In the novel ‘Spies’, Frayn explores the relationship between Stephen and adults. Stephen comes to the realization of the harsh adult world. For example, Frayn demonstrates that adults manipulate children to their advantage and that a child’s view is very naive as they are protected from the adult world. This is because adults use facades to protect children. As Stephen matures, he develops awareness of the facades adults use. For example, Mrs. Hayward appears to be the perfect British housewife. However, beneath her exterior, she is not a holy figure but, in fact, a normal woman. Mr. Hayward is not the war hero he was believed to be, but he is, in fact, a violent man. At the start of the novel, Frayn uses Stephen and Mr. Hayward’s relationship to convey the idea of Mr. Hayward’s facade as being a war hero. He’d won a medal in the Great War,” Keith had told Stephen, “for killing five Germans.” This demonstrates that due to Stephen’s naive mind, he believes what people tell him. He could not believe that people are ‘evil’ due to his naive mind. This has led to Stephen misjudging Mr. Hayward.
This is an example of how Frayn wants the reader to understand the limited perspective of childhood. The reader is misled to accept this perspective as we see through Stephen’s eyes. Stephen found out about it from Keith, who is only telling him because he wants to make his dad sound like a hero. However, for Stephen to believe it demonstrates Stephen’s childish perspective and the use of an unreliable narrator. Further on in the novel, Mr. Hayward and Stephen have their first discussion. Mr. Hayward wants the box that Stephen possesses, but he says “he can’t snatch the basket out of my hands, because it would be beneath his dignity to secure something by force and not by fear.” This contrasts with Mr. Hayward’s public identity as a war hero to everyone in The Close. However, he is the complete opposite in his private identity as he is violent and more like a Nazi, who are the villains in the story, than a hero. Due to this, he uses fear on Stephen to obtain the information that he requires. This demonstrates that Stephen’s naivety is disappearing as he sees more harsh and cruel acts.
This passage portrays how Frayn wanted to present the relationship between Stephen and Mr. Hayward. He wanted the reader to see Stephen being afraid of Mr. Hayward to demonstrate the fears children have. “Stephen, he never addressed at all – never so much as looked at … because Stephen didn’t exist.” This portrays the idea that Stephen and Mr. Hayward don’t even have a relationship due to his social class. The fact that Stephen is a child and Mr. Hayward ignores him completely leads to the impression of fear around Mr. Hayward. Due to Stephen being a child, this fear is intensified, and Mr. Hayward only spoke to Stephen when he needed the basket. This links to how Frayn wanted the reader to see their relationship. He wanted them to see that the adult world isn’t as perfect as what children think it would be, as it is corrupt. Unlike a child’s mind, which is pure, this symbolizes how Frayn wanted their relationship to be. He wanted to demonstrate the contrast between Mr. Hayward’s mind and Stephen’s mind. Frayn also portrays the relationship between Stephen and Mrs. Hayward. At the start of the novel, Mrs. Hayward and Stephen barely have a relationship. However, Stephen always thought that Mrs. Hayward was the perfect British housewife, as she conformed to the role of the stereotypical housewife in the 1940s. Stephen believes that Mrs. Hayward epitomizes perfection: “I dare not enter this holy shrine.” The use of religious imagery conveys the idea that Stephen believes that Mrs. Hayward is a saint. She is so divine that Stephen feels unworthy in her presence, as he has a lower social class than the Hayward family.
