2.8.2
Chapter 8: Key Themes
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Key Themes in Chapter 8: Robbie
Robbie is the focalizer in Chapter 8. The chapter focuses on Robbie's interests, his career hopes, his stints as an actor and his living space.
Robbie as focalizer
- Robbie is the focalizer throughout Chapter 8.
- The tone is educated and cultured, with references to Romantic poets such as Keats and to contemporary, cutting-edge poets such as W.H. Auden. This shows Robbie’s interest in literature.
- The inclusion of medical terms and texts reveal Robbie’s interest in medicine.
Time shift to 1962
- On pages 90-92, as Robbie walks to the Tallis house, the narrative perspective shifts to three decades in the future with Robbie imagining himself as a doctor in 1962 looking back at “this time when he walked along the footpath…”.
- Robbie is full of confidence and “optimism” about his future, feeling “exultant” as he walks along. The shift in time perspective creates a dark sense of irony as Robbie’s fortunes are about to change dramatically for the worse.
Symbolism: Robbie as Malvolio
- We learn that Robbie has previously played the part of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a failure in love who suffers public humiliation and is imprisoned. The parallels with Robbie’s life will soon become clear.
Setting: Robbie's house
- Robbie’s house, his mother’s bungalow, is full of confined and “narrow” spaces: “his small bedroom, his bathroom and the cubicle wedged between them he called his study”.
- The obvious contrast with the sprawling spaces of the Tallis household illustrates the class divide between Robbie and the Tallises. Robbie thinks of himself as someone “without social unease” thanks to a “childhood moving freely between the bungalow and the main house” (p86) but Robbie is still conscious of his lower-class status.
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
Practice questions on Chapter 8: Key Themes
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- 1What part has Robbie played in a Shakespearean play?Multiple choice
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