‘I Spy’ by Graham Green Essay

1. SettingWe rotter adduce exactly that tout ensemble the expound events take built in bed in England, particularly, they devolve in the Eastern part of England. The founder of the Charlie Stowe, of the main character, was supposed to be in Norwich that iniquity we kat once about it directly from the textual matter ( tonight he state he would be in Norwich). Norwich is the regional administrative center and country t avow of Norfolk. Besides, one sentence tells us that place isnt far from water (the wind blew from the sea, and Charlie Stowe could hearthe beating of the waves) and now we gutter say precisely that it is just by the North sea that washes the shores of England. The events happen at night in the tin where the family of Charlie Stowe lives, particularly, at the tobacconists hook that was kept by his get. It is said in southward paragraph of the text. It was time of the World state of war I.The following clues help us to understand it enemy airships, Zeppe lin, which was a type of airship pioneered in Germany in the beginning of XX century and used widely to bombardon England during the period of the World War I, such features of fashion of that time as bowler hats and belted mackintoshes, brands of cigargonttes that Charlies grow was exchangeing (Gold Flake, Players, Woodbines were wide-spread that time). Moreover, in the text Huns were mentioned. It is an Offensive slang used as a disparaging curiopoint for a German, especially, a German soldier in World War I.2. P luckCharlie Stowe, the main character, gets mocked by his schoolmates at the County school, because he has never attempt a cigarette at his 12 in his life sentence. One night he decides to have a potty and sneaks to the tobacconists shop run by his father whom he doesnt eff. His set about is quiescency and his father isnt supposed to be at home. But when Charlie vexs himself at the shop he hears footfalls in the street. It is his father and dickens unknown q uantitys. They have a brief chat and then leave the shop. Charlie goes upstairs, he is  really panic-struck just now the attitude to his father changed. We rat observe the organise of the text. The expositions of the bosh include the commentary of that night and Charlies family. The climax happens when his father and twain strangers have a talk, particularly, on the phrase Welltheres nothing to be done about it, and I may as well have my smokes.It was said by Charlies father and it is the or so chief(prenominal) routine of the humbug, because here we see starchy likeness betwixt the father and the male child during boys attempt to commit a crime (to smoke a cigarette) he tries to encourage himself with grown-up and childish exhortations and what is kindle Charlie uses the same words to encourage himself in the forth paragraph and his father saying the phrase above alike tries to encourage himself. Maybe he committed a crime being a spy because two strangers seem to be policemen or secret-service agents and the father tells them that The married woman will shop out, talking about his tobacco business. in addition unusual way says to us this fact his voice has an un known to Charlie note and he holds his annoyed collar. It indicates that he is very nervous and as well as his voice is modify as a biscuit. When Mr. Stowe requisites to get his coat one of the strangers would like to go with him not letting him be alone. It seems that Charlies father is arrested. We can do this guess-work and find one more(prenominal) likeness amongst Charlie and his father committing a crime. The resolution happens when the father and two strangers leave the shop, panic-struck Charlie goes upstairs and understands how ofttimes he necks his father.3. Elements of plotThis short tale abounds with conflicts. At the beginning we go that Charlie has never tried a cigarette in his life and gets mocked by boys at school. It is the counterbalance conflict t he boy versus schoolmates, his peers, and it can be opineed as the conflict of a man and society. The second one happens between Charlie and his father which he doesnt like at the beginning. Thats why we can call Charlie protagonist, and his father opposer. We see the third direct conflict between Charlies father and two men. The mystery is hidden in their talk. And in the farseeing run there is the forth conflict the intragroup conflict of the boy who at his 12 regards to be an adult trying to have a smoke once against the fear and prohibition and maybe commit the hardest crime of his age.4. The theme/ heartThe main predilection of the story is a generation gap, the relations of Fathers and Sons. It is nevertheless relevant nowdays, parents should pay attention to the way of upbringing of their children. Lie, mistakes, carelessness and inadequateness of attention of parents would reflect on the behavior and personality of their children. The other idea is found in the c onflict of Charlie and his peers. Sometimes to be respected in society we try to do what it dictates us. Children are exposed to the society beguile easier, because they havent enough experience in life and their initiation out matter isnt finally formed. The minor idea of this story is to fork over how our attitude can be wrong judging people just about us, even our closest people, our relatives, and it may happen that it would be too posthumous to say the warmest words to the dearest people and even living with our family we cannot score the likeness or common things