Between childhood and adulthood are adolescence and the process of growing up. While Stephen is just beginning to enter this middle ground his brother, Geoff, is the token fully fledged adolescent in the book. He is preoccupied with girls and smoking, speaks his mind plainly, and adopts verbal mannerisms that annoy Stephen. He is understood by both adults and children, yet ignored by both, too. Although none of the characters is the same, Older Stephen’s son resembles Geoff in the only spoken words he has. When Older Stephen’s daughter asks if they will have a contact address for him in England, it is his son who responds: ‘“Memory Lane, perhaps,” suggests my son drily’ (pg.6).The sardonic tone is characteristic of Geoff in earlier times.
The most important member of Stephen’s family for the novel is his father. In a counterpoint to Keith’s father, Mr. Wheatley is kind and mild-mannered. While Mr. Hayward is ‘like an ogre in his cave’ (pg.26).He is quietly affectionate, worrying about the bullying that Stephen is subjected to, and putting his arms around Stephen after Keith has injured his throat. His response to Stephen’s injury is gentle. While Mrs. Wheatley ‘grabs’, ‘marches’ and ‘demands’, Mr.Wheatley ‘gently undoes his collar and examines his throat’ and washes the wound with ‘tenderness’ (pg 213).When he shouts at Stephen after finding him outside in the night, it is the most agitated that Stephen has ever seen him (pg.119).However, we see a contradicting attitude from Stephen towards his father. Mr.Wheatley seems dull to Stephen : ‘The presence of Stephen’s father was scarcely noticeable. He was out an office somewhere all day and often all evening, doing a job, too dull to describe’ (pg.26).Indeed, Stephen is not curious about this as the working world of adults holds no interest to him : ‘Vanishing and reappearing seemed a full enough job description for all practical purposes’ (pg139-140).Stephen feels constantly tested by ‘the long examination board of childhood [that] will last for ever (pg.96).Every aspect of his life is a trial. He doesn’t complain about this, anymore than he complains about the bullying he endures at school. He simply accepts this is the way of life. It is the unquestioning acceptance of the scapegoat, the weaker party, and of the child of the 1940s for whom was little adult concern.
Stephen is beginning is to undergo the process of changing into an adult himself. Even though the action of the novel takes place over only a few weeks, noticeable changes take place in him. From finding that Barbara makes him ‘squirm at her unpleasant girliness, he finds himself entranced by the hairs on her skin’ ( pg.99) and even the bobbly purse that he initially despised. Yet, he is not exactly bowled over by their ‘Tentative sexual experiments: ‘manages not to flinch and politely says that the kiss is ‘Quite nice’ (pg 186).With the cigarette he shares with Barbara, Stephen imagines he starts to approach adulthood: ‘I have a sense of freedom, as if I’m no longer bound by the rules and restrictions of childhood... I’m on the verge of understanding mysteries that have been closed to me (p166-167).
Stephen here considers himself on the brink of growing up, leaving behind the fantasy games he has played with Keith and embarking on new, more adult mysteries. The softness of Barbara’s body lying across him, and memories of his altercation with Mrs. Hayward’s ‘soft bosom’ in the tunnel, commence the first stirrings of sexual interest in Stephen. It is Barbara who acts as the intermediary between the world of Stephen and the world of adults. Being a girl, she would regularly be exposed to gossip and hearsay and so would be able to relay this information to Stephen who shockingly hears stories about Auntie Dee having a boyfriend and the situation of the Haywards. Barbara notices that Mrs. Hayward doesn’t do her regular visits to Auntie Dee anymore, but sees Keith doing her job. Stephen is not interested in what she says but clearly feels jealous of her superior knowledge about his closest ally-‘...still sourer tide of jealousy sweeps through my vein’ (pg 154-155).The hideout which encompasses many important events in the novel has a special significance to it. Frayn portrays the hideout as a separate world with its own rules. It is a space where the boy’s imaginations can run freely without the authority and interferences of adults. The hideout has its own world controlled by one dominant, authoritarian figure and followed by his subservient companion. Ironically, both Keith and Stephen believe their hideout is impregnable, however their assumptions are shown to be false when it is invaded by the Barbara Berrill and Mrs. Hayward. Furthermore, the cigarette butt found in the hideout shows traces of adult trespassing.