This symbolizes how Frayn wanted their relationship to begin, with Stephen as the innocent child who thought all adults were perfect, especially Mrs. Hayward, who was the only adult (aside from his parents) who included him when speaking about him and Keith. However, further on in the novel, Stephen’s opinion of Mrs. Hayward completely changes. He thinks she is a traitorous mother” and that “there’s something clearly wrong about her… You can hear a false note in the specially graceful, specially impersonal way she talks… She’s a stranger in our midst, watching us with alien eyes.” This portrays the idea that, to Stephen, Mrs. Hayward has changed. He once saw her as the perfect British housewife, but when he really looked at her, he could see that she puts on a facade and is not divine but, in fact, sinful. The use of the word “stranger” demonstrates that to Stephen, Mrs. Hayward is the enemy. The fact that Stephen can see through the facade conveys that he is developing an awareness about truth and lies. This illustrates how Frayn wanted Stephen to appear to the reader, as he wanted them to see that Stephen’s perspective is becoming more doubtful about what he thinks is true and what is actually true. As the novel progresses, Stephen and Mrs. Hayward do build a relationship. Further on in the novel, Stephen becomes very close with Mrs. Hayward, as “She gives me a wan smile. I know where I’ve seen that face. It’s the one that looks seriously out of the silver frame in her sitting room…”
Once again, I feel the locked box beginning to open and reveal its mysteries. I am leaving behind the old tunnels and terrors of childhood and stepping into a new world of even darker tunnels and more elusive terrors. The use of the bildungsroman symbolizes that Stephen is actually beginning to grow up because he is trying to look at other people and realizing that they have worse and deeper secrets than the children see, and he is seeing the truth of life. The smile in the picture could also represent the fact that the smiles she puts on for the camera are to give a false pretense, and Stephen might be realizing that Mrs. Haywood has not been truly happy in her marriage. This demonstrates how the relationship has become stronger as Stephen can now see behind Mrs. Hayward’s public identity. It also demonstrates how Frayn wanted the relationship to appear, as he wanted to imply that as Stephen became closer with Mrs. Hayward, his perspective has improved. In the novel, Frayn portrays the limited relationship between Uncle Peter and Stephen. They do not really have much of a relationship due to Uncle Peter fighting in the war. However, even though they do not have a relationship, Stephen still idolizes Uncle Peter. But no one had an absent relative who could compare with Uncle Peter.”
He was a bomber pilot, and he had flown on special missions over Germany that were so dangerous and secret that Keith could only hint at them. This conveys the idea that even at the start of the novel, Stephen believed that Uncle Peter was the perfect war hero. Their relationship was all about admiration towards Uncle Peter, emphasizing how Frayn wanted to demonstrate to the reader that Stephen is a child who looks up to adults and worships them, just like Stephen is doing with Uncle Peter. However, further on in the novel, Stephen does have a discussion with Uncle Peter, but he doesn’t actually realize it at the time. Was uttered by an old tramp. By a German. By an old tramp and a German with a voice almost as familiar as Keith’s mother’s own.” This symbolizes the fact that even Stephen doesn’t realize that he has called the man he idolizes a tramp, and even though he doesn’t realize it is Uncle Peter.
This displays how Frayn wanted the relationship to appear to the reader. Frayn wanted them to see how children can have innocent perspectives. Stephen wouldn’t believe that the ‘tramp’ was in fact Uncle Peter because he thought Uncle Peter was a war hero, when in fact he was a deserter from the war. This demonstrates the fact that Uncle Peter has lost his place in society and conveys the idea that their relationship has been lost, even though it didn’t exist in the first place. This forces Stephen into the harsh realization of the world, as people aren’t perfect and his view of the world is tainted by lies. He believed Uncle Peter was a hero when he was a deserter from the war. This also illustrates to the reader the narrative mind of a child. Stephen believed that Uncle Peter was a hero and the audience believed it too. However, the person who was less likely to be a hero was in fact Stephen’s dad.
So, to conclude, Stephen’s relationship with Mr. Hayward is one of fear, as Stephen is petrified of him due to his intimidating and bullying nature. In contrast, Stephen is the complete opposite and is afraid of Mr. Hayward, which conveys that their relationship is built on terror. Stephen’s relationship with Mrs. Hayward develops throughout the novel. At the start, she only included him in a conversation with Keith. However, throughout the novel, their relationship develops, and Stephen becomes the person whom Mrs. Hayward can trust the most. He is the person who knows the most about what is going on outside of the family. This conveys that Stephen has a very strong relationship with her, even though he is a child and she is an adult. However, Stephen’s relationship with Uncle Peter is completely different. Stephen once idolized Uncle Peter for being the perfect British hero. However, when he sees Uncle Peter again, he calls him a tramp. Even though he doesn’t know it is him, it symbolizes the fact that Uncle Peter has become a coward. Their relationship won’t continue, even though it was built on Stephen’s childish fantasy.
Out of the three adults, Stephen has the closest relationship with Mrs. Hayward, even though as readers, we know little about her. She is only referred to in the book as ‘Mrs. Hayward,’ and we don’t even know her first name. In society at the time, it was a patriarchal society, and women were meant to be seen and not heard. This conveys the fact that even though Stephen and Mrs. Hayward are close, they both won’t know the truth about each other because there are too many secrets surrounding them. Due to the fact that Stephen is a child and Mrs. Hayward is an adult, Stephen’s relationships with adults convey the fact that he doesn’t know the full extent about them. Each one of the adults has given Stephen the impression of something which isn’t true. For example, Uncle Peter was seen as being a war hero, which he isn’t. This conveys the fact that even though Stephen seems mature for his age, he is, in fact, being lied to by adults.
