Atonement, by Ian McEwan

 

Atonement, by Ian McEwan

Characters

Part One - 1935

Briony Tallis Emily – mother Jack – father Cecilia – older sister Leon – older brother   Cousins: Lola – 15 Jackson and Pierrot – twins Hermione (Emily’s sister) and Cecil – parents, divorced   Staff Robbie Turner – Grace’s son (cleaning lady), schooling financed by Jack Hardman – handyman Danny Hardman – son Betty – cook   Paul Marshall – Leon’s friend   “The Trials of Arabella”

Part Two – WWII

Robbie – released after serving 3 ½ years in jail following night in Part One   Corporal Nettle – lorry driver Corporal Mace – cook   Cecilia – left family, nurse

Part Three – Hospital

Briony – student nurse Fiona – friend   Sister Marjorie Drummond   Lola and Paul Marshall married   Cecilia and Robbie – both died in 1940

Part Four - 1999

Briony, age 77 – vascular dementia   Lola and Paul – philanthropists

 

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       Section One ended without any information about the missing twins.  Did that bother you?

2.       At the beginning of chapter thirteen the author wrote, “Within the hour Briony would commit her crime” (page146).  At the time, what do you think she did?

3.       When Briony found Lola, she never said who had attacked her.   Briony said, “It was Robbie, wasn’t it?” (page 156) and Lola did not correct her.   Why do you think she did not correct Briony?  Is she also complicit in the event?

4.       At one point later on, Lola said to Briony, “It might not have been him” (page 161).  Briony replied, “You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d been with me in the library” (page 161).  Was Briony actually punishing Robbie for what he did with Cecilia?  What part did the letter from Robbie to Cecilia play in her actions?

5.       Briony’s family knew how much she liked to write stories.  Should they have questioned her more or investigated what happened more?  Why were they so quick to accept her story?

6.       Why do you think Briony kept quiet about the truth for so long?   Why didn’t she do something when Robbie was sent to jail?  Was her age at the time any excuse?

7.       What part did Chapter Two about Robbie’s time in the war play in the overall story?

8.       Discuss Briony’s time as a student nurse.  Before her training was complete, she was working in the hospital for injured soldiers and made several mistakes:

a.       Page 275 – she almost dropped her end of the stretcher and, after getting the soldier in bed, waited instead of heading back to the ward

b.       Page 277 – She told an injured man he could not rest before a procedure because she was following protocol, but was corrected by a nurse                          

c.       Page 277 – She forgot and left injured men downstairs who she was going to bring up on the lift

She felt her training had been useful in obedience, but that “everything she understood about nursing she learned that night” (page 286).   What do you think she learned?  If you are a nurse, can you relate to this?  Does this hold true for other professions?

9.       The version of Briony’s novel in the book is the one that will be published after she, Lola and Marshall are dead.  How do you think the remaining relatives will feel about finally learning the truth?

10.   Did you understand that Cecilia and Robbie never were reunited and Briony never met with them and tried to tell others what really happened?  On page 350 Briony wrote, “Who would want to believe that they never met again, never fulfilled their love? … When I am dead, and the Marshalls are dead, and the novel is finally published, we will only exist in my inventions.”

11.   Discuss your reading experience.  Was there any time you were confused?