6.6.1

Overview of Emily Tallis

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Overview of Emily Tallis in Atonement

Emily Tallis is the 46-year-old mother of Leon, Cecilia and Briony.

Illustrative background for Emily's role in the narrativeIllustrative background for Emily's role in the narrative ?? "content

Emily's role in the narrative

  • Although two chapters in Part One (Chapters 6 and 12) are at least partly focalized through her perspective, she is a rather shadowy presence in the novel - on the periphery, rather than the centre, of the action.
Illustrative background for Emily's distance from her familyIllustrative background for Emily's distance from her family ?? "content

Emily's distance from her family

  • Emily is described as being rather “distant” (p20) from her children. Cecilia finds that her mother is not particularly interested in catching up with her oldest daughter who has just returned home for the summer, but instead would rather share her “tiny frets about the household”.
  • That Cecilia considers these worries as “tiny” only emphasises how Emily has her priorities all wrong.
Illustrative background for **"Emily's lying down"**Illustrative background for **"Emily's lying down"** ?? "content

"Emily's lying down"

  • In Chapter 2, we learn that “Emily’s lying down”, and that this is clearly something her children have become used to.
  • Emily suffers from crippling migraines and her children have learned that “it was hardly necessary to say” that their mother is in bed, suffering from, or trying to prevent, another one.
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Sympathy for Emily

  • Readers may well feel some sympathy for Emily with regards to her poor health (she personifies an oncoming migraine as a “caged panther” which helps to convey its ferocity) and to her suspicion that the reason her husband often stays overnight in London is because he's having an affair.

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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