2.4.2
Chapter 4: Key Themes
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Key Thems in Chapter 4
Cecilia is focalizer. Danny Hardman and Paul Marshall are introduced in Chapter 4.
Cecilia as focalizer
- The narrative perspective switches back to Cecilia as focalizer.
- We see her response to Briony’s tantrum and her own confused feelings towards Robbie. She is self-conscious at all times and, on meeting Paul Marshall, wonders if this will be a defining moment in her life in that she will end up marrying him.
- The narrative voice also creates moments of comedy, particularly when it notes that Cecilia has “passed many hours deliberately not thinking of Robbie Turner”, illustrating her confused response to Robbie.
Introduction of Danny Hardman
- McEwan introduces two new characters in this chapter.
- First is the 16-year-old Danny Hardman. Cecilia is suspicious of him (“She had noticed him hanging around the children lately. Perhaps he was interested in Lola”) and notices how his lips have become “innocently cruel”.
- Cecilia’s reactions suggest something villainous about Hardman.
Paul as a comic figure
- Paul Marshall is at times presented as a rather comic figure in this chapter.
- Cecilia notices “something comically brooding about his face” and she longs to tell Leon that Marshall “had pubic hair growing from his ears”.
- She finally dismisses him as “unfathomably stupid”.
Misleading with Cecilia's perspective
- McEwan may be deliberately misleading (or misdirecting) the reader here.
- By using Cecilia’s perspective, he presents the readers with two possible villains, of whom Hardman seems to be the most sinister.
- However, the ambiguous ending to the chapter serves as a reminder that Marshall may not be all that he seems.
Class tension: Robbie Turner
- Leon mentions that he has invited Robbie Turner, the son of their cleaning lady, to dinner that evening.
- This sparks some comments which highlight the prejudices and assumptions around social class in English society.
- Marshall speaks with an arrogant and patronising tone on “resentful” grammar-school types while Leon teases Cecilia by asking her, “You think he can’t hold a knife and fork?”
Absence of parental figures
- A recurring theme in the novel is the absence of parent or authority figures.
- Emily Tallis, the mother, is referred to but only to explain why she is not present (“Emily’s lying down”).
- It is obvious that Emily has often been missing through much of her children’s childhoods as “it was hardly necessary to say” that their mother is suffering from another migraine which they would recognise by “a certain darkening at the windows” of her room.
- Likewise, Emily’s husband is “staying in town”.
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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