Previous Next

Chapters Eleven & Twelve

Summary: Chapter Eleven

At dinner, the conversation is stilted as Cecilia and Robbie try to avoid each other’s gazes. At one point, Robbie notices that Paul has a scratch on his face. Robbie tries to make conversation about the heat, which startles Pierrot and leads Briony to chastise Robbie. Leon brings up how all the rules seem to change during a heat wave, with people more at ease and likely to loosen their morals. As the conversation continues, Robbie thinks of how he cannot wait to be alone with Cecilia again. He recalls arriving at the house to Cecilia answering the door, his letter in hand. She took him to the library and closed the door, where he told her he meant to send a different version of the letter. Cecilia, through tears, told Robbie that their attraction has existed for weeks or months, but she was only able to acknowledge it today. They both felt unsettled going from friends to lovers, but they began to kiss and then make love against the shelves, shocked by the intimacy they shared, until they realized someone had come into the library. When Briony came into the light and Cecilia disentangled herself from him, Robbie thought that he had never hated anyone more for ruining that moment.

At dinner, Jackson and Pierrot ask to be excused. When Briony sees that the twins are wearing her socks, she becomes upset, and Cecilia explodes at Briony for being a brat. Robbie remarks to Lola that her brothers are nice boys, and Briony announces to everyone how the twins hurt Lola. While Emily fusses over Lola and goes to get her some ointment, Paul claims he was the one to break up the fight between Lola and the twins, which was how he got his scratch. Robbie wonders why Paul had not said anything about it earlier. Briony then notices a note on Jackson’s place setting declaring that they have run away due to Lola and Betty being mean to them. Paul suggests forming search parties to look for the twins, with Cecilia and Leon going together and Briony, Paul, and Robbie each going off by themselves.

Summary: Chapter Twelve

Emily, who has stayed behind, is reluctant to call the village constable, not only because she believes the twins will quickly be found but also because she does not want to have to speak with his talkative wife. Emily could not help but feel resentment toward Lola for the injuries on her arms and face, reminding Emily of her sister’s penchant for causing drama. She notes how Lola made a dramatic exit when Briony showed the note from the twins and expects that once the boys are found, Lola will still need to be located and soothed. Emily then thinks of how her husband will soon call from London, where he will spend the night and claim it is due to work, though she knows it is not. While sitting and looking out the window, Emily again thinks of how Briony was her final child and there will be nothing more momentous happening until her own death.

After she sits for at least a half hour, the phone rings, and Emily answers to hear her husband, Jack. Emily tells Jack that the boys ran away, and when Jack realizes they are still missing, he says he will call the constable. Emily tries to dissuade him, but then Leon, Cecilia, Briony, and Lola appear in the doorway, and Emily immediately knows something else is wrong. Leon takes the phone and tells his father to come home right away.

Analysis: Chapters Eleven & Twelve

As Robbie recalls being in the library with Cecilia, the true nature of their encounter is revealed. Rather than being an attack, as Briony assumed, it was a consummation of a long-simmering attraction between two adults. This again shows how people can see the same event differently based on their own perspective. This theme is reinforced in how Emily views Lola’s injuries. Emily, who sees Lola as an overly dramatic clone of her mother, is unable to see the reality before her. Though she acknowledges that Lola’s injuries look severe having come from young boys, she does not think any more deeply about it, assuming that Lola is simply looking for attention.

Emily’s own self-absorption prevents her from recognizing any of the problems happening within her own household, much less resolving them. She cannot be bothered to call the police for help finding the boys simply because she does not want to talk to someone she finds annoying. Since she is taking the time to reflect on her marital problems and her displeasure in growing older, she does not keep track of where Lola is.

Briony’s lingering immaturity is made plain in these chapters. Once again, understanding of sex draws the line between children and adults, and Briony is on the opposite side of Cecilia and Robbie. Instead of feeling embarrassed, Briony seems to feel as if she now has power over Robbie, as she believes she rescued Cecilia from him. Briony talks down to Robbie during dinner, first exploding at him for making an innocuous comment and then undermining his compliment about the twins. This behavior, along with her outrage that the twins are wearing her socks, only makes Briony seem more childish than grown up.

In her desire to seem powerful over Robbie, Briony ends up revealing Lola’s secret about her injuries to everyone gathered. Although this announcement comes from Briony’s hostility, the scratch on Paul’s face and his belated excuse that he broke up the fight between Lola and the twins suggest there is something more sinister behind why Lola wanted her injuries kept secret.

During dinner, it becomes evident how Briony’s interruption of Cecilia and Robbie has changed her relationship with her sister. While Cecilia was Briony’s protector only hours earlier, Cecilia snaps at Briony for her immaturity, shocking Briony, who saw herself as saving Cecilia from Robbie. While Cecilia was once part of an alliance with her siblings, her newfound intimacy with Robbie has placed her not in opposition to her family but on the outside of their inner circle. This interaction acts as foreshadowing for Cecilia’s relationship with her family in the near future.

Previous section Chapters Nine & Ten Next section Chapters Thirteen & Fourteen

Take a Study Break