Life as Fiction - A Companion to Atonement by Ian McEwan

By Richard Rowe

This is a reading companion for Atonement by Ian McEwan. It is not intended to be a formal study guide. This guide relates to the popular Vintage edition of Atonement (part of the Penguin Random House group) and the page numbers mentioned correlate to that version. 

​​​​​​​This reading companion is ideally intended for students who would like to have a more informal way into the text although in truth anyone is welcome to read it. Atonement is a complex novel so I have decided to position this as a much lighter way to engage with it. This process started for me as a little guide for my own students that I began writing to help me plan lessons and it quickly got out of hand, morphing into something a lot bigger. In truth, this is more a labour of love than anything else and I hope that through reading this, you get a sense of that too. 

Atonement is one of those texts that should really be read twice because so much of it takes on meaning when you look at it retrospectively. To reflect that, this book is essentially divided into two parts: the first part points you in the right direction in a short, concise way for your first reading accompanied by some themes to keep an eye on and some character notes, while the second part is a hugely comprehensive body of writing to accompany you as you read it a second time for deeper meaning. If you have already read the novel, please skip to the more comprehensive run-through as this will prove to be more engaging.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Rowe
• Release date: Apr 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393778776

Richard Rowe

Richard Rowe is an English Teacher and Ian McEwan obsessive. He does not generally think of himself as an author and spent two years sitting on this text before he managed to get over himself and publish it. His other interests include obsessing over soccer, cooking a mean roast dinner and having family movie nights at home.

Book preview

Life as Fiction – A Companion to Atonement by Ian McEwan

A companion for teachers, lecturers and students.

THIS COMPANION IS not intended to be a teaching resource or a comprehensive guide. Instead, it aims to give you some food for thought and talks you through some of the complexities of the text in a slightly informal way. It is also highly subjective and as such may feature opinions that may be contrary to your perception. I don't pretend to be an expert (or even a half-decent writer) but hopefully, there's enough here to engage you with. I wrote this with the South Australian English Literary Studies curriculum in mind, hence some of the references to literary theory, but to be honest, even if this isn't your curriculum, hopefully it's still interesting reading! I hope that this is an evolving document and that over time I may add more to it. I find great joy in this novel and there's a vaguely subconscious part of this piece which is definitely a love letter to Atonement. Any thoughts you have on it are always welcome.

This book refers specifically (page numbers etc) to the Vintage edition of Atonement, which is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies.

Notes

Atonement really needs to be read twice, or at least considered a little deeper than on face value. The first read helps keep you in line with the story as any novel does. The second reading allows you to explore what you may have missed and it enables you to appreciate McEwan’s craft as you will spot elements that link to other things. With this in mind I have set this up as follows:

Section 1: A set of notes and chapter summaries for a first read-through.

Section 2: Comprehensive walkthrough for your second reading or further exploration.

Section 1:  Atonement Study Guide (for your first reading)

This is intended to support you through your first read-through and start to engage you in some deeper questions beyond that so that when you have to commence more thorough study, your brains have already started whirring.

Initial Key Characters

BRIONY TALLIS – A young, immature girl prone to wild flights of imagination, possibly due to being isolated/bored. Not brilliantly parented. She fancies herself as a master storyteller and an expert on interpreting human behaviour. Is obsessed by order and the world being exactly as she sees it. Inflexible and does not understand adulthood.

‘old’ Briony – bear with me here. No, this is not technically a character, but is just an older version of Briony who exists in Part 4. Because of the nature of this text, you will see/feel her intruding into the narrative from time to time but you won’t really spot it or understand why until you re-read the text.

Cecilia Tallis – The older sister of Briony. Chronically spoilt and bored and in many ways Briony’s polar opposite. She is fairly snobbish towards Robbie, her childhood friend and the estate gardener, despite his clear intelligence and equal intellectual status. There is a peculiar sexual tension there too.

Robbie Turner – Lives on the Tallis country estate in a cottage with his Mother after his Father left some time prior. Is a gardener but is also training to be a doctor thanks to the generosity of Jack Tallis, Briony and Cecilia’s father. He is fiercely intelligent and has much unresolved sexual and social-class tension with Cecilia.

Emily Tallis – Briony and Cecilia’s mother. Perpetually suffers from migraines and is largely an absent parent. She has two chapters devoted to her perspective, during which we learn a lot, retrospectively.

Jack Tallis – Isn’t even technically in the book as he is away during the narrative, but the fact he is often absent helps explain a lot of things, depending on how you look at it.

Leon Tallis – Leon is the older brother of Briony and Cecilia and during the first part of Atonement the household is in a frenzy over his return. He is idolised by both sisters to the point where the reader wonders whether it is all a bit too much.

Paul Marshall – Leon’s best friend, who he brings to the estate as a guest. He is a millionaire chocolate maker, who has/is making a fortune selling chocolate to the government who are invested in using it on the frontlines of WW2 to boost the morale of soldiers. Makes a peculiar chocolate martini drink and is played by Boopledop Cumperboop in the film version.

Lola Quincey – Younger cousin of Briony and Cecilia. Is visiting the estate with her two younger brothers, Jackson and Pierrot as their parents are going through marital difficulties. They have found themselves under Briony’s thumb and are a bit resentful of it. Lola is a bit more aware of the adult world than Briony. Her early descriptions are fascinating and her name is deeply symbolic.

