Major Themes

Guilt / Atonement
The theme of guilt, forgiveness, and atonement should be extremely obvious to anyone
who reads the book. The entire plot of the novel centers on a woman who devotes her
entire life repenting a crime she committed while still a young girl.
Articles of note that are not as obvious to the reader that have to do with this theme are
things like, is Briony the only person who should feel guilty? Who else is at fault for the
crime committed on that hot summer night in 1935? Where is Lola's guilt for not saying
anything? What about Paul Marshall's--the real assailant who gets away with rape and
stands silent while an innocent man goes to prison. Then there are all the adults in Part
One of the novel. How is it that so many people who are capable of understanding so
much more than a thirteen-year-old girl come to rely completely on her testimony?
Should more not have been done in the investigation?
The question is left open at the end of the book. Does Briony finally achieve her
atonement by writing her story and keeping her lovers and allowing their love to survive?
The second layer to the guilt theme has to do with the history of literature. Aside from
the crime she committed as a child, Briony feels guilty for her powers as a writer. She
knows she has the autonomy to write whatever story she so chooses. Just like she could
send Robbie to prison, she can make him survive the war. The reliance readers put in
Briony to tell them "what really happened" leaves her feeling guilty about her life's work,
and she projects that guilt onto the history of the English literature canon.
Literary Tradition
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" marked a new literary form in Romanticism literature in
that it was a story, inside a story, inside a story. At the very centre of the notable novel,
the monster is telling his story in the first person to his creator who is telling his story to
a ship captain who is writing his story to his sister who is the author of the book. Ian
McEwan's "Atonement" plays with this layered-tradition: a story being told by one of the
characters (not revealed until the end) in the third person, that shifts to the first person
in the final section of the book when the reader realizes who the narrator is. During this
chapter, we learn the story was told through letters between Cecilia and Robbie, and
even correspondence between Corporal Nettles and Briony. It leaves the question very
open: Whose story is this?
That is the exact point Briony (or is it McEwan?) is trying to draw out. Who is capable of
telling a complete story about "what really happened?" All authors are subject to their
own interpretation of events and it is this in-empirical science that is literature that can
cause so much power over other human beings.
Look at all that is misinterpreted in writing. Briony doesn't understand the letter Robbie
has sent Cecilia and sees it as a threat. Robbie places the wrong letter in the envelope
triggering, and eventually indicting him for rape. The numerous references made to
literature in the novel--too many to list. Robbie was a literature major, and has read and
understood all the classic English novels and poets. Robbie is also the innocent victim in
the book. And the most obvious, Briony admits to making up the happy ending of love in
her story. When Briony admits to her reader that it has taken her sixty-four years and
countless drafts to complete her book, the reader has to ask him/herself: "Which is the
'real' one?"
Before the book even starts, the reader is given a Romantic novel quote--something out
of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey." This sets the tone for a book that will be packed
with literary allegory. Even the form of the book walks the reader through some of
English lit's historical periods: Part One--Austen'esque Romanticism; Part Two--Historical

