Atonement

Robbie spends more than three years in prison. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the authorities offer him early release in exchange for joining the army. He becomes a private and is sent to France, where his fellow soldiers know him as Turner. After the German army attacks his unit, and an exploding mine injures Robbie. The shrapnel wound in his side causes him pain as he walks through rural France with two other soldiers, Corporal Mace and Corporal Nettle. Though the corporals outrank Robbie, Robbie’s experience growing up in the countryside makes him the de facto leader, whom they call “guv’nor” (119), an informal term of respect. The three soldiers stay in the barn of a French farm. That evening, they share food and wine with the brothers who run the farm. Thanks to Robbie’s “running translation” (123), the brothers describe the damage the German army has wrought. Robbie tells the brothers that he and his comrades were separated from their units and that they are marching to Dunkirk, the French coastal town from which the British army will evacuate. Robbie thanks the brothers for their hospitality and promises them that he will return “with even less conviction than before” (124). He knows they will not return, but the hope gives him comfort.

As Robbie lays down to sleep that night, his thoughts drift to his memories. He remembers Cecilia running to him on the night of his arrest, telling him that she would wait for him. In prison, he promised that he would “stay sane for her” (125) despite the difficult conditions. They wrote to one another often, though she was not allowed to visit due to the nature of the accusations against Robbie. In their letters, they disguised their feelings in oblique literary references to love, so as to avoid censure from the prison wardens. Once they met was in London, shortly after Robbie joined the army and before he was sent to France. During this time, Cecilia had cut herself off from the Tallis family for their treatment of Robbie. She was working as a nurse in London, and they met for tea in a busy café. Their conversation was short and awkward, making their love-filled letters seem almost “artificial” (126). Afterward, as they waited at a bus stop, they kissed. Their passion reignited, and Robbie promised to return to her after the war. They were not able to meet again, but they continued to write. During their exchanges, he encouraged her to reunite with her family. She always finished her letters the same way, telling him to “come back” (129). Cecilia reports that Briony, now 18, turned down an offer to attend university and instead began to train as a nurse as she wants to be “useful in a practical way” (130). Briony has tried to contact Cecilia, but Cecilia continues to decline her offers to meet. In her letters, Briony has offered to change her testimony to the police in an attempt to clear Robbie’s name. Briony hopes that Robbie’s name can be cleared, at least in the family’s eyes if not in the eyes of the law.

During Robbie’s journey to Dunkirk, he and his fellow soldiers witness the horrors of war. Robbie tries to desert, but the corporals convince him to stay. The trauma of seeing so many innocent people dead, as well as his lack of food and water and the “tender, ruptured flesh” (132) in his side, overwhelm Robbie. As they pass a long convoy of soldier and refugees, a major tries to convince the three men to take part in a counterattack. He is convinced that they can drive the Germans back. A German bomber flies overhead, and the major is shot, along with much of the convoy. Robbie convinces the major to allow them to proceed to Dunkirk while Nettles and Mace bury a young French boy. Robbie distracts himself from the growing pain of his wound by remembering Cecilia. In her most recent letter, she described Briony’s plan to clear his name. He tries to imagine a future in which he can be with Cecilia and live the life he always imagined. However, he cannot imagine ever forgiving Briony even though she was “just a child” (140). When he tries to understand what motivated her to accuse him of raping Lola, he remembers a day when he taught her how to swim. She pretended to drown in the hope that Robbie would save her. Robbie was furious with Briony and now, he wonders whether she was jealous of his nascent relationship with Cecilia. Whatever her reasons, he is certain that he will never forgive her for the lasting damage she has done to his reputation and his life.

The men continue toward Dunkirk. They continue to see the horrors that war has inflicted on the locals. Robbie tries to save a young woman and her son but fails. He reminds himself that his goal is to survive, but the devastation is affecting his psyche. Their deaths make Robbie think of his own missing father, who abandoned him when he was young. Robbie wishes that he could be the kind of admirable father figure that he wishes he might have had as a young boy. The thought makes him even more determined to be with Cecilia, and he promises himself to track down his father after the war.

The men reach Dunkirk, by which time Robbie’s wound and his increasing delirium makes him feel as though he is in “a waking dream” (150). The town is in chaos as thousands of British troops prepare for a massive evacuation. On the beach, the soldiers drink and fight. Robbie and the corporals save an Air Force clerk from a group of angry soldiers. Robbie and Nettle have become separated from Mace. They search for him, as well as for water. They chase a pig for a woman, who hands them food and wine as payment. They shelter in a ruined house for the night. Robbie falls asleep, imagining a future in which his reputation is restored. Even if he is innocent of attacking Lola, no one who emerges from this war will ever truly be innocent again. He falls asleep as memories of the war merge into the memories of the night of Lola’s attack. He wakes up with Nettle over him, trying to calm him. Robbie has been “shouting ‘no’ and waking everyone up” (160). Robbie tells Nettle that he wants to stay behind in France as there is business he needs to see to. Nettle says that the evacuation has begun. Robbie drifts in and out of consciousness. He tells Nettle to wake him up when the boats arrive. He promises that the other “won’t hear another word” from him (161).