Nominated for the 2001 Booker

Nominated for the 2001 Booker prize for fiction and listed as one of the All-Time 100 Greatest Novels, British author Ian McEwan's novel Atonement asks the reader to enter the recent past and understand how simple events can actually have large, life-changing consequences and a domino effect upon those involved.

Essentially, the plot unfolds in four acts. Part 1 takes place in the summer of 1935 in country estate in England. Through a series of misinterpretations, Briony Tallis accuses the son of the family housekeeper of rape and the boy, Robbie, is arrested and imprisoned. Robbie is innocent, but attracted to Ceclia, Briony's older sister. Part 2 is set after Robbie has spent a few years in prison, being conditionally released if he enlists in the Army. Ceclia has broken all contact with her family because of the part they played in Robbie's arrest, and is a nurse. The two meet prior to the retreat at Dunkirk, and the memory of Cecilia is all that keeps Robbie alive. Part 3 focuses on Briony, how trains as a nurse instead of accepting her place at Cambridge because she is remorseful and ashamed of her mistake. She meets a fatally wounded French soldier, Luc, who just before he dies, asks if she loves him. At that moment she does, causing her imagination to explore what life would be like if Luc lived. Briony meets Cecilia and Robbie at a wedding, and vows to make things right, but Cecilia and Robbie cannot find it in their hearts to forgive her. Part 4 concludes in 1999 with Briony's perspective as she enters her final hours. It turns out that Briony is the author of the preceding sections of the novel; Cecilia and Robbie are never reunited. Robbie probably died at Dunkirk, and Cecilia killed during the Blitz. Briony explains that she needed to give both the readers, and the couple, hope and a happy ending -- if they could not be together in life, at least they could in someone's imagination.

Themes- There are a number of themes explored within the novel that deal with various aspects of the universal, as well as those specific to British society at the time. Throughout the novel, we are taken into a constructed world, which is what we expect from an author -- but not necessarily a constructed world by an author from inside the book. False reality set the stage and the figures in motion -- Briony lied about the rape. However, to "atone" for the error, Briony constructs a complex fantasy world in which there is a way to alter past mistakes -- a way to change the patterns of history and "rethink" life more in the manner that it should be, rather than how it was or is. Symbolically, this idea comes from the reconciliation of God and humans by the crucifixion, by the way that redemption can occur because of another's actions. Essentially, this is the author's way of telling us that despite societal prejudice, mistakes, and biases -- life can be put in order, if even for a moment. Just as there is a great deal of mystery surrounding man's relationship with God, until Briony ensures that Robbie and Cecilia have the life she robbed from them, she cannot be complete. So too the religious view that unless humans allow God to enter into their souls, life can never be fulfilling (Knight, 2009).

Additionally, both the themes of love and peace form important motifs in the story. The Tallis estate, for example, is a peaceful country hideaway from the violence and torment of all the events that led up to World War II. The characters that live there are sheltered, protected, and in a sense, taken from reality and moved into a world in which reality does not exist -- only the planned nature of the upper class during the time period. It may, in fact, be this unreality that leads Briony to have such an active imagination; and for the tragedy to unfold as it does. Yet, at the same time, love is pervasive. Briony realizes throughout her own life that the true love of Cecilia and Robbie are all that was necessary to make them complete and that if the family had truly loved Robbie in the manner purported, the accusation and subsequent imprisonment would never have occurred.

Sociological Underpinnings and Class issues -- at the heart of the story are the class and social issues of the British aristocracy of the time. Despite having gone through World War II, the British were still living in the psychological and sociological era of Victorian England -- and the ramifications remained strong for the upper classes. Great Britain in the Victorian Era was a modern empire like no other before it. Technology had advanced to the point in which Britain ruled the seas, the land, and with colonies and resources world-wide, much of the economic prosperity of the entire world. The entire focus of the Victorian empire was to trade -- import and export, use the colonies to prosper, allow Britain her expected might over all she surveyed. An economic book resulted in the splitting of the classes even more; with more achieving wealth and more becoming dependent upon that class for employment, which others remained within the city slums -- destitute. This era, so prosperous and wonderful for so many, allowed the middle and upper classes a chance to read, write, and experience art as never before. However, in contrast, the huge population increase and rapid urbanization caused by the industrial revolution drew large numbers of skilled and unskilled individuals to the cities where they were paid wages barely at the subsistence level, and situations of such abject poverty and despair that not only drastic political theories arose, but the realities of urban life were reflected in much of the literature of the time -- whether tragic or fantastic, all as a response to social and cultural conditions (Daniels, 2003).

