Atonement Chapters Nine & Ten Summary & Analysis

Chapters Nine & Ten

Summary: Chapter Nine

Cecilia changes her outfit three times before dinner, first thinking a black dress makes her look like a widow and then that a pink dress makes her look like a child. She eventually settles on a silk, green backless gown and is pleased with her appearance. She opens the door to find Jackson and Pierrot, who only have one pair of socks between them and so do not have any to wear to dinner. Cecilia takes the twins to their room and finds a mess, which she begins cleaning up until she realizes they are ashamed of the state of the room. While Cecilia tries to comfort the twins, the boys say they would like to go home and that they were hoping to be in the play, but Briony has disappeared. Cecilia thinks of how Briony is yet another problem she needs to deal with and wishes she could enjoy a careless summer night instead of having to take on the responsibilities of the household. Resigned to her role, Cecilia takes the twins to Briony’s room to find socks for them to wear. After combing their hair, Cecilia follows the twins downstairs.

Stalling on the stairs, Cecilia thinks of how Leon has always evaded responsibilities of the family. She wishes her family would see how much her time at Cambridge changed her but blames only herself for returning home instead of going off on some adventure. She decides that she will make arrangements to move to London and find a job and will be able to enjoy her family more from afar. In the kitchen, Cecilia comes across her mother and Betty arguing over dinner, which Cecilia helps resolve. While Emily goes to locate Briony, Cecilia joins Leon on the terrace for a drink. While walking around the garden, Cecilia thinks of how uncomplicated Leon is, seeing all others as acting in good faith. After Leon shares his sunny view of his life, Cecilia sardonically describes how monotonous her days have been since leaving Cambridge. Leon invites Cecilia to come stay with him in London, and she says she would love to despite feeling repelled by the thought of it. As they make their way back to the terrace, Cecilia and Leon find Briony, who gives Cecilia a piece of folded paper before greeting Leon. Cecilia reads Robbie’s letter and understands suddenly why she fought with Robbie over the vase and changed her outfit several times. However, she then realizes there is no envelope and that Robbie would not have sent such a letter unsealed. Cecilia asks Briony if she read the letter, but Briony ignores her.

Summary: Chapter Ten

Briony, having read Robbie’s letter as soon as she entered the house, realizes she has emerged into a new arena of adult emotions, which she does not understand but hopes will help her writing. After giving Cecilia the letter and greeting Leon, Briony runs up to her room to reflect on what she has learned about Robbie. Although Briony was unfamiliar with terms used in the letter, she has no doubt to what Robbie was referring. She feels that Cecilia, and their family in general, is in imminent danger from Robbie, whom she now sees as someone evil who cannot be trusted. As Briony sits down to write about this experience, Lola comes into the room and shows Briony she has scratches and bruises from the twins, explaining that the boys blame her for their inability to go home. Briony suddenly feels compassion for Lola and comforts her, reveling in the power she feels that her adult-like cousin could have been brought down by two children. Briony, hoping to impress her cousin, shares with Lola the contents of Robbie’s letter to Cecilia. Lola says Robbie must be a “maniac” and encourages Briony to tell the police about him. Even the thought of relaying the information in the letter to the village constable embarrasses Briony.

Briony goes down to dinner, apprehensive about seeing Robbie but also feeling that she must protect Cecilia. On her way, she passes by the library and thinks it odd that the door is closed when her father is not home. She goes to listen at the library door and, after hearing some sounds, opens the door. Briony sees two shapes in the corner of the library, Robbie’s body pressing Cecilia’s into the shelves and holding her by the neck. Against Robbie, Cecilia looks small and frail to Briony. As Briony approaches, the two break apart. As Cecilia walks past Briony, Briony is surprised that her sister does not look grateful or relieved at her presence. Briony at first expects Robbie to attack her, but when he makes no move, she leaves the room in search of her sister.

Analysis: Chapters Nine & Ten

Although she is technically an adult, Cecilia seems to still be on the brink between childhood and adulthood. Forced to take care of Briony and the twins, Cecilia is already weary of the responsibilities thrust upon her in the absence of her mother. As opposed to Briony, who feels ready to be an adult, Cecilia longs for the carelessness of young adulthood that she feels she should be enjoying. Briony, on the other hand, feels that reading Robbie’s letter was the catalyst she needed to launch her from childhood to adulthood. She feels this power even more intensely as she is able to share the mature contents of the letter with Lola and finally have the upper hand in their relationship, as Lola has been weakened by her younger brothers. However, Briony displays her immaturity in her hurry to grow up, as she cannot possibly begin to fathom all that she has yet to learn. She and Lola demonstrate their unawareness of the intricacies of relationships and sexuality, as they see Robbie’s letter as a disgusting threat instead of what Cecilia might see as a shared fantasy.

Cecilia’s aimlessness is again exhibited as she first resolves to move to London and then only moments later hesitates at her brother’s invitation to do exactly that. Her indecisiveness is also on display when she cannot decide on a dress. As Cecilia does not want to be seen as either an innocent child or a prematurely old woman, she casts off clothes that would give either impression and eventually decides on a more sensual dress to reflect where she is in her life.

Briony’s entrance into the library is the peak moment of how reality is influenced by perspective in the novel. After seeing Cecilia and Robbie by the fountain and then reading Robbie’s letter, Briony is prepared to see Robbie as a dangerous, perverted maniac. This, which has been colored by her ignorance of sex, leads her to believe that Robbie is forcing himself on Cecilia when she comes upon them in the library. This perspective is also influenced by Briony’s view of her sister as the archetype of a weak damsel in distress who requires someone to save her. Briony’s assumptions about Robbie, in addition to her inability to see her sister as a sexual being, lead her to immediately believe she has witnessed a rape instead of a consensual sexual encounter between two adults. However, it is unclear whether Briony is genuinely concerned for her sister or whether what she sees fills out the story Briony expects to unfold. Briony approaches them because she sees herself as Cecilia’s protector despite being much younger and smaller than Robbie, whom she believes to be attacking her sister. Briony’s perspective is influenced not only by her age and innocence but also by her need for drama and a clear villain.

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