I’ve just finished re-reading part two of Ian McEwan’s Atonement. Having got of prison early in exchange for enlisting, Robbie’s in the midst of wartorn France, with death and atrocities all around him. He’s retreating to the coast and trying to focus on Cecilia waiting for him across the channel.
It’s a strange juxtaposition after the single atrocity in the midst of the civilisation of the manor in the first section; McEwan never takes us quite where we expect.
Towards the end of the section is the key to the connection:
But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no-one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there wasn’t enough people, enough paper and pens, enough patience and peace, to take down the statements of all the witnesses and gather in the facts… You killed no-one today? But how many did you leave to die?(261)
The tide of blood in war, the constant atrocities, drown out that one atrocity, that one event that changed everyone’s lives back at the manor. When we learn, later on, that it’s Briony writing this, the juxtaposition of her crime and the war might make us think her innocent by comparison. Or at least dilute the magnitude of what she did. (Of course, she can’t forgive herself that easily but she’d like to.)
I found this part less compelling, less insightful than the first part, but then the first part is one of my favourite pieces of writing ever.
Nathan Hobby, a biographer in Perth 
I just finished Atonement and loved it as much as you. I have a question though since I’ve been thinking about it all morning. If what we read up until the last part was Briony’s novel and she changed events and facts, did the meeting at the cafe between Cecilia and Robbie really occur? Did they ever spend any time together after he left prison? Or did she only change their ending? I’m guessing all interactions and thoughts from them are all from Briony’s point of view. I definitely will reread this book hopefully it will clear some questions but would like to know what you think.
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Hey Gisela, you’ve got right to the heart of the sad ‘truth’ in the fictional world of Atonement. It seems to me that the ‘truth’ behind the events is that Cecilia and Robbie may have had that one meeting at the cafe before Robbie is sent to France. He never comes home, as we find out at the end.
Briony’s epilogue is poignant but it also makes the novel unbearably sad. I guess we have permission to read Briony’s novel as she wrote it – ie without the epilogue – as the ‘truth’, and thus leave Cecilia and Robbie reconciled and happy. That’s what I’d like to do, but I’ll never be able to get the epilogue out of my head.
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Boy am i happy to not have a high monthly phone bill with magic jack now. One time fee a year is great.
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