Chapter 2: Key Events
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 2.2.1
Key Event in Chapter 2: Cecilia and Robbie Meet
Briony’s older sister, Cecilia Tallis, carries a valuable vase to the fountain outside to fill it with water. There, she meets Robbie Turner, the son of the Tallis family’s cleaning lady.
What happens in Chapter 2?
- Cecilia and Robbie engage in awkward conversation.
- In a moment of clumsiness between them, the vase is broken.
- Cecilia, in anger, removes her skirt and blouse and steps into the fountain to retrieve the broken pieces.
- We begin to see beneath the surface of Robbie and Cecilia’s relationship; the love story at the heart of the novel.
Quotation: Cecilia & Robbie meet
- “There was something between them, and even she had to acknowledge that a tame remark about the weather sounded perverse.”
Analysis of key words
- There is a recognition from Cecilia’s point of view of some mutual feelings between the pair, but the vagueness of “something” suggests uncertainty as to their true nature.
- The adjective “perverse” also hints at a sense of shame or guilt, perhaps caused by the fact they have been childhood friends.