Pages 328-349: Key Themes
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 4.5.2
Perspective in Pages 328-349: The Visit
Briony is anxious about visiting Cecilia, imagining it as “an interview she was preparing for, the post of beloved younger sister”.
"Imagined or ghostly persona"
- Briony is curiously detached from herself, describing herself as “an imagined or ghostly persona”.
- This becomes more understandable when we realise that Briony’s visit to Cecilia did not happen and is instead purely “imagined” by an older Briony.
"Unreliable witness"
- Briony is described as “an unreliable witness” (p336).
- Readers will wonder if she is also an unreliable narrator who cannot be trusted to give an accurate account of events. Briony insists that he has never considered herself to be a liar: “She hadn’t intended to mis-lead, she hadn’t acted out of malice” (p336).
Briony's courage?
- Readers may sympathise with Briony for showing the courage to visit her sister despite her anxiety.
- They will also share her “shock” at the sudden appearance of Robbie.
Briony's "memory of passion"
- Teasingly, Briony remembers a “memory of a passion she’d had for him, a real crush that had lasted days” (p342), recalling Robbie’s “theory” about the reason for her false allegation against him. Briony makes light of this infatuation but yet another mention of it suggests that it may have played a part in prejudicing Briony against Robbie.
Climactic moment
- The climactic moment of her visit to Cecilia’s is the admission, and revelation, that “it was Paul Marshall” (p346).
Characterisation in Pages 328-349: The Visit
The characterisation of Cecilia and Robbie is a key focus in these pages.
Cecilia's shabby house
- The shabby house which Cecilia lives in suggests that severing contact with her family has affected her financially.
- The room she lives in gives the initial impression of her living “a simple and lonely life” (p335).
Differences in Cecilia
- Briony is alert to any differences in her sister, having not seen her in years.
- Although Briony finds Cecilia “hard to read” she detects a “hardness to her tone” (p322) which suggests she is still resentful of her younger sister.
- Briony also notes that time has taken a toll on her sister with her eyes betraying a sense of “fatigue” or “sorrow”.
Evidence that Robbie lives with Cecilia
- The copies of Gray’s Anatomy and of Housman’s poetry are the first hints that Robbie may be living with Cecilia but his sudden entrance is as likely to “shock” readers as much as it does Briony.
- Significantly, when he does enter his “gaze was on Cecilia” (p338), indicating his love for her.
Response to Briony
- Robbie becomes “angry, very angry” when he realises the visitor is Briony and threatens to throw her outside.
- Likewise, Cecilia becomes “agitated” when discussing Hardman and struggles to control her anger. She takes this out on Briony, telling her that she “won’t ever forgive” her (p340).
Tender moments: Robbie & Cecilia
- However, we see a tender side to Robbie and Cecilia’s relationship when she is able to soothe Robbie, gently telling him to “come back…” (p343) just as she had done in her letters. The last sight we have of them together is of them walking behind Briony, “hand in hand” (p347).
Balham tube station
- Briony parts from her sister outside Balham tube station, which the narrative mentions will be bombed in three months’ time.
- This is the setting for Briony’s final apology. Only in the next section of the novel do we learn that Cecilia in fact dies at this location.
Test yourself on Pages 328-349: Key Themes
What does Briony say in the climactic moment of her visit to Cecilia?
What does Cecilia's room initially imply about her life?