that connect us. We should be more attentive, more sensitive and sympathetic and keep in mind that our children would somehow look like us.5. NarrationThe type of narration is entrusted narrative. The story is told from the point of berth of Charlie who uses the 3d person. It is an omniscient point of view.6. Fiction elements/StructureThe author entrusts the main character telling us the story. Thats why we can consider this story as an interior monologue. In the text we also reckon with protagonists inner dialog and the dialog between the antagonist and two strangers. It is a kind of blend of dialogs and monologue speech. It makes us animadvert more vivid the situation and keeps us in tension. On the integral the structure of the text is chronological. Only the second paragraph is a minute bit detached telling about Charlies family and his conflicts with boys from County school and his father. The story starts at the beginning and moves through time.7. Style level of complexityThe structure of the text is very complex. There are a lot of commas, semi-colons and conjunctions. Also inclusion of the dialogs tells us about it. Equally with conjunctions such stylistic pull as asyndeton is used many times in the text. Abrupt changes from long sentences to short ones and vice versa create a very strong encumbrance of tension and suspense for they serve to arrange a nervous, ragged one sh ot of the utterances. Also very short sentences produce a very strong emphatic impact. In the text we can notice loose, periodic and balance sentences, it also says to us about very sophisticated structure of the text. We can encounter with apokoinu constructions light burning, chin cupped in his hands, do him grab, hefty of several men walking rapidly, degraded steps going away, dont let me be caught. Apokoinu constructions are mostly used in the entrusted narrative. We can find also a lot of attachments, particularly, in dialogs (In speech of Charlies father), in the fifth paragraph (belted mackintoshes. They were strangers.)The story abounds with literary words as it should be with the fiction. The author chose very colored words such as banks of calumniate, thin haze, stale smoke, boisterous, spasmodically, phantasm, despair, lurked, held his breath, dare not to move, cowered and etc. Dialogs are very colloquial, a lot of phrasal verbs are used (sell out, to be off, put off ). What is very kindle in the text you can find some maxims. Firstly, in the inner dialog of the boy (May as well be hung for a sheep, but it isnt full, we can consider it as ellipsis) and secondly in the speech of Charlies father, not finished as well ( slice theres life, the continuation is there is hope) and a stitch in time (also isnt finished (continuation saves nine)), and wrenched proverb Never do today what you can put off work tomorrow.The latter is said with a touch of sarcasm. The usage of proverbs also is a common characteristic of the boy and his father. Elipsises reflect the natural omissions characterizing oral exam colloquial speech and the main function is to achieve the authenticity and plausibility of fictious dialog. When Charlie wants to encourage himself he says Cowardy, cowardy custard. It is a very interesting expression and is a taunt used by schoolchildren in the UK equivalent to scaredy cat in the U.S. By the way it is one more clue in adjudge of the story happens in England. It means one who is excessively fearful. The word Cowardy is make with the help of diminutive  affix y, it underlines additional emotional coloring. The descriptions in the story are very detailed, author uses a lot of epithets (boisterous, refinement, stale, noisy and etc.).Figurative language is traced through the whole story. We can find metaphors such as a searchlightprobing the dark cloudy spaces (we can also call it personification), surprise and awe kept him inflame, the tobacconists shopdrew him on, personification familiar photograph had stepped from the frame to reproach him with neglect, similis such as dry as biscuit, but his fathers affection and disfavour were as indefinite as his movements, disguised simili can be find in the mentioned phrase Cowardy, cowardy custard, periphrasis the packets were piled twelve deep below quite of there were 12 packets of cigarettes which conveys a purely individual perception of the described object, o nomatopoeia when they cracked if we talk about stairs and emphasizes the reigning tension.talking again about the phrase Cowardy, cowardy custard author from Charlies point of view describes it as childish exhortation. We can notice one more morphological device, suffix ish. It deepens the coloring of the utterance expressing some contempt. In the second and in the finishing paragraphs we can find antithesises the first one in the description of Charlies father who is opposed to his stimulate and the second one while his mother was boisterous and kindly, his father was very like himself doing things in the dark which frightened him. Through this device we can understand the real attitude of Charlie to his parents. In the last antithesis there is also a comparison of the boy and his father. In the text we can also find dont you constructions, the first of which was used to emphasize sarcasm of one of the strangers (Dont you want to peach to your wife? and another one is an inversi on Dont you worry to much. Mr. Stowe used it to produce sarcasm as well. Talking about dialogs we can underline its colloquialism also by repetition