Atonement

Cecilia is wracked with self-doubt over what to wear to dinner. She examines her old clothes and the insights they provide into her youth. When she is finally satisfied with her outfit, she helps the twins dress. As she helps them to tidy their room, they talk about their homesickness. They mention that their hopes of being in Briony’s play seem to have been squashed because Briony has abandoned them. Cecilia worries about her younger sister. Briony’s behavior means that Cecilia has “something else to worry about” (65) and that she cannot simply have a relaxing evening. Cecilia dresses the twins and takes them downstairs to dinner. As she walks down the stairs, she thinks about her future. She feels as though her experiences at university have made her into a different person, but her family does not understand this. She plans to go to London and find a job for herself.

Cecilia goes to the kitchen, where Emily and Betty the cook are arguing about the meal. Cecilia resolves the dispute diplomatically and then shares a drink with Leon while Emily searches for Briony, who is “moping around outside” (68). Leon discusses his positive outlook on life and Cecilia describes her own “boredom and solitude” (70). She sees her brother as an uncomplicated person who avoids any responsibilities. She accepts his invitation to visit him in London, though she has her own reservations. Returning to the house, Cecilia and Leon meet Briony, who hands Cecilia Robbie’s letter. Reading the letter, Cecilia realizes that Robbie is in love with her and realizes that she is in love with him, but she notices that he would typically have placed such a letter inside an envelope. She asks Briony whether she read Robbie’s letter. Briony does not respond. Paul enters with a tray of cocktails, each containing “a viscous brown substance” (72).

Briony reads the letter Robbie gave her and is horrified. Not only does she not understand the vivid, graphic descriptions of sex, she feels immature by her sudden confrontation with “adult emotion” (73). Briony hopes that these strange new feelings will fuel her writing. After giving Cecilia Robbie’s letter, she runs to her room to think about Robbie. She convinces herself that Robbie is a threat to Cecilia and to her family. She believes that Robbie is “the incarnation of evil” (74) and begins to write about her concerns. Lola interrupts the writing, complaining about the twins’ violent behavior. She shows Briony the scratches on her arm, inflicted on her by the “little brutes” (75). For once, Briony feels sorry for Lola. She tells Lola what she read in the letter, and Lola agrees with her that Robbie seems like a “maniac” (76). Lola recommends that Briony go to the police, but the thought of discussing the letter with any police officer embarrasses Briony.

When she finally prepares to join the dinner, Briony is worried about Robbie and tells herself that she must protect her sister. She passes the library and hears something inside. Entering through the unlocked door, she sees Robbie pressed up tight against Cecilia. She immediately notices how small and fragile Cecilia seems and she worries that the “huge and wild” (79) Robbie is hurting her sister. The couple realizes that they are being watched. Without saying anything, they break apart, and Cecilia walks past Briony but does not say anything. Cecilia’s coldness surprises Briony because Briony believes she stopped Robbie’s attack on her sister. She worries that Robbie will attack her next, but he remains silent. Realizing she is safe, Briony leaves to find Cecilia.

The family sits down to dinner. After their romantic encounter in the library, Robbie and Cecilia try not to look one another in the eye. Briony notices that Paul has a “two-inch scratch” (81) on his face. Briony criticizes Robbie’s small talk about the recent warm weather, and Leon suggests that typical rules and manners are abandoned in the summer heat. As they talk, Robbie’s thoughts drift. He thinks about Cecilia and remembers how she greeted him at the door, clutching “the folded note in her hand” (83). She led him to the library, where he explained that he did not intend for her to read the graphic letter. Together, they realized that they had loved each other for many years. They kissed and then began to have sex, their “inexpert fumbling” (86) revealing their lack of experience. When Briony interrupted her, Robbie hated her, just as he would have “hated anyone who came in” (88).

The twins excuse themselves from the dinner table. When Briony complains that the twins are wearing her socks, Cecilia criticizes Briony for being a “tiresome little prima donna” (88). As Robbie praises the twins’ behavior, Briony interrupts him to point out that the twins have bruised and hurt Lola’s arms. Emily fetches medicine for Lola’s injuries as Paul explains that the twins also inflicted his small scratch. As Robbie speculates about Paul’s hurried, awkward explanation, Briony sees a note left behind in the twins’ seats. The note explains that they have run away because they “want to go home” (90). Paul immediately suggests that they form search parties. Leon and Cecilia team up while Robbie, Paul, and Briony search for the twins on their own. Years later, Robbie will reflect on his decision to search alone as something that transformed his life.

