THEME: MARRIAGE Flashcards
How does McEwan present the theme of marriage?
McEwan presents marriage in Atonement as fundamentally flawed and fragmented in its signification of a perverted, distorted image of love and romance. Contextually, this representation reflects the slow fracturing of the British nuclear family during the 1940s
Emily suggests her childhood experiences have prepared her for a loveless marriage.
“Wronged child, wronged wife! but she was not as unhappy as she should be one role had prepared her for another.”
Emily’s traditional views on class prompt her to object to Jack patronage of Robbie’s education.
“She had opposed Jack when he proposed paying for the boys education, which smacked of meddling to her.”
Robbie reflects on his parents marriage. (Grace and Ernest)
“He had folded his arms. She, by contrast, was leaning into his side, nestling her head into his shoulder..awkwardly with both hands”
Robbie suggest that his father was unhappy with the marriage from when it begun.
“Grace.. was doing the smiling for two”
How do the twins refer to their parents?
“ if you hit me.. I’ll tell The Parents.”
Divorce was a taboo and a rare occurrence in British Society. This was confounded with legal restrictions on divorce (proof of adultery or violence) . How is this stigma reflected in the text?
“Unthinkable obscenity” “the family shame” “crime”
“She was advancing in him her green eyes narrowed like a cats.”
The liberalisation of divorce law combined with changed attitudes and expectations of marriage and women led to the fracturing of the nuclear family. Is there any example of this in the text.
“He himself had made the invocation useless, a ruined totem of a lost golden age.”
How does Briony imagine the marriage between Paul and Lola to be like?
“ She had been imaging the scene of the crime, a gothic cathedral” that would be “flooded with brazen light of scarlet and indigo from a stained backdrop of lurid suffering”
How is the marriage ceremony described?
“The church was almost empty”
“She advanced to the rear pew and slid along to the end where she still had a view of the altar”
How is Lola described in the wedding ceremony?”
“She was in white, the full traditional wear.”
“Heavily veiled”
“Childish plait”
How is Paul Marshall described in the wedding?
“Marshall stood erect, the lines of his padded morning suit shoulders etched sharply against the vicars surplice.”
How does Briony ironically describe the wedding?
“And what luck that was for Lola- barely more than a child, prized open and taken- to marry her rapist.”
How is the theme of judgment interwoven with the theme of marriage?
How did Briony see weddings when she was younger?
An ultimate “reward” for her heroine and heroines.
