The first two sections of the novel focus on two different characters, while the third section reunites many of the main characters. There is also an epilogue, which significantly impacts what we know of the story and characters from the previous section.
In the first part of the novel, we follow the Tallis family through the youngest child, Briony. She is a young girl at the time, in 1935; she is creative yet desires order and control. She writes a play for her family to perform in this section. We also learn about Robbie, a young man who works for the Tallis family and is apparently in love with Briony's older sister Cecilia. The central conflict of the story is established in this part, when Briony sees a note from Robbie to Cecilia that he inadvertently sent instead of the one he meant to send. The adult nature of...
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the letter's contents troubles Briony, and she feels she has to save her sister from Robbie. Later in this section, Briony's cousin Lola is sexually assaulted. Briony accuses Robbie of the assault, even though Paul is the one who is guilty. This leads to Robbie's imprisonment, which completely devastates Cecilia. Briony's decision to accuse Robbie breaks apart the relationships between Cecilia, Robbie, and Briony forever.
Part two follows Robbie's experiences in World War II. This section provides a definite shift from part one, as we hear about Robbie's daily activities as a soldier and his fight for survival.
The third part of the novel recounts part of Briony's adult life, where she becomes a war nurse. The most significant moments of this part occur when Briony reunites with Cecilia and Robbie, who are living together. The two are still extremely upset about Briony's accusation, but eventually, it seems as though Briony will attempt to make up for what she did. One action she will take is to try to get Robbie's name cleared. Briony's character suffers and shows that she is prepared to atone for her sins.
The epilogue, though, changes everything we just read in part three. Briony is now an old woman, a famous writer being honored for her work. In the epilogue, Briony narrates in her own voice, in first person, while the previous sections of the novel were told by a third-person narrator. In the epilogue, Briony confesses that the third part is a work of fiction. Both Robbie and Cecilia died during the war. She never was able to atone for her sins to them. They never saw each other again once Robbie was arrested that night at the Tallis house. Their story was truly tragic. Briony sees her writing of the novel as a way to atone for her mistakes; however, she also admits that when she has all the power to tell the story, the only one who can even offer her forgiveness is herself. This could be seen as a self-centered act, then, simply to assuage her own guilt. She can never earn the forgiveness of those whose lives were damaged by her error.
Atonement by Ian McEwan is a novel separated into three parts and spanning three time periods. Part One takes place in 1935; Parts Two and Three take place in 1940 as World War II rages. Part One centers on Briony Tallis, a thirteen-year-old-girl, witnessing what she believes to be the rape of her sister. Part Two centers on Robbie, the accused rapist, and his experience as a soldier in the war. Part Three centers on Briony's sister Cecilia, who is working as a nurse in London (where Briony also now works).
Part Three ends with the words "BT, London, 1999" indicating that Briony is the one to have written the novel. The novel concludes with an epilogue set in 1999 in which Briony is seventy-seven years old and a successful novelist. Writing this book has been her attempt to atone for the false accusation she made as a child. This ending classifies the entire work as metafiction, a literary work in which the author of a story draws attention to the storytelling itself as opposed to just the plot of the story.