Pages 269-277: Key Events
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 4.1.1
Key Events in Pages 269-277: London, 1940
Part Three is set in London in 1940, before the Dunkirk evacuations, where Briony is training to be a nurse. She finds the “life of strictures, rules, obedience, housework…” difficult to cope with.
Change of setting: London
- Part Three opens with a change of setting, to London in the late spring of 1940.
- McEwan immediately creates an ominous atmosphere of something “about to” happen.
"Turbulent...swollen"
- “The unease was not confined to the hospital. It seemed to rise with the turbulent brown river swollen by the April rains…” (p269).
- The opening sentence of Part Three uses symbolism of a “turbulent” river to foreshadow future turmoil as the wounded men return from Dunkirk.
- Tension and “unease” are building, symbolised by the “swollen” river.
Test yourself on Pages 269-277: Key Events
What aspects of Briony's "life" in nursing does she find difficult to cope with?