Fiction War Story; Part Three--Victorian or Modern Memoir; and Part Four--Post Modern
speculation and theory.
Perception/Misunderstanding
What happens in "Atonement" is all created by the imagination to misperceive
observation.
Briony is at a point where she is too young to fully grasp the adult world she is quickly
becoming a part of, yet old enough to presume she understands her social environment
on a mature level. This wavering, transient positioning in her psychological development,
along with the circumstances she happens to observe (the fountain scene, the letter, the
library scene, and the rape) all lead to a misappropriation of her emotions. Briony is still
a child, there is no arguing that. Her obsession with order, her fantasizing about
playwriting and fencing, and the seriousness with which she takes her play all represent
her at a point where she is too young to see the world beyond her own existence. This
flaw is not her fault. It is a part of the psychological maturing process.
Notice how so much of the action takes place in a state where some senses are
obstructed or absent while others are available. Briony can "see" the incident between
Cecilia and Robbie at the fountain, but she can't hear it. Briony "reads" the word in the
letter, but she doesn't "know" what it means. Briony "sees" the the sex in the library, but
nobody "says" anything about it. And finally, Briony "hears" Lola being raped, but can't
completely "see" what/who it is because it is dark. Part One is all about perception and
misperception. Objects in this section are metaphors that serve as agents to this theme-windows, doorways, light, darkness, etc.
Even the narration of the novel plays on this idea. The author is continuously having to
go back and repeat the same episode through different eyes so the reader can get the
whole picture. By doing this, Briony (as author) is trying her best to make up for what
she did not understand as a child and what she struggles with as an author. That is,
present the story from every single angle, and not just the writer's point of view. In
achieving this, Briony hopes to atone for her misconception of events as a young girl.
Innocence
Arguments can be made on where the exact point is that Briony "loses her innocence."
There are a few moments in Part One that can be attributed to such a notion:
Was it when she saw the scene at the fountain? When she gives up on her play? When
she reads the letter from Robbie to Cecilia? When she mistakenly observes Robbie and
Cecilia making love in the library? When she witnesses Lola's rape? Or when she officially
accuses Robbie of the assault to authorities? Each one of these is a plausible response.
What is certain, however, is that somewhere during Part One of the novel, Briony ceases
to exist as a protected child in this world and enters the exposed world of adulthood. The
narration of part one, which we learn later to be Briony herself, holds nothing back in
informing the reader of this post-awareness. Briony the character is too young to realize
it at the time. She is caught in between world's. Look at the moment when the search
parties take flight after the twins; Briony debates on whether she is old enough to search
herself, or if she should stay back under the protection of her mother. She decides on the
former and this decision results in something that forever changes her life and the lives
of everyone around her. Even following the arrest of Robbie, Briony yearns for her
mother's comfort.
There is a greater loss of innocence at play here as well. War rips the entire country
apart, and eventually the world. The bliss is innocence that was being enjoyed by Europe
following "the war to end all wars" (WWI) is about to be stripped away in force. This
innocence is represented in Leon Tallis, a character who lives for the weekends in London,
doesn't think there will be a war, and feels all people are primitively good-natured.

War
It is not typical to say that "war" is a theme in any book, but it is a very important part of
"Atonement" and something that needs to be addressed as a separate component to the
overall themes of the book.
Ian McEwan is a known activist against war and as a writer who takes a personal interest
in World War Two history. His father was a Major in the British Armed Forces and McEwan
grew up in different areas of the world, in Army camps, while his father was serving his
duties.
There is an irony that Robbie Turner must fight in the war to exonerate himself from a
crime he did not commit. This highlights the injustices of any war. As much as the story
is a fictional tale, the scenes that involve the war, both in France in Part Two and in the
hospitals in London in Part Three, are historically accurate. In particular, the horrors that
the British Army faced as they awaited evacuation on the beaches of Dunkirk and the
German planes continued their assault, is captured in extraordinary detail in
"Atonement." Also, McEwan acknowledges a book he read in 1977 called "No Time For
Romance" written by Lucilla Andrews that was the personal account of a nurse who
served in the hospitals in London during the war. Briony's experiences in Part Three are
directly inspired from that reading (for more information on this, see "Plagiarism" in the
Additional Content of this Note).
There is not too much to be said on it. The two world wars that took place in Europe in
the first half of the 20th century are events that changed the course of human history.
Ian McEwan's "Atonement" draws focus on the lasting effects these events had on the
British psyche in hopes of assisting in the prevention of it from ever happening again.
Social Class
The inequities and injustices of social class appear throughout the novel. The most
obvious example is the relationship between Robbie Turner, son of the Tallis charwoman,
and Cecilia Tallis, daughter of the ministry-employed and wealthy Jack Tallis.
Recall that it is because Briony thinks her older sister is in grave danger of falling beneath
her class that she sets out to protect her. Placing social distinction above love is common
sense for Briony, and her condemnation of Robbie proves this faculty to hold up in the
courts. As for Cecilia, she is the only character in the story to deal with these issues head
on. After realizing her unfair behavior towards Robbie while at Cambridge together,
Cecilia has the courage to announce her love for him when she defends the letter being
passed around the living room for all to read as evidence of Robbie's "sex-maniac" ways.
Even when he is arrested, she stands by him, and soon thereafter disowns her family to
become a nurse living in a "terrible flat" in north London.
The only other person accused of the rape is the other servant, Danny Hardman. And
even when his father provides a perfectly suitable alibi, it is not presented without
question and doubt. Paul Marshall on the other hand, the filthy rich guest to the home
who is actually responsible for the crime, is never even considered or questioned.
As part of Briony's self-administered punishment, she joins the nurses in the lower class
where she sees herself as a slave. This may be an act of penance and nobility during the
war, but it's motives are questionable. Notice how by the end of the novel, Briony is
admitted back up the ranks of class, having a chauffeur and a lovely flat in Regent's park.
The reader is left wondering how much has really changed in the 65 years the novel has
taken place.
Identity
Here is a question to ask: Who is Briony Tallis? Is she a child criminal? A repenting nurse?
A writer? All of them? Is she a good person? An evil person?

