Chapter 10: Key Themes

English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 2.10.2

Key Themes in Chapter 10

The events in Chapter 10 are seen from Briony’s perspective.

Briony is fascinated by the glimpse she has been given into “an arena of adult emotion and dissembling”.
Briony has just ‘learned’ that pretence (“dissembling”) and deception are an integral part of the adult world. Again, irony is created by the fact that Briony is unable to see through Lola’s dissembling, and that the bruises and scratch have been caused by Paul Marshall rather than the twins.

As Briony is the focalizer in this chapter, her discovery of the sexual encounter between Cecilia and Robbie may take the reader by surprise.
Briony’s confusion and innocence about what she has witnessed is seen in her childish perception of it as “an attack, a hand-to-hand fight” (p123) due to the extremity of Robbie’s and Cecilia’s passion.
The description of the lovers (“He had pushed his body… gripping her hair… had trapped her”) suggests that, in Briony’s imagination, she confuses (or associates) sex and violence together.

Lola also bears the scars of a probable sexually-motivated attack.
This may contribute to her insistence that Robbie is a “maniac” or “monster”, displacing her feelings of guilt, blame and shame onto him.
Briony and Lola both lack the maturity to understand or fully process what they have witnessed or suffered.

Once again, Briony tries to assert control over the events she has witnessed (“Order must be imposed” p115) by transforming them into fiction.
She assigns roles and places herself in the middle of the drama as “her sister’s protector” (p123).