Spies

• "Everything as it was; and everything has changed".: 'change/perception/reality'
• "In the very marrow of his bones he understands that there's something not quite right about him and his family, something that doesn't quite fit (…).": 'about Stephen's place in society'
• "It was always her. From the very beginning.": 'showing how a child's mind can be distorted'
• "It tastes of importance and of being grown up": 'maturity/ rites of passage/ loss of innocence'
• "No one could smile like that and have secrets from the world".: '(About Auntie Dee)'
• "Lamorna is the correct scientific description of the bobbly texture of her purse and the shininess of its button": 'feelings/sexual maturity/senses'
• "He was the leader and I was the led": 'relationship between Stephen and Keith'
• I piece together a world of sorts from the different densities of blackness, and from a few small sounds
• You understand that sometimes people find themselves isolated
• I think you do understand
• You showed her our things
• Or is memory being overwritten by hindsight once more?
• No, wait. I've got that wrong - shows that Stephen is an unreliable narrator
• I see all things I never saw before
• There were secrets
• I feel the awkward twist of my body as I turn to edge sideways
• I seem to be trapped between those two smiles
• and rested is how she always seemed
• He looks straight into my eyes, no longer smiling
• Something has changed about the perfume of the air
• Stephen


  • His background is shrouded in mystery, as are a number of elements in the novel, and is only explained later
  • He is not English, but German
  • His family moved to England in 1935, most probably to escape persecution
  • His father is a German Jew and his mother is English
  • He feels inferior to his friend Keith, who goes to a better school and his family are a higher class than his
  • He is very much a follower and does what he is told to do, to the extent that he gets too involved in their spying game/ action
  • He grows up a lot in the novel as he realises that things aren't as they seem
  • He has sexual feelings too, as Barbara awakens his adolescence
  • He is an outsider and it seems he is bullied at school
• Keith


  • Intelligent, calm, organised
  • A leader, Stephen follows him obediently to begin with
  • An outsider, no one seems to like him, except for Stephen
  • He is aloof and does not like to mix with those he considers to be beneath him
  • He is deceptive and Stephen always gets the blame for leading him astray when it is clearly he that is leading Stephen
  • He is brought up strictly by his parents, particularly his father
  • His life is ordered and controlled
  • School dominates his life and he is always cleaning his cricket bat or tidying his bedroom to emphasise this sense of ordered life
• Barbara


  • She spies on the boys during the novel
  • It is never explained how she knows exactly when they are in their hideout
  • She challenges Stephen and encourages him to be independent of Keith
  • Stephen feels threatened by her, but also strangely attracted to her
  • She stirs feelings in Stephen and contributes to his sexual awakening
  • She contributes to Stephen's experimentation with smoking
  • She is a lower class than Keith and even Stephen, although she can relate to Stephen more
• Mr Hayward

  • A very strict, ordered man
  • Perhaps he is making up for the fact that he isn't fighting like the rest of the men so he has to have a strong sense of control at home
  • He appears quite brutal and his beating of Keith, although never actually described, seems unpleasant
  • There is a sinister edge to his character as he never seems to get annoyed in an uncontrolled manner, as his voice remains calm and casual, which makes him seem even more threatening
  • Whilst he has control over Keith in the end, he has to work hard to keep his wife in check
  • He is not a character we feel any affection towards
• Mrs Hayward


  • There is a lot of mystery surrounding her. Is she a spy? Where does she go on her frequent shopping trips?
  • She is presented as an attractive lady
  • She hardly ever speaks to Stephen at first and it is only when she realises they are spying on her that she has to
  • Out of desperation she implores Stephen to help her
  • Her emotional nature breaks in here and we feel sorry for her
• Keith and Stephen:

  • Both set apart from the other children
  • Stephen because he is small and weedy- easily bullied.
  • Keith because he goes to private school and his family was socially superior.
• Keith

  "Went to the right local preparatory school"
• Keith bullies Stephen. Keith is confident in his own superiority. Stephen is wildly insecure.


  "He was the leader and I was the led."

  "Once again all I've done is play the loyal disciple."
• Chapter 1

  Narrator is disturbed by scent- "liguster" reminds him "of something I don't quite like to think about"
• Unreliable Narrator


  Contemplative and slow. Rhetorical questions "Which one?" and "What is it?"- perhaps his memory is failing. "I feel...what? A restlessness." ellipsis indicates gaps in memory.
• Fragmented Memories


  "A shower of sparks...A feeling of shame...Someone unseen coughing, trying not to be heard."
• Stephen/Stefan


  Central protagonist. English name and German name mark a division between his adult and childhood selves. Refers to himself as "the heir to Stephen's thoughts"
• Stefan

  Elderly man. Frayn gives the narrator dull and uninspiring jobs. -engineering department, translations etc. There is a sense that life has rushed by "And now, before I can sort out whether I belong here or there... my children are grown up, and we have their mother's grave to tend each week"
• Stephen


  Referred to as "undersized boy with the teapot ears... open-mouthed and credulous". Physical appearance is a cause for his teasing.