4.1.1

Pages 269-277: Key Events

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Key Events in Pages 269-277: London, 1940

Part Three is set in London in 1940, before the Dunkirk evacuations, where Briony is training to be a nurse. She finds the “life of strictures, rules, obedience, housework…” difficult to cope with.

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Change of setting: London

  • Part Three opens with a change of setting, to London in the late spring of 1940.
  • McEwan immediately creates an ominous atmosphere of something “about to” happen.
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"Turbulent...swollen"

  • “The unease was not confined to the hospital. It seemed to rise with the turbulent brown river swollen by the April rains…” (p269).
    • The opening sentence of Part Three uses symbolism of a “turbulent” river to foreshadow future turmoil as the wounded men return from Dunkirk.
    • Tension and “unease” are building, symbolised by the “swollen” river.

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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