3.6.2

Pages 246-254: Key Themes

Test yourself

Key Themes in Pages 246-254: Arrival at Dunkirk

Robbie’s exhaustion is conveyed by the “dream state” he walks in with “no memory… no idea” of recent events (p246).

Illustrative background for Robbie's narrative perspectiveIllustrative background for Robbie's narrative perspective ?? "content

Robbie's narrative perspective

  • Robbie is traumatised and badly wounded.
  • Robbie understands the appeal of joining in with the mob in its attack against the RAF man but resists, recognising its “insidious” appeal.
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Beach setting

  • When Robbie gets to the beach there is a brief recognition of the healing power of nature when the “breeze off the Channel restored him”.
  • There is a surreal juxtaposition between the description of the resort of Bray with its “cheerful front of cafes and little shops” (p248) and the chaotic scenes on the beach where “thousands of men… twenty thousand, perhaps more” gathered in confusion.
  • The men’s brief visit to the bar creates a “homesick yearning” for normality back in England.
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Analysis of the mob attack

  • The attack on the RAF man shows the ugliness of the mob mentality where “any remaining sense of individual responsibility fell away”. He is another innocent victim in the novel, a victim of mob justice. He is scapegoated because of his uniform and dehumanised by the mob, described as “like a mole” on p252.
  • The mob’s behaviour can be seen as the result of collective pain, grief and trauma from men who have presumably suffered like Robbie in their retreat north.

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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