This, then, was the world of Cecilia and Robbie. Despite Cecilia and Briony's father, Jack, who sponsored Robbie into school, resulted in a clear social schism between Emily (Robbie's mother), Robbie and the Tallis family. Robbie had been treated quite well, was a friend and companion of the Tallis family for decades, and even had a university education. Nevertheless, no one forgot that he was the charwoman's son, and therefore never would be equal in the eyes of the family. From that perspective, then, any relationship between Robbie and Cecilia would never have been condoned by either family -- again, showing us that part of the atonement process for Briony was to strip off the veils of class structure in favor of love.

Even Cecilia is shown to be above Robbie in her mind; she adopts a rather condescending and patronizing attitude towards every remark he makes and they avoided each other while at Cambridge because of the tension ascribed by the differences in their positions in society.

When Robbie is accused of rape, all the past kindness, belief and familial trust is expunged. Only Cecilia, who has been aloof, believes he is incapable of such an act. Even when Cecilia admits that sex with Robbie was consensual, this only further exacerbates to the family and police that Robbie was a dangerous predator. The class distinction cannot be overcome; years or loyalty aside, the very moment someone in a lower class is accused, the upper class can find a model in which to adhere, thus justifying a lack of due process, silly innuendo and rumor, and a preconception by all classes that someone in the upper class could never have done so.

The role of women during this time is also explored, in particular the themes of changing roles and how the events of political activity can change the world that was reality for the Tallis family. Prior to the war, the family had money enough to allow all their children to have the very top education available. This even included the sisters, but there still seemed an expectation of getting an education not to necessarily contribute to society, but to be introduced into social circles so that an appropriate marriage could be arranged.

In fact, this is exemplified in many ways in the subtle cruelties towards Robbie. Certainly Robbie and his mother are treated well on the surface. But the idea of mixing classes is abhorrent to the Tallis family; yet they educated Robbie. Where, now, was he to go to actualize? He had lost much of his accent, developed tastes that he and his family could never match in books, ideas, possibly food and culture. In fact, this gulf is shown during an explanation of Robbie's role in Dunkirk, or "the private who talks like a toff." However, the two corporals, who outrank him, fall into place, calling him "giv'nor" and allowing him to lead this last battle.

Remarking earlier, Robbie notes how the two classes remain quite socially apart and unable to actually comprehend each other. "All you family assumed it for all my education… I was still little better than a servant, still not to be trusted." The real dysfunction, then, goes far beyond the Tallis estate, and is more clearly a broader sociological dysfunction embedded within society. "He laughed politely, though he must have thought me profoundly stupid. It is quite impossible these days to assume anything about people's educational level from the way they talk or dress or from their taste in music. Safest to treat everyone you meet as a distinguished intellectual." (p. 342).

Instead of following this path, however, the circumstances surrounding that tragic evening cause both sisters to rethink their role as women, and members of society, in favor of a service career -- nursing. Cecilia travels to London, becomes a nurse, and cuts herself completely away from the family. Cecilia is so ashamed of her family, not only is she trying to find something to do to help society to make up for any perceived role she had in not defending Robbie vociferously. So, too, does Briony become a nurse, helping members of the lower classes and certainly acting as someone far from an elite social caste? Briony's rewriting of history; her ability to actualize as a writer by removing the social stigma of class from Robbie and Cecilia's life, of allowing the sisters to leave their plush, yet safe, place in society; all contributes to the sham of the upper class and the way that until more reality hit "planned" gender and social roles were immovable.