Any novel that stretches over a sixty-five year period is going to observe the characters
go though periods of change and development. But "Atonement" works on a different
level when it comes to identity as a theme.
Briony Tallis has the imagination to make herself anything. When the story opens she is
Briony the serious child, Briony the famous writer, and Arabella, the star of a play she
has just written. Whenever Briony is upset, she wanders by herself to water, where she
can daydream into any persona she wishes--a murderer, fencing champion, successful
author (notice the water motif for this--a formless element).
In Part Three of the book, Briony has become a nurse, but she is given a badge with an
incorrect first initial. She has been completely emasculated by the war and her social
condition, as well as her guilt. When she sits with the dying French soldier, he thinks her
to be someone else, and she goes along with his fantasy out of pity, but she tells him her
real name in the end.
Other characters in the story too suffer identity problems. What is difference between
Jackson and Pierrot; Nettles and Mace? The latter cannot determine if Turner is an
educated Cambridge boy or a lower-class prisoner like themselves. Even Robbie himself
doesn't know what he wants to be--a literature graduate come landscaper who is
considering medical school, who has no father.
The confusion of identity points out the confusion of coming into oneself at the golden
age of lost innocence as well as what a nation is during war. Cecilia Tallis appears to be
the only character who confidently knows her true self. As readers, we even have to
question who wrote the book--Briony Tallis or Ian McEwan?
Themes of identity are common in coming-of-age novels. The fact that we get Briony at
three distinctive points in her life complicates this overarching investigation into what
makes up one's own sense of individuality and how confident that person has become
with that outpouring image.

Character List
Briony Tallis
Briony is the main character of the book. In essence, she is the author and the story is
told through her eyes, although somewhat removed (see "Major Themes" for more on
this point).
When the story begins, Briony is 13 years old (although, I have to say some pages have
her at 12 and others at 11, but for the most part, it is determined she is 13 years old on
page 109). She was born in 1922 and the only mentioning of her birth states that it was
"difficult" and triggered her mother's long illness with migraines and depression.
Briony has two older siblings: Leon, who is twelve years older and living in London; and
Cecilia, who is ten years older and is living at home having just returned from school in
Cambridge. The narrator refers to Briony as a little girl whose effective status is as an
only child.
Early on her life, Briony discovers her passion for words and secrets. When we meet her,
she has written a play called "The Trials of Arabella" which she also attempts to star in
and direct. It is clear to the reader that Briony is a girl with an extended and vivid
imagination. Her reality compared to her high-demand vision of life is called nothing but
"dreams and frustrations." She entertains a high amount of self pity when she doesn't
get what she wants and expects too much from the people and the world around her.

