Chapter 14: Key Themes

English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 2.14.2

Key Themes in Chapter 14: Briony's Perspective on Events

The chapter is told from Briony’s perspective and, as a result, we experience the range of emotions that she felt that night.

There is a clear sense of excitement at all the drama (Briony refers to it as a “Christmas morning sensation”) and she admits to feeling “a sweet and inward rapture” (p179) at the importance her role as principal witness gives her.
She thinks she deserves “praise” for finding Robbie’s letter and feels “a flash of outrage” when Robbie returns with the twins: “it was wrong of him to turn up with the twins like that, and she felt cheated. Who would believe her now…” (p184).

Perhaps most chillingly, there is no sense of sympathy for Robbie in her description of him being taken away by the police at the end of the chapter.

Once again, the chapter opens with a time shift into the future describing Briony’s feelings of “guilt” and “self-torture” caused by “her fragmented recollection” of events that night and morning.
Throughout the chapter, the older Briony questions the accuracy of her memories of that night, an ironic contrast with the certainty she displays when accusing Robbie of being the assailant.

The chapter is told from Briony’s perspective and, as a result, we experience the range of emotions that she felt that night.

Briony notes that Emily treats the policemen “as menials” i.e. as being of a much lower social status (p178) and there is evidence that the police officers defer to her when they allow her to read Robbie’s obscene letter to Cecilia.

There is also the suspicion that Paul Marshall uses his powerful position in society to manipulate the police officers.
Briony recounts how he offers them cigarettes “from a gold case” (p175), symbolic of his wealth and status, and how “he patted the senior man on the shoulder and seemed to send them on their way”, almost as if, from Briony’s perspective, he was directing affairs.

Grace Turners’ anguished cry of “Liars! Liars!” can be read as a condemnation of the entire Tallis family and the upper-class society they represent in the way that they have closed ranks and participated in the conspiracy against Robbie.
This scene, which ends Part One of the novel, is particularly uncomfortable due to the cold, detached way in which Briony observes it.

Even Cecilia’s attempted defence of Robbie, her claim that “it was Danny Hardman they should be talking to”, perhaps reveals an element of class prejudice.

Complete the quotations showing Briony's excitement during the interrogation scene.
What are Emily's interactions with the police inspectors like in Chapter 14?