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Quiz about Ian McEwan Atonement
Quiz about Ian McEwan Atonement

Ian McEwan: 'Atonement' Trivia Quiz


This book is undoubtedly McEwan's masterpiece. It can change your entire outlook on life and the way in which you regard other people. If you've read it, give this quiz a try - if not, be warned that it

A multiple-choice quiz by josieposie. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
josieposie
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
210,889
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
965
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
Last 3 plays: sophie1231313 (10/10), Guest 89 (8/10), Guest 185 (7/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. The plot is told variously from the viewpoints of which four characters? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. How old is Briony in the first part of the book? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Lola, Jackson and Pierrot's parents are married when the three of them come to stay with the Tallises.


Question 4 of 10
4. What is the name of Briony's melodrama? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Who actually rapes Lola? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Where are the British and French armies retreating to in the second part of the novel, set in 1940 (that's during WWII, in case any of you had seriously overlooked this fact!)?

Answer: (One Word (French or English spelling accepted))
Question 7 of 10
7. What nationality are the mother and six-year-old son whom Robbie fails to save from the Stuka attack in the open field? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Leon, Cecilia and Briony - the three Tallis siblings - are all educated at Cambridge.


Question 9 of 10
9. When Briony returns to the Tallis House at the age of seventy-seven, it is a hotel. What is its name? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Briony went to visit Cecilia, and found Robbie living with her. They had been reunited, and although they did not forgive Briony, she was consoled that their love for one another had not died in spite of everything.



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 26 2024 : sophie1231313: 10/10
Mar 21 2024 : Guest 89: 8/10
Mar 20 2024 : Guest 185: 7/10
Mar 10 2024 : Guest 5: 6/10
Mar 06 2024 : Guest 62: 9/10
Mar 02 2024 : Guest 176: 7/10
Feb 16 2024 : Guest 169: 7/10
Feb 14 2024 : Guest 174: 7/10
Feb 13 2024 : Guest 109: 6/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The plot is told variously from the viewpoints of which four characters?

Answer: Briony, Cecilia, Robbie, Emily

If you remember, we get the voices of all of these characters in part one of the novel. Part two is told from Robbie's perspective alone, and the final part from Briony's.
2. How old is Briony in the first part of the book?

Answer: Thirteen

She is ten when Robbie takes her swimming in the river; Lola is fifteen at the beginning of the book; Briony is eighteen when we begin to follow her nursing career.
3. Lola, Jackson and Pierrot's parents are married when the three of them come to stay with the Tallises.

Answer: True

They are still married, although their father is 'hiding' among his books at Oxford, and their mother is in Paris with her lover, 'who works in the wireless'. The children cannot bear the thought that their parents will probably divorce.
4. What is the name of Briony's melodrama?

Answer: The Trials of Arabella

She writes the play at the age of thirteen, but it is not performed until her 77th birthday - right at the end of the novel. It is a very touching moment.
5. Who actually rapes Lola?

Answer: Paul Marshall

Lola marries her rapist five years later, putting paid to Briony's hopes of finally acccusing him - Lola would be sure to cover for him. This has the implication that she will never be forgiven by Robbie, as she would not have been able to clear his name.
6. Where are the British and French armies retreating to in the second part of the novel, set in 1940 (that's during WWII, in case any of you had seriously overlooked this fact!)?

Answer: Dunkirk

The 'strategic withdrawal' to the chaos of the beaches at Dunkirk is considered as one of history's greatest failures - at least, it is in Britain. Although the Allied armies were completely surrounded and isolated on the coast of northern France with the German army pressing in on all sides, they still managed to evacuate their entire expeditionary force across the Channel to safety.

Much of the success of this narrow escape is due to private boat owners and fishermen from the south coast of England who risked their lives(and often lost them) by sailing across to Dunkirk and picking up soldiers from the beaches.

It was also due to efficient command on the part of the Allies, and the inexplicable fact that just when victory was in sight, the Germans paused instead of annihilating their enemy.

The dramatic retreat is seen through the eyes of Robbie, who is serving as a private (his prison history prevented him enlisting as an officer).
7. What nationality are the mother and six-year-old son whom Robbie fails to save from the Stuka attack in the open field?

Answer: Belgian

This bit comes during the slow retreat - as the plane flies in, Robbie tries to force the mother to run for cover, and picks up her child to help her. However, they are in shock and reluctant to go with him. They are hit by one of the Stuka's thousand-pound bombs.

He hears her speaking Flemish to her son, and mention is made of the collapse of the Belgian defence - this is how we know they are Belgian.
8. Leon, Cecilia and Briony - the three Tallis siblings - are all educated at Cambridge.

Answer: False

Leon and Cecilia go to Cambridge, but although Briony is offered a place at her sister's college, she turns in down in favour of a career in nursing. As the place would have meant so much to Briony as an aspiring author, Cecilia assumes in one of her letters to Robbie that it is part of her atonement for the lie she told so many years before.
9. When Briony returns to the Tallis House at the age of seventy-seven, it is a hotel. What is its name?

Answer: Tilney's Hotel

When she returns to the house in the final section of the novel (set in 1999), the artificial lake and stuccoed temple are both gone, along with the ivy on the house itself. These are the most obvious outward changes, and the reader is as struck by them as Briony is - like her, this is the first time we have seen the house since 1935.
10. Briony went to visit Cecilia, and found Robbie living with her. They had been reunited, and although they did not forgive Briony, she was consoled that their love for one another had not died in spite of everything.

Answer: False

This is all a figment of Briony's imagination. She has in fact written this ending for her novel - we discover that the entire book that we have been reading is supposed to be this work. Although the scene is described in great detail and we do not suppose it to have been otherwise than the truth, Briony confesses in the last few pages that she made it up.

She notes that Robbie died of septicaemia on 1st June 1940, and Cecilia was killed later that year when a tube station was bombed. It is the best amends she can make for the dead lovers, whose affair was never consummated.

However, their deaths meant that there was no chance of forgiveness for Briony. She lived her life without ever really being able to atone for putting Robbie in prison (and thus effectively sendind him to his death), and to give them a happy ending is the least she can do.
Source: Author josieposie

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