Briony is losing her innocence from the moment "Atonement" begins. Bearing witness to
a sequence of events between her older sister and the son of their charlady, Briony
misinterprets the motives and intentions of adult behavior. This causes her to trigger a
series of events that will have long-lasting and incredibly damaging results for the parties
involved.
Briony grows up to serve as a nurse in London during World War Two. She also begins to
write while in London, and by the end of the book we meet Briony as a 77 year old who
has just learned of a terminal illness (vascular dementia). She is being celebrated by her
family for her successes as a writer. It is during this final chapter that we learn Briony to
be the author of our tale.
Cecilia Tallis
Cecilia Tallis could be considered the second heroine of "Atonement." She is Briony's
older sister by ten years, and suffers in love by the misguided crime of her young sister.
Cecilia is quite different than her younger sibling. The opening chapters describe her
state of living as untidy, taking time to illustrate the unorganized and scattered way in
which she lives. We also learn of a dear maternal affection in Cecilia for her younger
sister, who shows an enthusiasm for Briony's childish, imaginative mind that Briony
perceives as being condescending. Further on into part one of the novel, the reader also
learns that it was Cecilia who would go to Briony when her creative mind would get away
from her at night, causing her terrifying nightmares. During these spells, it was Cecilia
who would run to her sister's room and hold her, repeating the phrase "Come back"-words that will carry plenty of weight throughout the entire novel.
Cecilia studied at Cambridge where she learned the unfortunate separations between
gender and social class. Robbie Tuner was at the university at the same time she was,
although they did not befriend one another because of the clear social-class distinction
between the two. Back that Tallis household for the summer, Cecilia feel impatient and
desperate for something exciting to happen to her. She also feels useless as a member of
the Tallis family. She is restless and wants to feel needed, but is not.
Cecilia discovers Robbie Turner's love for her after receiving a letter by the hand of
Briony. Surprisingly (especially to Robbie) she embraces his desires and mirrors his
sentiments. When Robbie is accused of raping Lola Quincey, Cecilia is the only one who
stands by him, insisting on his innocence.
Following the incredulous accusations towards her lover, Cecilia exiles herself from the
Tallis family. She moves to London to become a nurse and we only hear from her through
her love letters to Robbie Turner while he is fighting the war off in France.
In the final section of the book, Cecilia is surprise-visited by Briony. She receives her little
sister and we find Robbie and her living together in a small flat in London. The last we
see of Cecilia is when she and Robbie escort Briony back to the subway station following
a visit in which forgiveness for her sister's malice crime is never granted.
In the end, we learn Cecilia was killed in a bombing in a London train station during the
war.
Robbie Turner
Robbie is the main male character of the novel. He is the young man who we follow into
battle during World War Two in the middle sections of the book, as well as the character
whom is falsely accused of rape by Briony Tallis.
Robbie Turner is the son of the Tallis charlady Grace Turner. During childhood, all the
children were too young and innocent to recognize any difference between themselves
and Robbie was close friends with Leon and Cecilia, and acted as an older, caring brother
to the young Briony. When his is introduced in the book, he is 23 years old and has just
returned from Cambridge where he earned a literature degree. He is now working on

some landscaping in the Tallis park and debating on going back to school for a degree in
medicine. His entire schooling has been funded by the generous Jack Tallis.
We learn that Robbie's father Ernest left him and his mother when he was six years old
with no real explanation. Rather than turn the Turners onto the street, Jack Tallis offered
a position on the house staff to Grace and over the years both mother and son became
an extended part of the Tallis family.
Robbie is described as being very handsome, "sheer bulk," and quite intelligent (24).
Although ignored for the most part by Cecilia at Cambridge, Robbie pens a letter to her
announcing his love for her. He intends to deliver an apology letter for breaking the
family's relic vase, but the letters are accidentally switched and his awkward predicament
is set.
After being caught making love to the higher class Cecilia, Robbie is accused of raping
the young cousin Lola. Robbie is found guilty of the crime and sent to prison for three
years. When Britain enters the war in 1939, Robbie has an opportunity to emancipate
himself by fighting in France. This he does.
The middle of the book follows Robbie through his horrific tour (retreat, really) from the
front lines near Belgium back to Dunkirk where the British army was gathering to flea
back to England via the English Channel. Robbie is injured with shrapnel during a
bombing, but marches on with his two corporal companions Nettles and Mace.
Turner reaches Dunkirk. The next time we pick him up is in Cecilia's flat in 1940 when
Briony visits, seeking her "atonement." Robbie is furious with the young lady for the
crime she committed and refuses to forgive her, instead instructing her on a series of
legal action that will help clear his name.
In the end of the book, it is revealed that Robbie died in the war as a result of his
wounds.
Emily Tallis
Emily is mother to Briony, Cecilia, and Leon, and wife to Jack Tallis. She is 46 years old in
1935 where the first third of the novel takes place.
She is defined as distant and unfriendly and seems to let the Tallis household be
managed by the staff that is employed there. To her defense, Emily is pretty much a
single mother--her husband Jack is never around, devoting more of his time to his work
in the Whitehall ministry than to his family.
Emily suffers from severe migraines, an illness that began after the birth of her youngest
child Briony. She was educated at home by herself until she was 16, then she was sent to
Switzerland to boarding school. Her view about woman and class in society is traditional.
She feels woman are subservient to men and social classes should not mix romantically.
Emily has a special maternal instinct for her youngest daughter, Briony, and it is said that
she "loves to love her" and "protects her against failure" (62). Overall, she is described
as having a maternal "sixth sense [and] tentacular awareness" for her children and her
household.
There is a complete and in-depth description of Emily Tallis given at the beginning of
Chapter 6.
Jack Tallis
Jack is the father of the household and a minor character in the novel. We know he is an
extremely hard-working and generous man. He is never home, spending all of his time at
the ministry in London where he works, suggestively on secret government preparations
for the inevitable war with Germany (on page 115, he refers to himself as a "slave" to
Britain).

