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While Jack Tallis is the wealthy and respected patriarch of the Tallis family, he is also noticeably absent. Never making a physical appearance in the novel, Jack communicates with his family only by phone or letter. Part of this absence is explained by his powerful, high-stress job, which requires him to work long hours in London away from the family home. However, Jack is also emotionally absent from his family. Not only is he unfaithful to his wife Emily, but Jack also neglects his relationships with his children. He seems to lack any meaningful connection with his family members, and his vacancy in the family’s dynamic may partly explain Briony’s need for attention and control.

While Jack does generously pay for Robbie’s schooling and has given Grace Turner a small house on the property in return for her loyalty and service, his good treatment of the Turners lacks any real affection. Rather, Jack feels that it is improper to allow a single mother and fatherless child to suffer, especially when they are employees of his family estate. Additionally, Jack becomes increasingly interested in funding Robbie’s education as a sort of entertaining experiment, in which he hopes to prove to his traditional wife that lower-class people can achieve at the same level as upper-class people if given the resources. Robbie’s excellent grades at university encourage Jack to fund his medical school. While Jack is happy to support the Turners when Robbie lives up to his expectations and does him proud, he does not love Robbie or Grace, and he immediately turns his back on the two after Robbie is accused of rape. In fact, the allegations against Robbie and his subsequent punishment see Jack fold himself more deeply into his work as a means of escape, and the gulf between him and his family only widens. He reveals himself to be passive, willing to let an innocent family fall into ruin, even though both Cecilia and Briony suspect that Jack knows Robbie is likely innocent. His letter to Briony informing her of Paul Marshall and Lola’s marriage leads Briony to believe that her father is also suspicious of Marshall’s role in the rape.

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