Atonement Reading Log Chapter 1-3

Reading Log

Atonement - Ian McEwan

Chapter One – Summary

Atonement begins with the narrator introducing the character Briony. She has recently completed a play for her Brother Leon’s homecoming about a princess called Arabella. McEwan introduces the cleanliness of Briony’s character by describing her room. She keeps items such as a diary and ‘treasures’.

Her Quincey cousins arrive (twin nine year olds) Jackson and Pierrot and (fifteen year old) Lola due to their parents are getting a divorce.

Cecilia, Briony’s older sister immediately attempts to entertain the cousins with a tour of the house and a swim in the pool. This leads into rehearsal time. However, not everyone likes the play. The twins think it is an excuse to show off (Briony secretly agrees). Briony begins to feel guilty because her sister forces the twins into joining in with the play.

The Quincey cousins are all freckled, and this upsets Briony because she has a view of the characters, especially Arabella, being un-freckled (which Lola is not). As the rehearsal carries on, Jackson reads in a monotone whilst giggling with his brother. Briony is relieved when Cecilia sends the twins for bed.

Character description

Briony

We learn a great amount about the main character, Briony in chapter one. McEwan presents her as a neat, organised individual with a passion for writing stories and plays. These ideas could add to the theme of organisation in Briony, as her room is ‘the only tidy upstairs room in the house’. McEwan has portrayed the family as wealthy, it is odd that their rooms are untidy but it emphasizes the comparison of Briony to her family, possibly due to the idea of her being an outsider. It also proposes that she is quite mature for her age, she keeps her belongings structured. Structure in Briony’s life could symbolise structure within writing plays and stories. Every piece of writing has structure, cleverly, the writer has used this idea as a symbol throughout the chapter.

Character’s relationships with others

Leon

-         She is clearly very fond of Leon because she is putting a lot of effort into her play written for his homecoming.

Her mother – Emily Tallis

-         Even though she praises Briony for her play she seems distant from all of her children.

Cousins – Lola, Jackson and Pierrot

-         Her cousins do not seem to take the play seriously – which annoys Briony. Arabella (the main character of the play) was described as looking perfect, with no freckles or blemishes. The fact that her cousins were covered in freckles ruins her ‘distinction’.

Setting description

In chapter one McEwan introduces Briony’s character by describing her room as a ‘shrine’ which isolates her from her family.

-         A ‘shrine’ announces a religious, sacred theme to Briony in addition.

-         Shrines are used in many different cultures to represent idolisation or worship to a certain someone or something. It is possible that Briony is idolising someone that she would like to become or alternatively her future self as a writer. Instead, a shrine could imply an individual’s understanding of themselves – Briony has a clear path for the future, she wants to be a writer.

-         Briony’s room is the ‘only tidy upstairs room in the house’

Cultural historical references

Chapter one was set in 1935, the ‘pre-war’ Britain. At this time, Britain was under the rule of King George V and Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald. World war two had not started yet (it started in 1939) but there was a lot of tension between the allies and axis powers during this time.

Imagery and symbolism

McEwan introduces us to the broken down relationships in the book. Emily and Jack Tallis, who never see each other and Hermione and Cecil Quincey, who are pending a divorce. McEwan uses this as an opportunity to set a theme of bitter love in the novel. This idea contrasts Cecilia and Robbie’s soon to be, new, sweet relationship.

Chapter Two – Summary

The chapter begins with a description of Cecilia Tallis (Briony’s older sister). Cecilia has had a long term relationship with Robbie (since the age of seven), they even attended Cambridge University together. However, Robbie is the son of the Tallis charlady, Grace Turner which rises problems with social class between the ‘couple to be’.

Leon is coming home from London with a friend, Paul Marshall, in efforts to impress him she spends a lot of effort preparing a vase of flowers for his room. The vase is a family heirloom from Mr Tallis’s brother, who died in battle saving a village from an attack.  

