Atonement | Teaching Setting, Symbolism and Objects

Object Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major objects in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Objects

The Trials of Arabella - This play is Briony's first venture into drama, written for her brother Leon's homecoming. The play is abandoned in 1935, but it is touchingly staged by young relatives in 1999 at the author's 77th birthday celebration. Its childish, fairy-book theme of forbidden love fulfilled is lived out, tragically, by Cecilia and Robbie.

The Tallis Estate - The location is the scene of the novel's first part, located in the Surrey Hills in southeast England. It was built grandly in the 1880's and more prosaically after a fire in...
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