Atonement Case

The significance of the fountain diorama that include the characters Briony Talis, Cecilia Talis and Robbie Turner illustrates the understanding that most of the action in the novel, "The Atonement," is from each characters visual perception. One of the major themes in the novel that has been portrayed by this scene is misinterpretations and perceptions. Throughout the novel, most of the action takes place in a state where some senses are hindered or not present while others are expressed. Characters experience periods of change and development in their personality during this moment that has been presented in the diorama. In this particular scene, a piece of an extremely valuable vase breaks and falls into the fountain. As this vase is extremely important to the Talis family, Cecelia undresses herself to get the valuable piece from the water. During that moment, Briony gazes out the window and from a far distance she sees her sister undressed. Being too young to fully comprehend; she mistakes this and understands it as Robbie being controlling and having full command over her sisters actions. This is when Briony has the loss of innocence because she witnesses sequences of adult behaviour between Robbie and Cecilia.

During their childhood, Robbie and Cecilia were too young and innocent to recognize their difference in social class, so they were close friends. But as they went to the same university they understood that they cannot befriend one another because of the clear social class distinction between the two individuals. But in this scene they both come to the realisation that they are attracted to one another, however do not express their feelings due to societal pressures. There character development is expressed in Cecelia as she was portrayed as a soft spoken and quiet individual throughout the novel, however when the vase breaks she gets angry and frustrated with Robbie.