Robbie and Cecilia talk for a while. Then Cecilia finally fills the vase with water from the fountain but Robbie insists on helping her. The anger and frustration between Cecilia and Robbie causes them to break the vase in the fountain. Robbie assumes full responsibility for the vase and Cecilia, out of victory in the argument undresses to retrieve the broken pieces of vase from the fountain.                    

Character description

Cecilia

Cecilia acts as the family’s mother (in replacement of Emily) even though she is clearly not ready to ‘grow up’.

Her feelings and emotions about Robbie are disordered - ‘lingering spirit of her fury.’ Using the adjective ‘lingering’ could imply the idea of something staying around for a long time, like a bad person or on the other hand a corrupt feeling (which could represent Cecilia’s persistent anger towards Robbie).

McEwan has used the noun ‘fury’ to describe Cecilia’s emotion. The noun ‘fury’ could be interpreted in many ways, anger, rage and even passion. Possibly passion in a sexual way towards Robbie or oppositely, passion in an irritated way towards Robbie.

Robbie

Cecilia is not aware of why she treats Robbie so poorly, that her efforts to "impress" Paul Marshall are really aimed towards Robbie. She hasn't yet realized that it is a misunderstanding of her love towards him that causes her to treat him so poorly.

Robbie enjoys landscaping and making plants grow in their beautiful natural state – this contrasts with Cecilia who removes flowers from their natural place and places them in a vase (a symbol for the bridge between the two characters, but it breaks)

Water is symbol throughout the book. Robbie is constantly betrayed by the element that is meant to cleanse him and give him life.

Character’s relationships with others

Cecilia and Robbie clearly seem to have a romantic relationship blossoming. They have been friends since the age of seven. However, they are beginning to see each other in a romantic light, which they both find extremely confusing. The two characters are not comfortable enough with each other to express their feelings. Cecilia’s thoughts about Robbie foreshadow the love affair in the centre of the novel. Cecilia’s lazy habits contrast with Robbie’s job performing manual labour for her family. The contrast compares the differences that separate the social classes and ultimately the two characters. McEwan uses the breaking of the vase to suggest both Cecilia and Robbie’s inability to communicate with each other. There is also a lot of sexual tension beneath their disorganised communication.

Setting description

McEwan describes the Tallis’s garden in great detail, which expresses its importance in the novel.

‘Tree trunks enchanting’, ‘Kissing gate’, ‘rhododendrons’, ‘ha-ha’ – nature being contained by manmade things (Cecilia’s life is contained by something)

‘Rose-bay, willow-herb and irises’        

Rose-bays are very tall, pretty flowers. Weeping willows signify sadness. Irises only live for a short amount of time and are closed up (concealment).

P25 ‘Two shallows were making passes over the fountain, and a chiff-chaff’s song was piercing the air from within the sinewy gloom of the giant Cedar of Lebanon. The flowers swung in the light breeze, tickling her face as she crossed the terrace and carefully negotiated the three crumbly steps down to the gravel path. Robbie turned suddenly at the sound of her approach’

-         Very natural, almost sexual symbolism.

-         Similar to an unrealistic, fairy-tale romantic scene.

Cultural historical references

There are references to Italian culture in chapter two. In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia and the UK government decided to triple the Royal Air Force in the space of two years.

The Tallis house was located in Surrey. Prior to the year 1935, Surrey was famous for manufacturing gunpowder and automobiles. However, after the First World War, the gunpowder industry diminished.

Imagery and symbolism

During the chapter we learn about Cecilia, her childhood friend Robbie Turner and their relationship with each other. We also encounter a great amount of natural and sexual imagery between the ‘couple’, as well as Italian cultural art and structures.

Robbie discusses his plans about landscape gardening, which could be a comparison to the natural imagery distributed within the chapter. McEwan discusses ‘the sculpting intricacies of the tree trunks enchanting’. Interestingly, the adjective ‘enchanting’ has multiple meanings. It could suggest that Robbie, Cecilia or both are very attractive, alternatively, it might imply the captivating, magical nature surrounding them. This leads onto the idea of the ‘couple’ fantasying over each other. They have been friends for so long that they are almost desperate for one another, it is as if the characters believe they will never come together.

