Settings in Atonement

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Settings in Part One & Two of Atonement

The country house is the setting of Part One. Northern France is the setting of Part Two.

The country house setting of Part One is a typical English crime fiction setting. Authors like Agatha Christie used this kind of setting a lot.
It provides crime writers with a sealed-off world of wealth and privilege and a cast of characters who remain in situ throughout the story. It also provides readers with the thrill of watching the dark secrets of the upper classes being brought into the light.

Emily Tallis clearly sees herself as rather superior to the police inspectors assigned to the case:
- She is initially unwilling to even call them;
- When they arrive, she treats them as “menials”.
Her and Paul Marshall seem to have a degree of influence over the inspectors and so are able to strengthen the case against the lower-class Robbie Turner.

The setting in Part Two is northern France during the British retreat to the beaches of Dunkirk.
This may at first be considered an unusual setting for a crime text, but through Robbie’s perspective, we are encouraged to reflect on war as a crime against humanity.

We see how modern industrialised warfare can destroy innocent civilian lives in an instant and how war dehumanises all involved.
The scene in the bar demonstrates how even someone as fair-minded as Robbie can feel the “exhilaration” of being part of the mob who vent their frustrations on the RAF man, the trauma of war removing “any remaining sense of individual responsibility” (p252) from the men involved.

Part Three is set in Briony's hospital. Part Four returns to the Tallis home, now Tilney's Hotel.

The hospital setting of Part Three further explores the horrors of war.
The lengthy description of Briony’s first 24 hours tending to the critically wounded arriving from Dunkirk is one of the most intense and moving passages in the novel. The setting provides moments of tenderness (e.g. Briony’s comforting of Luc Cornet in his final moments) but also of horror.

The reference to the “sodden crumbs of Amo bars” (p304) in the hospital serves to remind us of Marshall’s crimes: his probable rape of Lola by the island temple and his exploitation of war.
Briony’s choosing to become a nurse can also be seen as a reaction to her crime, her first step in atoning for the false accusation against Robbie.

The final part of the novel returns us, and Briony, to the Tallis house, now Tilney’s Hotel, 64 years after the crimes of that summer evening in 1935. This represents a whole lifetime of guilt for Briony, who is now 77 years old.
Briony speaks to us directly in the first person and reveals that the whole novel has been written by her as an attempt to atone for the sins of her past and to bring “the lovers” back to life.

For some critics, this acts as yet another revelation of a crime: a crime against the reader.
We learn that Briony largely pieced together Robbie’s experiences in Dunkirk through the records at the Imperial War Museum and that the meeting between Briony, Cecilia and Robbie, with its promise of future reconciliation, did not happen. Instead, both Robbie and Cecilia died in 1940, both as victims of the war.

The older Briony justifies her decision to rewrite the past as “a stand against oblivion and despair” (p372).
Briony never makes the comparison directly, but we should perhaps consider that her decision to lie to the reader is similar to her decision to lie to the dying Luc Cornet and play the role of his sweetheart – an act of comfort and kindness and a testament to the power of love. However, readers may react negatively to being manipulated and begin to question other aspects of Briony’s narrative.