1.1.2
Settings & Historical Context of Atonement
Settings and Historical Context of Atonement
Settings and Historical Context of Atonement
Events in Atonement happen in three distinct time periods and several different settings.
Setting of Part One
Setting of Part One
- The story begins in the hot summer of 1935 in a country estate in Surrey, England owned by the upper-middle class Tallis family.
The impact of WW2 on setting
The impact of WW2 on setting
- Almost half of the novel depicts a privileged world of wealth and status which will soon be disrupted by the social upheavals accompanying World War 2 (1939-45).
- The world of this section of the novel recalls the country house setting of Evelyn Waugh’s novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), which depicts the grandeur and then the decline of a lifestyle of great privilege in an England ravaged by war and crippled by its economic costs.
Setting of Part Two
Setting of Part Two
- Part Two is set in war-torn northern France in the days before the Dunkirk evacuations in May, 1940.
- We follow three soldiers as they make their way to the northern coast of France and are provided with numerous examples of the horrors of World War 2.
- We see how war affects the soldiers and the innocent civilians who are caught up in it.
Setting of Part Three
Setting of Part Three
- Part Three of the novel is set in London in the spring of 1940.
- The atmosphere in the city is tense, with its occupants braced for an invasion by the Germans and the return of a retreating British army from the beaches of northern France.
- McEwan again depicts the horrors of war by setting the action in a London hospital which is overwhelmed by the wounded returning to England from France. Readers are not spared from the graphic descriptions of the injuries sustained by the soldiers.
Final setting: 1999
Final setting: 1999
- The final part of the novel is set 55 years later, in 1999.
- It is initially set in London but, in its closing pages, it returns to the country house setting of Part One, with the house now a plush hotel, part of the service sector economy of late twentieth century Britain.
1Introduction to Atonement
1.1Introduction & Background to Atonement
1.2Focus of Your Exam: Crime Texts
2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One
2.6Chapter 6
2.10Chapter 10
2.11Chapter 11
2.12Chapter 12
2.13Chapter 13
2.14Chapter 14
3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two
3.1Pages 191-201: To the Farmhouse
3.2Pages 202-213: The Night in the Barn
3.3Pages 214-226: The Attack
3.4Pages 226-234: Robbie's Reflections
3.5Pages 234-246: To the Bridge over the Canal
3.6Pages 246-254: Arrival at Dunkirk
3.7Pages 254-265: To the Cellar
4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three
4.1Pages 269-277: London, 1940
4.2Pages 277-286: Briony as Writer
4.3Pages 287-315: Victims of War
4.4Pages 315-327: Lola & Paul Marshall’s Wedding
4.5Pages 328-349: The Visit
5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four
5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371
6Key Character Profiles
6.1Briony Tallis
6.2Robbie Turner
6.3Cecilia Tallis
6.5Paul Marshall
6.6Emily Tallis
7Key Themes
7.1Introduction to Crime Texts
7.2Crimes in Atonement
7.3Criminals in Atonement
7.4Victims in Atonement
7.5Detection in Atonement
7.6Settings in Atonement
7.7Guilt & Punishment in Atonement
8Writing Techniques
9Context
9.1Historical Context
9.2Social Context
9.3Literary Context
10Critical Debates
10.1Marxist Literary Criticism
Jump to other topics
1Introduction to Atonement
1.1Introduction & Background to Atonement
1.2Focus of Your Exam: Crime Texts
2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One
2.6Chapter 6
2.10Chapter 10
2.11Chapter 11
2.12Chapter 12
2.13Chapter 13
2.14Chapter 14
3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two
3.1Pages 191-201: To the Farmhouse
3.2Pages 202-213: The Night in the Barn
3.3Pages 214-226: The Attack
3.4Pages 226-234: Robbie's Reflections
3.5Pages 234-246: To the Bridge over the Canal
3.6Pages 246-254: Arrival at Dunkirk
3.7Pages 254-265: To the Cellar
4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three
4.1Pages 269-277: London, 1940
4.2Pages 277-286: Briony as Writer
4.3Pages 287-315: Victims of War
4.4Pages 315-327: Lola & Paul Marshall’s Wedding
4.5Pages 328-349: The Visit
5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four
5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371
6Key Character Profiles
6.1Briony Tallis
6.2Robbie Turner
6.3Cecilia Tallis
6.5Paul Marshall
6.6Emily Tallis
7Key Themes
7.1Introduction to Crime Texts
7.2Crimes in Atonement
7.3Criminals in Atonement
7.4Victims in Atonement
7.5Detection in Atonement
7.6Settings in Atonement
7.7Guilt & Punishment in Atonement
8Writing Techniques
9Context
9.1Historical Context
9.2Social Context
9.3Literary Context
10Critical Debates
10.1Marxist Literary Criticism
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