Spies - Key Themes
- Created by: SPratt01
- Created on: 09-10-18 08:52
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- SPIES - KEY THEMES
- Imagination
- Driving force closely tied to memory
- Both K + S have active imagination but are active in different ways
- K makes schemes + explanations
- Makes him look clever
- S imagination is vivid
- He foresees what might be the consequences of actions
- Often completely terrifying for S
- Extends to all his senses too
- He feels the coffin pressing down on him
- When he imagines about the kisses Auntie Dee may have exchanged wuth a lover, he says they 'lingered like a faint scent in the air'
- He foresees what might be the consequences of actions
- K makes schemes + explanations
- Memory
- Sense memories are vivid throughout the novel
- When Stefan has difficulty recalling events, he uses all five senses to prompt his memory
- At K house he remembers "I tasted the chocolate spread on the thick plank of bread"
- Stefan's sense memories are based on interior feelings, not just external
- In the hideout "his knees ache from crouching"
- When Stefan has difficulty recalling events, he uses all five senses to prompt his memory
- Stefan pieces memories together like a jigsaw puzzle
- They provide clues, he acts like a detective
- E.g. He remembers that there is apple blossom therefore the events happened in early summer
- Gives the impression that not everything may be accurate
- Reconstructed as fragmented memories
- They provide clues, he acts like a detective
- Stefan struggles to remember what he thought, what he felt and what he understood as a child
- He can recall action but not his inner emotions or those of others
- Sense memories are vivid throughout the novel
- Leadership + Power
- Mr H is the figure of strong authority
- Whereas S father seems more laid back
- K like his father needs to be in control
- Whereas S, like his father is more laid back and seems to enjoy being led
- When power is taken from leaders they will use various methods to try + get it back
- Mr H is the figure of strong authority
- Awakening
- S goes through adolescent awakening
- He smokes for the first time and has sexual feelings
- He acts independently and is rebellious
- Showing development from child to adult
- He becomes more independent + grown up than K by the end
- But his experiences will have a lasting effect on him at the end
- S goes through adolescent awakening
- War and Conflict
- Background of the war fits the conflict that go on in domestic life in the novel
- Conflicts
- Between S and his parents
- Between K and his father
- Between Mr and Mrs H
- Class conflict, especially between S + K
- S meets conflict in his school life as he gets bullied
- Between the police visit with Auntie Dee
- Narrative Uncertainty
- Narrative comes from an adult looking back at his childhood
- Unreliable because memory can fade and the details given aren't clear
- Sometimes young S can't and other times we are left uncertain as to what it all means
- There is innocence + naivety to S narrative which reflects his youth
- Narrative comes from an adult looking back at his childhood
- Imagination
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