For Thursday 3rd December

Write 500 words expressing your response to the statement: "A thousand years will pass and the guilt of Germany will not be erased”

Vincent's response to the use of Prolepsis in Atonement.

“Briony was hardly to know it then, but this was the project’s highest point of fulfillment”

This is a short but significant prolepsis because it shows the reader Briony’s role in the novel. Firstly, the author suggests to the reader that the play that Briony made, which is seen as very childish would be the best thing Briony would achieve throughout the whole novel. This would make us think about why and how Briony wouldn’t be able to achieve anything else better than just a play, perhaps she will do something bad that would make the reader loose sympathy for her, or her character is simply boring and monotonous.

Furthermore, this quote also creates an emphasis on how important the play would be and how it would contribute a lot to the novel, because the play reflects on Briony’s character and on how she sees everything in black and white. Perhaps this would be bad later on in the story, for example when she sees Robbie and Cecilia by the fountain or when the blamed Robbie for the rape just because she saw him as a bad guy from a fairy tale.

Prolepsis (Extract 2)

“Six decades later [Briony] would describe how at the age of thirteen she had written her way through a whole history of literature, beginning with stories derived from the European traditional folk tales, through drama with simple moral intent, to arrive at an impartial psychological realism which she had discovered for herself, one special morning during a heat wave in 1935.”

Prolepsis is the rhetorical act of anticipation (in essence, here, the reader’s ‘premature’ knowledge of later events). In other words, the author gives account of future events that will definitely come true to the reader. The use of “six decades later” creates this effect.

Earlier on, McEwan introduces Briony to the reader. She is seen as an immature, innocent, ignorant and short-sighted girl. When McEwan uses prolepsis, he hints a transition in the character of Briony. “Six decades later”, he suggests that Briony has become very wise and mature, realising her faults in her late childhood. In some way, the distaste for Briony that the reader created for her is reduced, knowing that Briony will eventually realise her faults and strip away her childhood characteristics.

The use of “six decades later” also reveals the fact that Briony has survived the war. Within these six decades, McEwan informs the reader that Briony has experienced a long and enduring journey in reference to her passion for writing: “...had written her way through a whole history of literature”. This also reveals that Briony will mature rapidly in her writing, as well as her thoughts of the world around her through her written expression.

Furthermore, McEwan’s use of prolepsis lures the reader. The reader is intrigued to find out what will happen “six decades later”. The reader questions if Briony truly does become a mature person and wants to know how she survived the war and her experiences during that period.

Prolepsis in Atonement (extract 3 from page 90 --- on handout)

PROLEPSIS IN ATONEMENT (EXTRACT ANALYSIS)

“To what extent is prolepsis used on page 90 and to what effect?”

“In years to come he would often think back to this time, when he walked along the footpath that made a shortcut through a corner of the oak woods and joined the main drive where it curved towards the lake and the house.” – PAGE 90.

This is the scene before he gave the letter to Briony, and the letter giving should have been a small event, but it wasn’t depicted to be so due to the way the author has phrased the aforementioned sentence. The letter giving becomes very significant and the extract emphasizes the event and heightens its importance in order to impact how we feel about the oncoming outcome of the events, we begin to understand the true magnitude of devastation and havoc that will be caused because the author clearly states that the next few pages will contain an event that will be so major that it will be prevalent later on in the novel or in the life of the character, “In years to come”. Through prolepsis the author uses minor events and heightens its importance in order to monitor a particular character carefully, focus on the larger picture and perceive the next few pages differently in order to have a greater impact on the advent of important events in the novel. And this way, McEwan, with his specific phrasing, effectively allows the reader to not only focus on shock or the unfolding of events (as passive readers) but to focus on the moral issue and the idea conveyed and HOW the unfolding of events took place (as active readers) and hence, this has an engaging effect.

Prolepsis in 'Atonement'

5. ‘Within the half hour Briony would commit her crime.’

This statement is the first sentence of chapter thirteen and so its impact is big. When the reader reads this, he/she would immediately ask ‘what crime?’ This subtle hint of future events will engage the reader and compel him/her to keep reading on to find out what the ‘crime’ is. The reader could also predict and roughly guess what the ‘crime’ Briony will commit is by inferring from the previous events and Briony’s childish and melodramatic way of thinking. The readers can also infer ‘The Trials of Arabella’, Briony’s play, which basically shows what happens in the book. This is another example of prolepsis McEwan uses in the novel ‘Atonement’. So by doing this, McEwan makes the reader lose sympathy for Briony and we start to dislike Briony. This also gives away what Briony does so it may ruin it for readers who like surprises hence the critical remarks by critics who are against prolepsis.
However, this particular sentence is more of a foreshadowing than a prolepsis. This is because it doesn’t exactly tell us what is going to happen but only leaves subtle clues of what might happen afterwards.
Therefore, by using prolepsis and foreshadowing, McEwan makes readers think and keeps them ‘active’ throughout the book and not passive.

