2.3.1

Chapter 3: Key Events

Test yourself

Key Event in Chapter 3: Briony's Observation

Briony, in a break from play rehearsals with her cousins, observes the scene between Cecilia and Robbie at the fountain from the upstairs nursery windows. It immediately fires her imagination.

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What does Briony witness?

  • Briony witnesses Cecilia stripping off her blouse and skirt in front of Robbie and stepping into the fountain.
  • Briony’s initial interpretation of the event is flawed; the first of many mis-readings which will eventually culminate in tragedy.
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Quotation: Briony's interpretation

  • “A proposal of marriage. Briony would not have been surprised. She herself had written a tale in which a humble woodcutter saved a princess from drowning and ended up marrying her. What was presented here fitted well… It made perfect sense” (p38).
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Briony's fairy tale interpretation

  • Briony misinterprets the scene below.
  • She is driven by the creative impulse to impose a storyline on what she has just seen but her own limited experience of life prevents her from seeing anything other than a fairy tale version of reality.
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Dramatic irony & class difference

  • McEwan creates dramatic irony in that we as readers know Briony is misinterpreting the scene and this, in turn, helps to build tension.
  • It is also notable that even the young Briony recognises the class difference between Cecilia and Robbie, mirrored in the figures of the “woodcutter” (clearly based on the gardener, Robbie) and the “princess”.
  • This story (of the princess’ rescue from drowning) will again be referred to in Part Two of the novel.

Key Event in Chapter 3: Briony's Response to the Fountain

Briony responds to the scene by the fountain as a writer.

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Briony's imagination

  • Briony’s imagination is fired by what she has just witnessed and she begins to question how she could represent the scene in her own fiction.
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Quotation: Briony's writing

  • “… She sensed she could write a scene like the one by the fountain and she could include a hidden observer like herself… She could write the scene three times over, from three points of view... None of these three was bad, nor were they particularly good. She need not judge…” (p40).
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Briony's maturity

  • Briony shows some signs of maturity here in that, although she includes herself in this fictional version of the scene, she does not place herself at its centre.
  • Instead, she recognises the need for the writer to detach herself somewhat from the scene and not “judge” events.
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Irony in Briony's thoughts

  • However, Briony’s thoughts are again laden with irony: at the end of Part One, Briony will indeed “judge” with disastrous consequences.
  • McEwan creates further irony in Briony’s reflection of “how easy it was to get everything wrong, completely wrong”.
  • A further layer of irony is created by the fact that, as we will later learn, Briony is the narrator of what we are reading.

Jump to other topics

1Introduction to Atonement

2Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part One

3Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Two

4Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Three

5Chapter Summaries & Analysis: Part Four

5.1Epilogue: London, 1999 - Pages 353-371

6Key Character Profiles

7Key Themes

8Writing Techniques

9Context

10Critical Debates

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