Chapter 11: Key Events
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 2.11.1
Key Events in Chapter 11: The Twins Run Away
The atmosphere around the dinner table is tense. Robbie thinks back to his sexual encounter with Cecilia in the library.
The twins run away
- The twins are excused from the dinner table and, shortly afterwards, Briony discovers their note explaining that they have run away.
- The Tallis children, Lola and Paul Marshall all go out to look for the twins.
- Cecilia has left with Leon leaving Robbie alone. He decides that Briony would not want him as company so both of them leave separately, with fateful consequences.
Quotation: time shift for Robbie
- “… If he could not be with Cecilia, if he could not have her to himself, then he too, like Briony, would go out searching alone. This decision, as he was to acknowledge many times, transformed his life” (p144).
- This quote marks another time shift in the novel, foreshadowing some transformative event in Robbie’s life. This helps to build tension as the novel moves towards its climactic moment.
Test yourself on Chapter 11: Key Events
Who immediately goes to look for the twins in Chapter 11?