Jack values family and patriotism. His most prized possession is a family heirloom vase
that made it home from the first World War after his brother was awarded it as a gift for
saving a Belgian village from German attack. This is the vase that Robbie Turner breaks
in the fountain, triggering the series of events that leads Briony to falsely accuse him of
rape.
We know Jack to be generous by the way he treats his staff. He keeps Grace Turner on as
an employee after her husband abandons her and adopts Robbie like a son, funding his
way through Cambridge.
When Briony accuses Robbie of rape, he stands by his daughter's word and disowns the
Turners from his family, his daughter Cecilia included.
Leon Tallis
Leon is Briony's older brother and the eldest of the three Tallis children. He is the typical
1930s playboy. Living in a period of jubilation and ease between the two wars in Europe,
Leon enjoys the freedoms and carelessness of his social predicaments.
Leon is returning home from working in London to visit his family and it is his
homecoming that has Briony so excited and inspires her to write a play for him. With
him, he brings home his new found, and highly wealthy friend Paul Marshall. He is
extremely close with his sister Cecilia and the idol of his younger sister Briony. Leon is
also very close with Robbie and described as generally an overall well-rounded guy who is
admired by everyone (61).
Leon has the opportunity to work with his father at the ministry, but passes it up showing
his carefree spirit in the face of patriotic responsibility. Instead he takes a job at the
banks, "working and living for the nights and weekends" (101).
Leon feels that no one in the world is naturally mean spirited, scheming, lying, or
betraying (101). He is the voice of optimism and hope, albeit somewhat blind and
ignorant, during this period leading up to the war in Europe.
At the end of the novel, Leon is still alive, although very old and completely inept. He has
survived four marriages, raised a number of children, and is still viewed as a very likable
and admirable character by all who surround him.
Lola Quincey
Lola is the eldest sibling of the Tallis cousins who comes to spend the summer at their
estate while her parents go through a divorce. She is 15, two years older than Briony,
and right from the start, Briony takes a disliking approach to her fostered by jealousy of
her coming to age faster.
Lola, along with her two brothers, is living with the Tallis's because her father has
returned to school at Oxford and her mother has run off to Paris with a lover. Ginger
haired and freckled, Lola manipulates Briony from the start. She leverages her
predicament and family situation to get what she wants from the Tallis home.
Described as brisk and oblivious to anything beyond her own business, Lola is doomed to
be like her mother--a deviant schemer to get what she wants and one who is tranquil and
triumphant in competition.
Lola is the victim of first sexual assault (assumed, but greatly hinted at in the narration)
and then rape. When Briony witnesses the rape and scares off the assailant, she
convinces Lola it was Robbie Turner who was her attacker. Lola appears to know this to
be false, but never comes clean as to who she thinks her attacker is.
We lose Lola until the final third of the novel when we learn she is marrying Paul
Marshall, her attacker. Together, Lord and Lady Marshall enjoy tremendous financial
success and involve themselves in many philanthropic work throughout England.