The writer also uses a lot of sexual imagery to portray the relationship between Cecilia and Robbie. McEwan makes a lot of references to cigarettes during chapter two. Nicotine is extremely addictive and can cause people to do unusual. The ‘desire for a cigarette deepened’ could be compared to the craving of love or of someone special. For Cecilia to ‘desire’ nicotine could suggest she has a strong feeling towards something, which in the context of chapter two, this yearning is Robbie. Another example of her desire for Robbie is neediness. McEwan describes her as ‘impatient, almost desperate’. It is vague what her neediness is in association to but it could be towards several circumstances. Her desperation towards having an ambition in life or towards Robbie. Her impatience could be interpreted as sexual imagery, she could be irritated by her desire for Robbie in a sexual manner or just by a romantic relationship.

Chapter Three - Summary

Briony has trouble getting everyone to practise for the play. Jackson was forced into washing his own sheets after wetting the bed. Washing sheets would have been hard work, especially for a young boy. Pierrot rehearses his lines in a monotone, which annoys Briony because what he was meant to be proclaiming was a question. Lola wants everyone to think she is ‘mature’. Everyone leaves the rehearsal. Briony is left in her room, staring at her hand and thinking about how it moves and how her brain can control it. She begins to wonder whether everyone in the world has consciousness and feelings. Briony stops by a window and watches Robbie and Cecilia by the water basin. She is confused because to her it looks like Robbie is ordering Cecilia to undress and get into the fountain, or alternatively a marriage proposal. Briony is at the difficult age where ‘adulthood’ is a mystery. She is beginning to get an insight into the real world and it is very confusing for her. She imagines herself writing a story about the scene she just witnessed. A story can easily show other people’s thoughts and minds. McEwan cleverly compares Briony’s story to his own because she considers writing the story in three different perspectives.

Character Descriptions

Briony

-         Is frustrated with everyone because the rehearsals are not going too well. Which suggests that she could be a perfectionist. She longs for the play to be perfect for Leon’s homecoming. It is obvious that everyone is very fond of Leon but we do not learn much about him until later on in the novel. Briony is at the stage where she is going through puberty. She finds it difficult to understand the world around her because she finds it confusing. Briony is used to writing and reading fairy tales which all have a similar storyline - prince and princess end up living happily ever after. However, she is beginning to learn that life does not always go that way.

-         Sixty years in the future, Briony decides how this moment represents a crucial moment in her life. However, at the age of thirteen, she was too fixed on herself and her own ideas instead of Cecilia and Robbie’s relationship.

Jackson

-         Even though he is young he is forced into cleaning his own sheets after wetting the bed to learn a lesson. It is clear that the twins and Lola are not treated well by their parents. Their mother seems distant and unloving and the divorce has clearly effected all the children greatly.

Character’s relationships with others

Briony

-         She is clearly developing a dislike towards her cousins due to them disobeying her ideas for the play.

-         Briony is entering the difficult age of teenage years, and is finding the transition difficult.

-         She is disrupted by others’ actions which lie outside of her control. It is going to take a lot of maturing before she can understand that the world is not one of her stories and that she cannot control other people. She treats Robbie and Cecilia as characters instead of real people, predicting her own ideas about what happened at the lake.

Setting description

‘The kitchen table’ – Jackson crying at the beginning of the chapter because he wet the bed.

Imagery and symbolism

Heat – the setting begins on a hot summer of 1935. We see the characters engaging in activities to distract themselves from the heat. Briony writes and attempts to carry out a play, Emily rests in her room, and the twins and Lola swim in the pool. It seems like the characters lose their patience with the hot weather. For example, Cecilia and Robbie’s relationship becomes even tenser with the pressure of the heat. Briony’s imagination also seems to expand due to the heat. The heat is a symbol of the power of human action.