Chapter 9: Key Themes
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 2.9.2
Key Themes in Chapter 9
Cecilia is the focalizer. The theme of the vulnerability of children runs through the chapter.
Cecilia as focalizer
- Events in Chapter 9 are focalized through Cecilia. She is a self-conscious figure aware “of her mother watching her” (p111) and somewhat insecure in her behaviour as she tries to make small talk over drinks: “There was desperation in all she said, an emptiness at its core…” (p109).
Theme: vulnerability of children
- The twins, Pierrot and Jackson, are upset and initially unable to speak to Cecilia about their missing socks, fearful of the reaction from the adults in authority: “Miss Betty says we’ll get a smack if we don’t go down now…” (p99).
- They have even been abandoned by their sister, Lola, (“She hates us”).
"Poor little lambs"
- The reader will recall Robbie’s conversation with his mother in the previous chapter where she mentions “the poor little lambs” and “that boy wetting his bed and all” (p89).
- The Quincey twins are clearly traumatised by their parents’ divorce and in a state of real distress.