Setting+in+'Atonement'

// Setting and social context // ‘Atonement’ is set during and just before World War Two, its action taking place in 1935 and 1940. The main events of the story occur during Part 1 at the Tallis estate in the summer of 1935. The estate is situated in the English countryside.

It is important to understand the social atmosphere present in England at this point in time in order to fully comprehend the events which occur in ‘Atonement’.

English society had a rigid class system for many centuries. Although the divisions had no legal foundation, it was difficult for people to move between classes. The class structure at the time of ‘Atonement’s’ action was much more rigid than it is now.

Class was based on socioeconomic distinctions. In the middle of the twentieth century, there were three broad classes in English society, upper class, middle class and working class. The upper class traditionally comprised of the nobility and landed gentry, and old families who can still trace their heritage back many centuries.

Their wealth enabled them to lead privileged and leisured lives. They held most of the important positions in the political and military hierarchies. Their children were privately educated and often attended one of the oldest two universities in the country, Oxford or Cambridge.

On the other end of the scale, working-class people owned and earned little and worked in menial and often unskilled jobs, either in the factories, as servants or on farms that that they did not own. Robbie and Grace Turner are members of the working-class, though Robbie’s education has given him some social mobility. If Robbie had become a doctor he would have become a member of the middle-class. There were further divisions within the middle class according to wealth and profession.

The upper-middle classes, to which the Tallises belong, had acquired their money through some form of business – quite often the legal or banking profession. They enjoyed many of the lifestyle privileges of the upper class but less social prestige. Jack Tallis works as a senior civil servant within the English government.

Traditionally “old money” – wealth handed down from family was considered more prestigious than “new money” – wealth made recently through trade and industry. Paul Marshall, with his ambitions to make a lot of money out of manufacturing confectionary, would be considered vulgar. In giving Hardman a tip of 5 pounds, he is being ostentatious, another sign of vulgarity in English society.

The importance of class in ‘Atonement’ rests on Robbie’s status as a working-class person, and the tension that his social mobility has created. While Jack Tallis has recognised Robbie’s ability and paid for his education, Emily Tallis has a more traditional view. She believes that it was unnecessary and inappropriate to help in this way, and that her own children might resent Robbie being given the same opportunities as them. She describes Robbie as being “Jack’s little hobby”.

For Emily movement between social classes is not to be encouraged. She enjoys the security of knowing that everyone is in their pre-determined social place. When it appears that Robbie has raped Lola, Emily is angered at the abuse of the family’s generosity but not surprised. Instead of judging Robbie’s character, she sees only his social position, it is the type of behaviour she would expect of a working-class man, so she is content to believe that he is guilty. Her ardent pursuit of his prosecution may be fuelled in part by her wish to put him back in his ‘place’.

By contrast Paul Marshall is beyond suspicion because of his social standing. The only other character considered as a possible culprit is Danny Hardman, another working-class boy. To prosecute Paul would have been very difficult.

Another reason that this setting is important is that it helps to explain part of Briony’s desire for drama in her life. The Tallis estate is situated in the remote countryside. There is little for Briony to do and no one close to her age to play or become friends with. Her sister Cecilia and brother Leon are both substantially older than her and often away studying at university. Her mother suffers severe migraines and spends little time with Briony. Her father is rarely home and uses his work to distance himself from his family obligations. This lack of attention combined with her physical isolation causes Briony becomes a very lonely little girl with only her overactive imagination to entertain her.

Briony craves attention and soon learns that she can use her writing to get this, particularly through the various plays she performs for her family. Often she plays every character. Her writing also provides her with an opportunity to gain attention from her mother who sits and reads all her work before anyone else. Briony loves this attention and hates being upstaged by anyone or anything. Lola’s arrival at the estate and her knack for stealing the scene disrupts Briony’s world completely.

It could be stated that Briony’s desire for drama in her life is really just a deep desire to be loved. However she has no other way to express this need.