Atonement

Robbie Turner sits in his bath and watches the dusky sky from the small bungalow on the Tallis grounds that is his home. He daydreams lustfully about Cecilia’s wet body emerging from the fountain. At Cambridge University, his interactions with her have felt awkward. Robbie imagines that Cecilia is unsettled by the fact that Robbie is her cleaning lady’s son, but Robbie is unbothered by his low social station.

Robbie rises from his bath and thinks more about his encounter with Cecilia by the fountain. He worries about the anger she must feel towards him, but fantasizes that she will let her fury yield to romantic desire. He reconsiders; perhaps Cecilia’s goal was to humiliate him, or even to seduce him.

Robbie sits before his typewriter, a gift from Jack Tallis, and surveys the schoolbooks scattered across his desk. He gazes at a photo of his parents, Grace and Ernest, as newlyweds. Ernest’s distance from his wife in the photo foreshadows an incident seven years later, when he quit his job as the Tallises’ gardener and abandoned his family without warning. Robbie’s eyes then shift to his admission packets for medical school, and Jack Tallis’s written promise to help pay his tuition.

After some more contemplation, Robbie begins to type an apology letter to Cecilia, but is unsure of what tone to use. He revises for some time, and suddenly writes a graphic description of his sexual fantasies. His anatomy book sits beside him, open to a diagram of the vulva. Robbie has ruined this draft of the letter, so he rewrites it in longhand, this time with the sexual language eliminated.

Robbie begins to get dressed in his suit for dinner, and starts to speak with his mother, Grace. Grace was taken on as the Tallises’ cleaning lady after Ernest abandoned her, because Jack Tallis could not bear to turn her and six-year-old Robbie away. Grace curried favor with the Tallises, and Robbie was soon socialized with the other young children. A few years later, Grace’s help with Briony’s birth earned her ownership of the bungalow.

After some small talk with his mother, Robbie places his letter to Cecilia in an envelope and bounds out the door, headed to the main house for dinner. He is fearful and excited to see Cecilia, but is convinced he is in love with her, and his bright academic future makes him feel optimistic. He enjoys the freedom that he feels, and longs to begin the next chapters of his life.

On his way to the house, Robbie spots Briony standing alone in the driveway. He decides that it may be a good idea to send Briony ahead with his letter to Cecilia, lest Emily see him passing Cecilia a note and disapprove, or Cecilia reject his contact entirely. He asks Briony to deliver the letter to Cecilia and she runs away with the envelope in hand. Suddenly, Robbie realizes that he has placed the wrong letter in the envelope—instead of sending the non-sexual second draft, he has enclosed the vulgar typed letter. He tries to pursue Briony, but cannot catch up with her. She has already entered the house and closed the door.