Atonement Key Quotes with Inferences

Atonement key quotes

Part One

 ‘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