Chapter 9
Summary
Cecilia is having a hard time deciding what to wear for dinner. In half an hour, her mother will be expecting her in the kitchen and Leon will be waiting for her in the living room. Once Cecilia picks out her dress, she leaves her room, catches a glimpse of herself in the stairway mirror, thinks she looks dressed for a funeral, and returns to her room to change her dress. She decides on a new dress but this time believes she looks like Shirley Temple. She returned to her room and decided to wear her favorite dress. On her way out, she is frightened by Jackson who is standing at her door holding a gray sock. She leans out and sees Pierrot at a distance, also holding a sock and discovers that they had been fighting because they only had one pair of socks between them. She goes into the twins’ messy room to help them find another pair and organizes their room for them. The boys are upset because they want to go back home and still want to be in the play and Cecilia wonders why Briony still hasn’t returned from the lake. She gives the boys a pair of socks from Briony’s room and comforts the boys.
Cecilia finally makes it downstairs to the kitchen where the staff is scattering to prepare the roast that Leon requested. She leaves the kitchen and meets with Leon for a cigarette and drink. They catch up on each other’s lives over the past couple months as they walk to the fountain. Hearing about Leon’s complacent life makes her desire for an adventure much more compelling.
On their walk home, the two find an impatient Briony waiting for them. When Briony sees Leon, she pushes the note into Cecilia’s hand and runs to give Leon a hug. Cecilia reads the note and realizes her love for Robbie Turner. “It was clear to her now. Why else take so long to choose a dress, or fight over a vase, or find everything so different, or be unable to leave? What had made her so blind, so obtuse?” (105). She asks Briony if she has read it and then asks her where the envelope is. Briony ignores both questions and continues to embrace her older brother.
Analysis
On their way to the twins’ room, the twins held her hand and Cecilia “was surprised to find herself so gratified” (93). Before the boys head downstairs for dinner, Cecilia combs their hair. In her attempt to comfort the twins, Cecilia demonstrates her that she has lost a sense of womanhood throughout the course of her life. In choosing the route of higher education and putting off marriage—a lifestyle her mother doesn’t completely agree with—Cecilia shows that she has actually has natural maternal instincts.
In a way, the twins are similar to Mace and Nettle, characters we are introduced to in Part Two. The twins foreshadow these soldiers that Robbie meets in war. The four are in a situation they are unable to control and long to be home again.
- Great point on the maternal instincts, but there's a lot more you could say, perhaps, about her need to put on dress after dress, as well as her overthinking of the whole event. All of her thoughts here could give rise to analysis, actually.
Cecilia is having a hard time deciding what to wear for dinner. In half an hour, her mother will be expecting her in the kitchen and Leon will be waiting for her in the living room. Once Cecilia picks out her dress, she leaves her room, catches a glimpse of herself in the stairway mirror, thinks she looks dressed for a funeral, and returns to her room to change her dress. She decides on a new dress but this time believes she looks like Shirley Temple. She returned to her room and decided to wear her favorite dress. On her way out, she is frightened by Jackson who is standing at her door holding a gray sock. She leans out and sees Pierrot at a distance, also holding a sock and discovers that they had been fighting because they only had one pair of socks between them. She goes into the twins’ messy room to help them find another pair and organizes their room for them. The boys are upset because they want to go back home and still want to be in the play and Cecilia wonders why Briony still hasn’t returned from the lake. She gives the boys a pair of socks from Briony’s room and comforts the boys.
Cecilia finally makes it downstairs to the kitchen where the staff is scattering to prepare the roast that Leon requested. She leaves the kitchen and meets with Leon for a cigarette and drink. They catch up on each other’s lives over the past couple months as they walk to the fountain. Hearing about Leon’s complacent life makes her desire for an adventure much more compelling.
On their walk home, the two find an impatient Briony waiting for them. When Briony sees Leon, she pushes the note into Cecilia’s hand and runs to give Leon a hug. Cecilia reads the note and realizes her love for Robbie Turner. “It was clear to her now. Why else take so long to choose a dress, or fight over a vase, or find everything so different, or be unable to leave? What had made her so blind, so obtuse?” (105). She asks Briony if she has read it and then asks her where the envelope is. Briony ignores both questions and continues to embrace her older brother.
Analysis
On their way to the twins’ room, the twins held her hand and Cecilia “was surprised to find herself so gratified” (93). Before the boys head downstairs for dinner, Cecilia combs their hair. In her attempt to comfort the twins, Cecilia demonstrates her that she has lost a sense of womanhood throughout the course of her life. In choosing the route of higher education and putting off marriage—a lifestyle her mother doesn’t completely agree with—Cecilia shows that she has actually has natural maternal instincts.
In a way, the twins are similar to Mace and Nettle, characters we are introduced to in Part Two. The twins foreshadow these soldiers that Robbie meets in war. The four are in a situation they are unable to control and long to be home again.
- Great point on the maternal instincts, but there's a lot more you could say, perhaps, about her need to put on dress after dress, as well as her overthinking of the whole event. All of her thoughts here could give rise to analysis, actually.