Pages 277-286: Key Events
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 4.2.1
Key Events in Pages 277-286: Briony as Writer
In this section, we again see Briony as a writer. Initially, she works on her journal. But then we learn that she has written a story based on the events described in Part One.
Briony's letters
- Briony has also written to Cecilia but has had no reply.
- Briony receives a letter from her father telling her that Paul Marshall and Lola Quincey are to marry.
Briony's journal
- Briony keeps a journal which she adds to daily.
- Even in her journal of each day’s events, Briony feels free to embellish the truth and “invent” storylines.
Quotation: Briony and the truth
- “She was under no obligation to the truth, she had promised no one a chronicle” (p280).
- Mention of “the truth” immediately creates some irony when we recall Briony’s accusation against Robbie in Part One.
- However, there is also a deeper layer of irony present as we will later learn that an older Briony has, particularly in Part Three of the novel, rewritten the “truth”.
Test yourself on Pages 277-286: Key Events
What does Briony's father write to her to tell her?