Briony's final comments on Lola Quincey/Marshall are how young, vibrant, and healthy
she appears despite being 80, and how Lola will without doubt outlive the ailing Briony.
Jackson and Pierrot Quincey
Jackson and Pierrot are Lola Quincey's younger twin brothers. They are 9 years old when
they arrive at the Tallis home for the summer, and are at a complete loss with their
situation and what is happening between their two parents, Hermione and Cecil Quincey.
Forced to act in Briony's play, the twins are at first disagreeable. Soon thereafter, they
come around and realize the play is the only thing they like about their new predicament.
Looking similar to their older sister, ginger haired and freckled, the boys torture Lola and
blame her for being stuck at the Tallis's for the summer.
During a dinner when they learn the play is not going to be performed, the two twins
decide to run away, leaving a note left behind on their dining room chair. This act triggers
panic and a search party into the countryside night that leads to the opportunity for the
crime of rape to be committed.
The boys are eventually found alive and returned to the Tallis home by Robbie Turner. We
don't hear about them again until the final chapter when Pierrot is overcome with
emotion at the playing of The Tales of Arabella sixty-four years after that fateful night.
We learn that Jackson dies in 1984, but both boys grew up to have very large families, as
it is mostly Quincey grandchildren and great grandchildren who are there to celebrate
Briony's 70th birthday.
Hermione and Cecil Quincey
The parents of Lola, Jackson, and Pierrot, they actually never appear in Atonement,
except for once--at the wedding of Lola and Paul Marshall.
Hermione is Emily Tallis's younger sister. She is somewhat of a free spirit and has no
regard for social expectations. This side of her creates an odd bond between herself and
Cecilia, who it is stated both admire the the other.
Hermione fleas the English countryside for France with a lover, leaving her husband to
return to Oxford for schooling and her sister to look after her three children. It is said
that Hermione "plotted her way out of a marriage and suffers a nervous breakdown"
(62).
Danny and Mr. Hardman
The Hardman's are workers on the Tallis estate. Danny receives more attention than his
father in the tale because it is he who is accused of being Lola's attacker by Cecilia and
Robbie Turner. While Danny Hardman is representative of the lower class pubescent male
coming to terms with physical desires for the Tallis/Quincey girls, there is little evidence
that attaches him to Lola's rape.
Danny Hardman is fully exonerated by Briony when she informs Cecilia and Robbie that it
was a man fitting the size and description of Paul Marshall whom she saw on top of Lola.
Danny Hardman joins the British Navy to fight in the war against the Germans (262).
Grace Turner
Grace is Robbie Turner's mother and a charlady for the Tallis household.
Grace was married to a man, Ernest Turner, Jack Tallis employed as a laborer on the
estate who abandons her and her son for no said reason. In order to make ends meet,
Jack employs Grace as a helping hand and she acts as a clairvoyant on the side for the
other employees of the home. After years of labor and raising Robbie on her own, Jack
awards Grace complete ownership of the small cabin in which they live.

Grace is loved by all the Tallis children. She is a very kind woman and viewed as a
mother-figure by both Leon and Cecilia. Upon the discovery that her son is being blamed
for the rape of Lola Quincey, she is outraged and stands by his innocence.
Grandfather Harry Tallis
Jack Tallis's father Henry, grew up in an ironmonger's shop and made his money
patenting locks, bolts, and latches. He was the son of a farm laborer who changed his
name from Cartwright to Tallis for reasons unknown (102).
Uncle Clem
Clem is Jack Tallis's older brother. He died during World War One, but not before saving
an entire Belgian village by alerting them of a planned German bombing attack mere
hours before it happens. As a show of gratitude, the town awards Clem with a vase, in
which he is somehow able to continue to fight with while carrying. He sees the vase gets
back to his brother in England safely. Clem, however, was not as lucky and never returns
from the war.
Betty
Betty is the head maid in the Tallis home. She is described as terrifying and forceful (23)
as well as distant and firm (30). Betty is there to act as surrogate mother to the Tallis
children and overseer to the rest of the maid staff.
Polly and Doll
Both young maidservants from the nearby village who are employed at the Tallis home.
Both are seen as "simple" (98) and quiet.
Auntie Venus
Auntie Venus is not really an aunt, but a distant relative to the Tallis's (it is safe to
assume on Emily's side) who comes to live with them at the house after she is old and
ailing.
Auntie Venus was a nurse in Canada for many years before returning to England to die.
She lived in the household after her retirement, as an old bedridden lady, and dies when
Cecilia was ten years old and Briony was just born. The nicest room in the house, with
the view overlooking the lake and fountain, is referred to as 'Auntie Venus's room.'
Barbara
Barbara is only mentioned in the book. This is the "sweet, dependable, well-conneted
girl" both Jack and Emily Tallis wish Leon would marry. She has a castle in the highlands,
and at the end of the book we learn that that is where Leon raised his family. Although
Barbara is not mentioned specifically, once can assume that Jack and Emily got their
wish.
Paul Marshall
Paul is Leon Tallis's Cambridge/London pal. Leon brings Paul back to the home for the
weekend dinner he has planned with his family.
Paul comes off as smug and pretentious to the rest of the Tallis crowd. He appears to
almost 'wish' a war because it will provide him with so much opportunity as a business
man. His wishes come true, and as a result, Paul Marshall makes millions.
There are some very subtle suggestions that Paul Marshall has his sites set out on Lola
Quincey from the time he arrives at the home. Briony notices some heavy bruising on
Lola's arms and some scratches on Paul's face. When Briony comes across the scene at
the fountain where Lola is being raped, she has every reason to suspect it was Paul
Marshall.
Paul gets rich selling chocolate during the war and goes on to marry Lola. Later adorned
Lord Marshall, the last we see of Paul is as a very old, very debilitated, very wealthy
man.

