grandchildren.

Themes
1. Is true atonement possible? a) One cannot make up for his sins because something is always going to happen that you cannot truly atone for. b) Is it possible to atone through writing when the author acts as God? A fitting quote about atonment: (pg. 479), "How can a novelest achieve atonment when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the pont. The attempt was all."

2. Consistent lies a) Seeminly small actions can result in massive consequences. 3. Guilt, Love and war, infatuation/lust 4. Love that is not built on a foundation of good sense is doomed

The theme of Atonement, is just that: Atonement. The search for atonement is seen throughout the novel through Briony, the protagonist. At the end of the novel, Briony explains that she understands that she wrongly accused Robbie, which ruined Robbie and Cecilia's chance at a life together. Her attempt at atonement was her act of writing the novel. She gives Robbie and Cecilia a life together in the novel, hoping to gain forgiveness through her writing.

==Structural Elements == The novel is told in three parts. Part one details the major events that eventually lead to the characters' downfalls - Robbie and Cee fall for each other and Briony accuses Robbie based on misconstrued evidence. Part two details Robbie's experience in the war, showing the effects that Briony's false accusation had on others. Part 3 shows Briony as a nurse during the war, focusing on her attempt at atoning for her realized sin. In the end, we find out that the entire novel is actually Briony's story and final attempt at atonement. We find out that she changed the ending because Cee and Robbie actually died, and the book was only published after Lola and Marshall were dead.