COMMENTARY ON CECILIA (PAGE 18-19 WHEN WE ARE FIRST INTRODUCED TO HER)

PAGE 18-19 – CECILIA AND OUR FIRST INTRODUCTION TO HER

3RD Person narration – the author is all-knowing, OMNISCIENT.
the use of the words “youth”, “glory” and “blossoming” – have positive connotations and presents her youth, her situation, her ADOLESENCE, there is CONSTANT reference to EXTERNAL BEAUTY AS WELL – perhaps Cecilia is judgmental and is shallow?
“could not conceal the ugliness of the Tallis Home” – again, reference to appearance and could also be in relation to – how she feels about the people and the relationships between the people WITHIN the house? – She is perhaps desperate for a change and is looking down on her heritage, or her roots.
Reference to youth – “barely forty years old” – she is constantly worried about age and youth, her own as well as her surroundings. We can also see that most family establishments go back generations, but this is a fairly new establishment, perhaps this is foreshadowing? We can see that there is more of a history to be made of this house, more stories to come and more events to take place under its roof.
“In an alien northern climate, he was a long way from home, but he was beautiful in the morning sunlight” – perhaps she is talking about herself as she mentioned earlier to be “desperate” for something to do, maybe she is NOT in her comfort zone, and she is a long way away from her comfort zone, maybe that refers to bad relations within the Tallis household? Foreshadowing that since the relationships are NOT strong, they will soon fall apart furthermore. She is a vulnerable person, who tries to detach herself from her family.
Repetition of the word “morning sunlight” and also, the author states “The cool high shade of the woods was a relief” – perhaps this PATHETIC FALLACY indicates OPRESSIVE HEAT and this could build up tension – perhaps Cecilia’s vulnerable character is about to encounter something serious.

Domestic spaces

Domestic Space:Dining room (pg 125-128)

Characters relevant: The Tallis family with the exception of Jack Tallis, Robbie Turner, Paul Marshall, Lola, Pierrot and Jackson Quincey.

Key events relevant: -Marshall leaning back and saying to Robbie ' I say, are we still on for tennis tomorrow?' and Robbie answering 'I suppose we are'.
-Leon suggesting that England in a heat wave is good and his mother disagreeing.

Barriers and Connections: The dining room is a public space where the whole family and some guests have dinner together. Here Paul Marshall shouldn't have faced away from the hostess and started a private conversation, but he did so, breaking a social convention. Also, when he did this, Emily Tallis couldn't take any action as Marshall was a guest. Hence, here Marshall was somewhat liberated from the barriers and social conventions. Briony, who was more hostile to Robbie at that time than ever, acts rude to Robbie. She wasn't supposed to do this and a barrier was broken when she did so thus provoking a reprimanding from her mother.

Significance to the novel and themes: When Marshall asks Robbie about a tennis match the next day an Robbie answers 'yes' there is a bit of irony. This is because Robbie is arrested that very day for a crime that Marshall had commited thus preventing Robbie from having a tennis match with Marshall the next day.
Also, when Leon says ' "I love England in a heat wave. It's a different country. All the rules change." ' and goes on to say that ' "People are more at ease - a couple of days' sunshine and we become Italians. Last week in Charlotte Street they were eating dinner at pavement tables." ' his mother quickly disagrees and kind of discreetly command everyone to behave normally by saying ' "hot weather encouraged loose morals among young people. Fewer layers of clothing, a thousand more places to meet. Out of doors, out of control. Your grandmother especially was uneasy when it was summer. She would dream up a thousand reasons to keep my sisters and me in the house." ' This foreshadows the events that will take place later on when Marshall rapes Lola. This is because by 'out of control' Emily was suggesting that her mother wanted to prevents things like what happened to Lola from happening to Emily and her sisters.

Domestic Spaces

Domestic Spaces: Drawing room (pg 20-21)

Character relevant: Cecilia

Key events relevant: -Incident in front of Triton fountain
-Emily Tallis and Briony Tallis not really caring about Cecilia

Barriers and Connections: The drawing room is a space where guests may be entertained. Such a public function makes the drawing room a public space. In this extract, Cecilia stands in the drawing room and thinks about her 'homebound boredom'. From 'set of steps led down to the lawn on whose border Robbie still worked, and which extended to the Triton dountain fifty yards away' we can see that she is staring out at Robbie. All this can be done in her room, which she had to herself and is a private space but she chooses to do this in the drawing room and so breaks the barrier and the social convetion that one should not aimlessly loiter in a public space. If her mother or another adult saw her like this she would have been told to go to her room since she had no purpose in the drawing room. In this case, Cecilia breaks the restrictions and chooses to loiter around in the drawing room.

Significance to the novel and themes: From the quote stated in the paragraph above we can see that Cecilia isn't genuinely angry with Robbie and she was doing it only to make Robbie feel guilty. This is significant to the novel as this shows us that Cecilia still loves Robbie but just doesn't show it.

'that her family was owed an uninterrupted stretech of her company... her mother, when she wasn't nurturing her migraines, seemed distant, even unfriendly.'

'thinking some intimate conversations might develop. However, Emily Tallis wanted to share only tiny frets about the household, or she lay back against the pillows'

'Briony was lost to her writing fantasies - what had seemed a passing fad was now an enveloping obsession.'

From these quotes we can see that Cecilia expected a warm welcome home and thought that her family missed her, but realized that they didn't really care about her. This foreshadows the time when she leaves home to be alone after Robbie's arrest.