P.C. Vockins
The village investigator/policeman. He leads the inquiry into the rape of Lola Quincey. He
used to be a trade unionist (137) and is very humble, sincere, and generous in his trade.
He is generally liked by all people in his county. His brother is later commissioned as the
ARP Warden for the county during the preparation for German invasion, and unlike P.C.,
the Warden is highly disliked because of his strict methods (263).
Corporal Nettle
One of the two men traveling through Belgium and France with Robbie Turner. Corporal
Nettle trusts Turner, even though his affection is represented in jest. He is a cockney and
is labeled as being mentally inferior to Turner often making fun of him (202) but at the
same time sticking close to him and respecting him realizing Turner is his ticket out of the
war alive (205).
After they are separated from their third man, Corporal Mace, Nettle and Turner are left
to survive it on their own in Dunkirk waiting for the British Navy to show up and escort
them home. Nettle does his best to look out for his friend, nursing him and feeding him
on the beaches of Dunkirk.
At the end of the book, Briony reveals to the reader that it was Corporal Nettle with
whom she corresponded via letter to learn all the facts of Robbie's last days in the war.
Corporal Mace
Corporal Mace is the third soldier marching with Turner and Nettle out of France. Very
similar to Nettle, Mace is looked upon as being mentally inferior to Turner, yet hanging
close with respect for his intelligence.
In a final act of absurd heroism, Corporal Mace rescues a British RAF private from a mob
beating by his own countrymen in a bar in Dunkirk. Pretending to drown him, Mace picks
up the lone soldier and carries him out of the bar to safety. We never hear from Corporal
Mace again.
Henry and Jean-Marie Bonnet
These are the pair of French brothers in the France countryside who shelter Turner,
Nettle, and Mace during their march back to England. They are kind man who share food
and wine with the three wounded British soldiers and supply them with rations before
seeing them off.
Sister Marjorie Drummond
Sister Drummond is the head nurse at the London hospital where Briony takes up a post.
She is a vicious dictator who demands order, routine, and discipline and is feared by most
of her staff (255-58).
Fiona
Fiona is the only friend Briony makes at nursing training and in the hospital. The girls are
quite different from one another, coming from different social classes and having very
different motivations to be there. Most notably is the scene Briony and her share in the
park just before the wounded arrive at the hospital. Both girls laugh in a sort of removed
innocence before they are stunned back into the reality of the war by the hundreds of
wounded men they frantically attend to.
Thierry
Briony's dead husband. He is only mentioned in passing (340).

Suggested Essay Questions

1.

Question:

How successful is Briony Tallis in achieving her "atonement?"

Answer Key:
The writer should identify that this is a question the 77 year-old Briony struggles with
herself. Attention should be made to her decision to keep Robbie and Cecilia alive
after the war and why she did that. It should also point to her decision to become a
nurse in London over attending Cambridge. Answers should discuss a life full of guilt,
and how the act of writing can both enhance or repent guilt.
2.

Question:
Over the course of the entire novel, we pick up Briony Tallis at three different stages
of her life. One, as an ambitious, imaginative child. Two, as a repenting, guiltstricken nurse. And three, as an aged, and dying successful author. Identify three or
four personal characteristics or qualities unique to Briony and discuss how these
qualities change, stay permanent, or disappear and reappear from beginning to end.
Answer Key:
Possible characteristics to be discusses are: writing, imagination, identity, guilt,
penance, shame, narcissism/egotism. Answers should clearly identify which
personality traits they are discussing and discuss each one at each stage of the book,
whether it is absent or present in the text, it is still relative.