Emily remains in the house while the others search the estate. Thinking about Lola’s injuries reminds Emily of her sister’s tendency to create a dramatic situation “at every moment” (93). She thinks ahead, assuming that the twins will soon be found, and then she will need to give Lola her attention. Jack is still in London. Though he claims that he is there for work, Emily is sure that he is having an affair. Between her husband’s infidelities and Briony’s growth, Emily believes that she has no great events left in the “mellow expansiveness” (95) of her life. When Jack places his customary telephone call to the house, Emily mentions the missing twins. Emily tries to stop Jack from calling the police, but the sudden arrival of Leon, Briony, Cecilia, and Lola stops her. Their demeanor reveals that something terrible has happened. Leon walks to Emily, takes the phone from her hand, and tells his father to return home immediately. They lead Emily “helplessly” (98) to the drawing room to hear the news.

Briony searches for the twins by herself. She imagines finding them dead in the pool, writing the scene in her mind. She is thinking more about her desire to protect Cecilia from Robbie’s aggressive behavior. Now, she decides, she hates Robbie, and she believes that this hatred makes her more of an adult, as she has never been “the object of adult hatred” (99). She cannot believe that he would attack her sister, especially after her family has helped him so much with his education. She imagines how she could recruit Leon then team up with her brother and sister to reveal Robbie’s villainy to their parents. Briony has completely misapprehended the situation between Cecilia and Robbie and is lost in her own struggle to become an adult. Her fantasizing leads her to pay less attention to the events happening around her and colors her perception. When Briony arrives at the pool, she discovers that the twins have not drowned. She thinks back over the course of the day, which she believes marks the end of her childhood. She returns briefly to the house and sees her mother, who is in the drawing room. For a moment, Briony imagines her mother’s funeral and the way in which other people will “feel awed by the scale of her tragedy” (102) on that day.

Rather than hugging her mother, whom she realizes is distraught, Briony returns to the search. She goes to the lake and crosses to the island, planning to search the ruined temple. As she walks, she assures herself that she is “not a child” (103) and therefore cannot be afraid of the dark even though she is afraid. In the temple, Briony sees a strange figure. She cannot identify the figure due to the darkness. The figure breaks in two; Briony realizes that she is looking at two people. A large figure runs away into the shadows, leaving Lola behind. Briony runs to her cousin. Lola is dazed and cannot (or will not) identify the other shadowy figure. Briony interrupts, asking whether the person who attacked Lola was Robbie. Though Lola never agrees with her, Briony becomes certain that the attacker was Robbie. Her misplaced certainty based on Robbie’s letter and his interactions with Cecilia will become even surer over the coming weeks. Rather than tell the police the truth—that she did not clearly see the attacker—Briony believes that she should tell them that she saw Robbie attack Lola. Leon arrives and escorts the girls home as Briony tells him what happened, “exactly as she had seen it” (108).

They take Lola is into the house. The police arrive, and Briony speaks to them, insisting that Robbie sexually assaulted Lola on the island. After her testimony, she silently congratulates herself on “her new maturity” (109). During this time, the twins and Robbie are still missing. Paul returns to the house while Cecilia walks from room to room, struggling to speak to anyone. Briony remembers Robbie’s graphic letter. She steals it from Cecilia’s room, showing it to the police and then to Leon. Emily reading the letter shocks Cecilia back to reality. She tries to retrieve the letter but fails. Emily blames Cecilia, insisting that Lola might have been saved from a terrible experience if Cecilia had warned them earlier about Robbie. The police take the letter. Cecilia vanishes into her room, glaring at Briony with “red-eyed contempt” (112).

Briony tells the police a story of her own making, so she is able to “build and shape her narrative in her own words” (113). She believes that Robbie raped Cecilia earlier that evening. The police interview the others, , though Cecilia initially refuses. When she finally does talk to the police many days later, they are already convinced that Robbie is a rapist; even her insistence that their sexual encounter was consensual is not enough to save him from prison. The police ignore her attempts to direct the police’s suspicion toward Danny Hardman.

In the early hours of the morning, Robbie returns to the house with the twins. Briony is furious with him. She thinks that he is trying to make himself look like a hero by saving the twins in a “cynical attempt to win forgiveness for what could never be forgiven” (114). She worries that his heroic deed will earn the forgiveness of the others and make her look like a fool. Emily sends Briony inside, but Briony watches through a window and sees the police take a confused Robbie away in handcuffs. Briony watches Cecilia run to Robbie and share a brief, emotional conversation. Cecilia weeps as the police take Robbie away. As the police cars leave the estate, Robbie’s mother shouts at them, insisting that they are “liars” (116) and that her son is innocent.