A comprehensive list of key quotes with brief inferences from Atonement, carefully selected according to the requirements of the AQA A Level English Literature B Crime exam.
‘her controlling demon…passion for secrets…love of order’ – traits of a fiction writer,
compose Briony’s motive for narrative neatness
‘relative isolation of the Tallis household’ – Golden age trope, perhaps a mitigating
circumstance for Briony’s crime
‘she wanted to lie alone, face-down on her bed and savour the vile piquancy of the moment’
– Briony is clearly still a child; her reaction to Lola taking over is melodramatic
‘obliviousness to anything beyond her own business’ – unsympathetic portrayal of Lola by
the older Briony, possibly unreliable given that we don’t get her voice directly
‘talk of medical college (was) presumptuous…since it was her father who would have to pay’
– conveys Cecilia’s snobbery, believes that class is the barrier between them
‘the pressure was so feeble, and water fell back over his head’ – theme of impotence is
symbolised by the Triton fountain
‘parallelograms of morning sunlight’ – motif of geometric shapes (especially in Cecilia’s
centre of consciousness), links to claustrophobia as even light is trapped
‘No one was holding Cecilia back, no one would care particularly if she left’ – yet Cecilia has
an exaggerated view of her importance in the household
‘drowning herself would be his punishment’ – Cecilia’s tendency for melodrama leads
inadvertently to Briony’s misunderstanding, and later her crime
‘morning’s colossal heat (was) oppressive’ – the heat has a claustrophobic impact under
which all characters suffer
‘What strange power did he have over her? Blackmail? Threats?’ – Briony’s
misunderstanding of the fountain scene, first link in the chain of events before her crime
‘only chance had brought her to the window’ – fate and determinism often play a part in
leading to a crime, McEwan’s one moment
‘A few thick black hairs curled free of his eyebrow, and from his earholes there sprouted the
same black growth, comically kinked like pubic hair’ – grotesque appearance of Paul
Marshall, he is nearly handsome but contains several unpleasant features
‘as she passed she felt him touch her lightly on the forearm. Or it may have been a leaf’ –
subtle sign from the older Briony of Paul’s guilt (due to perverse nature), but no evidence
that this actually happened
‘(Paul’s suitcase) reminded her vaguely of her father’ – some sympathy for Lola here as she
is drawn to Paul as a replacement to her lost father, theme of absent parents
‘the girl was almost a young woman, poised and imperious, quite the little pre-Raphaelite
princess with her bangles and tresses, her printed nails and velvet choker’ – Paul’s view of
Lola suggests she is clearly trying to draw sexual attention to herself, being on the brink of
adulthood perversely arouses Paul
‘It bore her no malice, this animal, it was indifferent to her misery’ – through the metaphor
Briony attempts to dramatize her mother’s suffering in order to make herself more culpable
‘(Cecilia) had a husband to find and motherhood to confront’ – evidence of Emily’s
traditional views, feels considerable disdain towards her daughter
‘that Lola, the incarnation of Emily’s younger sister who had been just as precocious and
scheming at that age’ – somewhat unfair given that Lola has not seemed scheming at all and
generally keeps quiet, Emily should be there for her niece instead
‘tentacular awareness…she lay in the dark and knew everything’ – extremely ironic given
that Emily gets almost everything wrong and is an ineffectual parent
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