Atonement Study Guide Chart. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis. As Leon and Cecilia walk back towards the house, they hear Emily reprimanding Briony and telling her to get ready for dinner.
When Briony walks past Cecilia, she passes her Robbie’s note, unsealed. Cecilia reads the note, and begins to realize her infatuation with Robbie. However, it dawns on her that Robbie would not have sent the note unsealed, and asks Briony if she has read the note. Briony avoids her questions, and before Cecilia can pressure her more, Paul Marshall shows up, entreating the guests to try a cocktail he has prepared. Robbie’s note highlights the pitfalls of literary invention: one message can mean two very different things to two different people. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis. As Lola continues to get ready, Briony descends to dinner and considers what strategy will be best to protect Cecilia from Robbie.
As she moves through the house, she passes the library door and is surprised to find it closed. She hears a muffled noise coming from within. For a reason she doesn’t quite understand, she opens the door. In the dark, she sees Robbie and Cecilia hunched in the corner over a pile of books. She sees that Robbie is grasping Cecilia and interprets their positioning to mean that Robbie is restraining Cecilia against her will. Once again, Briony notices something out of line with her conception of the world and decides to intervene. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis. Emily prepares to telephone PC Vockins, the village constable.
She thinks more about Lola’s injuries and feels little sympathy, because Lola reminds her of her scene-stealing sister Hermione. She wonders if she should hold off calling the constable, since Jack will call soon to apologize for his absence. She appears to suspect that his nights away from home indicate an extramarital affair, but both she and her husband are too averse to conflict to discuss the topic with one another.
Emily thinks more on her husband’s career, and remembers catching a glimpse of some of his paperwork, which showed calculations predicting the casualties from the impending warfare. Every character’s distinct perspective causes them to construe the same events in different ways. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis. Atonement: Part 1, Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis. Finally, at around five in the morning, Robbie returns with the twins in tow.
Briony is relieved to see the twins safe, but feels outraged that Robbie could try to hide his transgression with a good deed. The policemen approach Robbie. Briony is led back inside, and she lies in bed thinking about what she has done. After some time, she hears a police car starting up, and looks through her window to see Robbie being led away in handcuffs. Cecilia approaches Robbie and speaks to him as he is taken into the car. Briony’s self-delusion is so complete that even the twins’ safe return, an unequivocally good thing, causes her outrage because it mars the perfect story she has devised.