Danny Hardman and Old Hardman – Old Hardman is a kind of local handyman and his son Danny is described as helping people with minor jobs from time to time. Danny is often noted as lurking around and is never portrayed in a flattering light.

Nettle and Mace – Fellow soldiers in Part 2. They have interesting roles and relationships with the protagonist of that section.

Sister Drummond – A ward sister in Part 3 who serves as Briony’s superior. The way she acts in contrast to Emily Tallis is extraordinarily interesting.

Setting

The book contains 4 parts with contrasting primary settings. If I explain the settings of Parts 2,3 and 4 it will spoil things so I will just explore Part 1.

Part 1

Is entirely set over one day at the Tallis house, a sprawling country estate somewhere in England. The house itself is described in architectural terms as a bit of a tragedy and it is a replacement for an earlier building that burnt down in the 1880s.

We experience various rooms in the house, some of which have deep symbolic significance. There is a library (twice, from 2 perspectives), a dining room (multiple perspectives within the same moment), a child’s playroom etc.

We experience some time outside by a fountain (twice), Robbie’s house in the grounds and other minor garden areas.

There is also an artificial island in an artificial lake. This is ridiculously important and you’ll hopefully figure that out very soon.

The weather is frequently described as being hot, and the author finds many ways to express this. Imagine heat, humidity, lack of ventilation, the wearing of suits and so forth. It is described at one point as being asphyxiating which suggests it suffocates everything. This is all of critical importance though; the weather being constantly referenced helps explain why a lot of Part One trots along at quite a slow pace. You know when it's ridiculously hot and the AC won't work and time just drags by in a hellish sweaty stew of misery? Well, the author has cleverly created the narrative equivalent of that. Why? To cut a long story short there are numerous clues and hints to things in Part One, most of which are obscured by the layers and layers of heat and discomfort. It is the author's way of misleading the reader. You'll discover a lot of this on the second reading, uncovering a spot of proleptic irony on the way.

Brief Chapter Overviews

PART ONE

Chapter One

Introduction to Briony. She has written a play called The Trials of Arabella as a tribute for her returning brother Leon. She has roped her unwilling visiting cousins into performing and they are apathetic. Briony is frustrated and cannot reconcile this with her desire to control. Note the ways she is portrayed unfavourably.

Chapter Two

Introduction to Cecilia. She is a bored teen, spending her days in her room smoking and reading literature. She is torn between hating boredom and getting a bizarre pleasure out of it. Her mother wants some flowers in a vase for the guest room so she takes a priceless vase to the fountain (as you do), fills it up with water and... well, it doesn't go well after she meets Robbie, the gardener. Note the unresolved sexual tension.

Chapter Three

Briony prepares more of the play and notes that Lola looks very adult for her age. She spends a lot of time wondering whether other people’s experience of being themselves is similar or different to how it is to be ‘a Briony’. She finds the idea that there are multiple consciousnesses in the world overwhelming and doesn’t like the idea that others have thoughts. She witnesses the interaction between Cecilia and Robbie and perceives it differently. She then goes off on a thought-tangent, imagining that the scene felt like it could have been written by her, and fantasises about her future as a writer using some odd prolepsis. Note the ways how her interpretation of the fountain scene differs from Cecilia’s.

Chapter Four

Leon arrives and brings his friend Paul Marshall, who is a chocolate millionaire. He is an unattractive bore, yet Cecilia has a bizarre fantasy involving him (it really is weird) as she harbours a secret desire to be contrary and self-destructive. She also pouts strangely at her brother. By the pool, Leon announces Robbie has been invited to dinner that evening and she reacts all weirdly, bearing in mind earlier events and consequently Leon and Paul troll her a little about being a snob. Paul then offers to make a revolting cocktail and the last line is interesting. Note anything odd that happens in this chapter.

Chapter Five

Lola, Jackson and Pierrot are arguing after Briony’s rehearsals break down. They find themselves in the nursery chatting to Paul Marshall about chocolate and a variety of other things. Note anything significant in Paul’s dream flashback.

Chapter Six

Emily Tallis’ perspective dominates here. Suffering from the beginnings of a migraine, she retreats to the darkness of her bedroom and does two things: she has thoughts about her children, and from afar she can hear the events of Chapter 5, which she makes judgements about. She says that she has a tentacular awareness which makes her brain sound like an octopus and declares herself all-knowing. Note anything interesting relating to Chapter 5.

Chapter Seven

Briony’s perspective of just before Leon arrives at the house. She is in the grounds by the ruined temple on the artificial lake/island combo slashing at nettles, imagining that they represent aspects of her, Lola and the twins that she despises. Her imagination runs wild here and she wonders more about the existence of things that aren’t her. Note aspects of Briony’s overall character development here.

Chapter Eight

Robbie's perspective. He fantasises about Cecilia a little – a kind of unrequited love vibe. We see all the books he is reading and these tell us a lot about him. He writes a letter to Cecilia about the earlier interaction and types something a little strange. He intends to dispose of this but doesn't. He thinks about his life up to this point and imagines his ideal future as an English Teacher and the rest of his life after that. He wanders out of his house and finds Briony at the end of Chapter 7. He gives her the letter to give to Cecilia, returns home and realises he's made a big mistake.