Yes, yes.8. Tone/moodThe tone of the story is very tense, serious, suspenseful and sometimes in characters words sarcasm slips. Tension and fear are seen in the description of boys actions sat in despair, cowered in darkness, held his breath, clutched his nightshirt tight and prayed. In some phrases of the one stranger we can find sympathy. Also we feel sympathy both to the boy who is mocked at school and his father who seems to be arrested. In the detailed description of Charlies father we can notice that the boy is offended by him (left even punishment to his mother). The mood of the story is discouraging and tense. We feel it throughout the story, the setting helps us to feel it deeply as well. But in the end we feel a kind of succour for a moment when the boy understands he loves his father. We say for a moment because we wil l never know if the father and the boy ever take care again.9. Types of charactersa) Charlie12 years old kid, brave enough to do what is proscribe (to have a smoke). But is under impact of his schoolmates who mock at him, it is a common phenomenon of children of his age. He is smart, we can say it reading how he encourages himself with the proverb. Maybe it tells us that he is well-read. The peculiarity of children of the World War I time was that they were elder mentally, more clever than the children of the peace time. The severe milieu made them like that. Charlie tries to prove his maturity, to go against the fear. He is very unadventurous and skillful. But one thing he forgets is matches. He was so peak in his desire that make him forget a very important thing without what he cant fulfill his wish.Though Charlie loves his mother very much, we cant say he is mothers darling. He wants to be with his father, share problems and feelings with him, but he sees that his father is nt interested in him. That makes him frustrated. Charlie is a dynamic type of character, because he has a very strong position against his father and the attitude to him changes in the end. And he understands himself differently than at the beginning.b) Mr. StoweFrom the very beginning we know that Charlie doesnt love his father. He describes him as unreal to him, a wraith, pale, thin and indefinite, who noticed him besides spasmodically and left even punishment to his mother. Tonight he had said he would be in Norwich, and yet you never knew this tells us that he lies to his family. He is afraid of revealing his crime. It is seen in the phrase told one of the strangers if you wouldnt mind being quite, gentlemen. I dont want to inflame up the family.., The same we can see in his answer on the strangers question Dont you want to speak to your wife? Not me. But at the same time Mr. Stowe is very polite with strangers (if you wouldnt mind, Mind if).It also emphasizes his deceit fulness. Mr. Stowe is fond of what he is doing running the tobacconists shop (Its a cracking little businessfor those that like it). We can notice how carefully he behaves with the packets of cigarettes (he lifted a pile of Gold Flake and Players from a shelf and caressed the packets with the tips of his fingers.). He couldnt be the closest person to his own kid, but he is good at business.c) Mr. StoweCharlie opposes his father to his mother at the beginning of the story describing that her presence is boisterous and her charity is noisy. She fill up the world for him, from her speech he judged her the friend of everyone, from the rectors wife to the Dear Queen, except the Huns. For his mother he felt a passionate demonstrative love. The word demonstrative underlines the ostentation of his love opposing more strong his father to her. It seems that Charlie is very angry with his father at the beginning. Her kindness and boisterous presence are mentioned in the end of the story aga in, but now the boy doesnt feel her presence, it is unambiguous in the last sentence He was alone in the house with his mother. He wants to say the warmest words not to her, but to his father. At the end Mr. Stowe becomes the dearest person to the Charlie.d) Two strangersThese two strangers seem to be secret-service agents as it was mentioned above. Their appearance (bowler hats and mackintoshes) and phrase we are on indebtedness hint at that. One of them is polite enough thanking for the offered cigarette give thanks you all the time, one of usll come with you, if you dont mind, said the stranger gently. The other one is trying to be sarcastic.10. Methods of characterizationDirect11. SymbolismWe can compare growing of a child with the stairs. Every footstep is a phase or life period. We can observe the dynamics of Charlies life, his growing, throughout the story, though it is a very little period of time. But the changes are evident. And we can animadvert the stairs as a symbo lic element. Moreover, we can find symbol in night characterizing Charlies fears and hesitation and uncertainty.12. Stylistic devicesA lot of stylistic devices were mentioned above. But in this part of the analysis I want to discuss the title of the story I Spy. It sounds like a kids game Eye Spy, where the player-spy silently selects an object that is visible to all the players and does not reveal his or her choice. The same with Charlie he wants to share his feelings, emotions and problems with the father, but doesnt do it. His father isnt interested in him, he is indefinite and the boy feels it. I Spy and Eye Spy is a stylistic device called pun, based on the play of words that sound similar.