3.

Question:
Pick two of the following objects and discuss how McEwan uses them as literary
devices in "Atonement." Water; windows; light/dark; senses; the human anatomy;
literature/writing; nature; temple/church/God/religion.
Answer Key:
Essays should be able to identify the purpose of the symbol and clearly state what it
stands to represent. They should then be able to select numerous incidents in the
book when that object is used or discussed (at least four). Finally, the writer should
be able to comment on how the object fits into an overall point that the book is
trying to make or at least draw attention to.

4.

Question:
What would Briony Tallis, the 77 year-old author, say about the power of autonomy a
writer has? Are omniscience and manipulation good for a novel, or bad? Why does
she compare "author" to "God?"
Anser Key:
The student must identify that BT recognizes this as an extraordinary power to have.
Attention should me made around the idea that regardless of the age of the writer,
the power never weakens. Briony had just as much power for make-believe as a 13
year-old when writing "The Trials of Arabella" as she does as a 77 year-old writing
"Atonement." There could be something said about how text outlasts life.

5.

Question:
"From this new and intimate perspective, she learned a simple, obvious thing she
had always known, and everyone knew: that a person is, among all else, a material
thing, easily torn, not easily mended" (287). Discuss.
Answer Key:
The answer should discuss both WWII and Briony's crime. War tears bodies apart,
Briony tore Robbie's soul, spirit, identity apart. It should be identified as coming
while Briony was serving as a nurse--meaning the physical object of amputation

leads her to recognize the invisibility of psychological amputation. The attempt to

"mend" should also be discussed. The writer should argue that Briony either can or
cannot mend what she has torn between Robbie and Cecilia.
6.

Question:
In one sense, "Atonement" is a book about misreading situations and the
consequences this can have. Identify episodes of misconception from the book and
discuss what the says about the human condition to invent story in order to make
sense, or place order, into an otherwise chaotic world.
Answer Key:
Essays should identify at least three episodes from the novel in where what actually
happens is misunderstood by at least one other character. Strong essays will discuss
less obvious instances beyond Briony's misinterpretation of events. Students should
tie this back into the themes of writing, literary tradition, and how imagination is as
powerful as sensory perception.

7.

Question:
What agent do "the twins" and "Nettles and Mace" serve to the book?
Answer Key:
It should be noted that they are interchangeable. It should also be noted that they
have no separating identity and that they both rely on Robbie Turner for survival.
Like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in "Hamlet," they both contribute directly to the
tragedy of Robbie (the accusation in 1935 and his death in 1940) as well as being
innocent victims themselves.

8.

Question:
What does "Atonement" tell us about social class in England in the 1930s? How much
has it changed by the time the book reaches 1999?
Answer Key:
Robbie is a victim of social distinction, but he is too proud to care. Cecilia denies its
existence rising above it. Briony continues to always have it in her mind, at all three
stages (she "knows" she is a nurse when she is one, and then goes back to having a
driver in the end). It should be argued that the war did not solve the problem. The
inversion of nobility and integrity (Robbie is a gentleman, Paul Marshall is not).

9.

Question:
Discuss the use of war in "Atonement." How does it serve as a metaphor to the
internal struggles of the characters? What does Part One presuppose about the
future condition of Europe? What is the end result of war in the final section?
Answer Key:
There is war both outside and inside. It creates guilt unworthy of atonement. Like the
imagination, it can destroy all that is pure and innocent in this world. The primate
nature of man is not like Leon sees it, but like Paul Marshall. Lola's rape by PM is a
juxtapositional metaphor for the land of Europe during WWII.

10.

Question:
Did Briony Tallis do the right thing by falsely keeping Robbie and Cecilia alive through
the war? Defend.
Answer Key:

The writer should be able to obviously identify between Ian McEwan and Briony Tallis
as author, they should show an understanding that "London, 1999" is part of the
book. The student can argue either way, but he/she must discuss the autonomy and
power Briony Tallis feels as a writer. They should be able to recognize, regardless of
which side they argue, that it was this act alone that Briony identifies as her final
atonement.