Likewise, we also see another interesting dimension between the relationships of adults and children in Keith and Mr. Hayward. Mr. Hayward is a sadistic dictator who often beats his son. His cruel behaviour is particularly chilling because it is preceded by a display of false geniality. He addresses Keith as ‘old bean’ or ‘chap’ and Mrs. Hayward as ‘old girl’ to signal his displeasure and many occasions with his evil, ‘thin smile’. This is reflected onto Keith who replicates the laws of his father on poor Stephen. Frayn uses this to great effect as it shows the influence father can have on a son and how it can lead children to extreme measures. Prime examples would be his immoral pronouncement to spy on his own mother and the shocking attack on Stephen .
The communication gulf is another significant part of the relationships between adults and children which is recurrent throughout the novel. Stephen in the company of adults presents himself as incommunicable, shy, sometimes saying a few words, but somehow making the adults seem to understand him. When Mrs. Hayward asks Stephen to take the basket to the man living in the Barns, he is very reluctant to do it at first but then agrees to do it after seeing the emotional state of Mrs. Hayward. She is talking to him but he putting his ‘eyes towards the ground’ (pg 177).His shyness prevents him from even looking at the adults and forces himself to look away .Furthermore, Stephens direct exchange with Mr. Hayward (pg.186)-‘Can have a word with you old chap?’ brings out a startling discovery for him, which is that there is a form of kinship between adults and children-they are not completely different species as he had always assumed. Even as he is terrified of Mr. Hayward, he notices the man’s awkwardness and uncertainty-Stephen is not part of the family, and he is unsure how to dominate him. He knows that Mr. Hayward can’t touch him, as he is someone else’s child and propriety does not allow him to hurt Stephen .But he is disarmed by Mr. Hayward’s ‘Please’ (pg.189), for now propriety demands that he comply with the adult’s request. This encounter with Mr Hayward clearly emphasises the obstacle of communication between adults and children.
It is not plain sailing. Stephen moves backwards and forwards, sometimes being more childish and at other times more grown up. He can still crawl into his parents’ bed when night terrors beset him. And his rosy view of adults is soon corrected: I’m leaving behind the old tunnels and terrors of childhood-and stepping into a new world of even darker tunnels and more elusive terrors’ (pg.180).It is the word ‘tunnel’ which Frayn uses as a leitmotif repeatedly for the reader to accumulate its true meaning. The tunnel symbolises stepping into the unknown which is an integral part of this novel. The tunnel is the pitfall of Mrs. Hayward’ downturn and to some extent the poignant death of Uncle Peter. The green substance on her clothes which was noticed by Stephen instigates the exposure of her secret. Uncle Peter is shown by Frayn as the ‘Unknown , Known’, he is known to be in the RAF but his exact whereabouts are unknown to the reader. Stephen catches Mrs. Hayward in the tunnel which commences the gradual uncovering of her secret. When Mr. Hayward is looking for the thermos flask, he at once suspects Keith took it and gives him an ultimatum of either giving back the thermos flask or be given beatings from him. Stephen rushes towards the tunnel and inadvertently bumps into Mrs. Hayward. She responds angrily to Stephen- ‘why are you doing this’ (pg. 147), but he keeps on repeating the word ‘Thermos’. The communication gulf is epitomised through this encounter as Stephen struggles to make out a sentence but still makes Mrs. Hayward understand him.
Stephen will not disobey Keith as he is the true comrade and would rather die than go against his chief’s wishes. His attitude relates back to the oath he was forced to say by Keith. As readers, we can see the absurdity of a statement such as ‘Green’s the right colour for a bicycle, just as it’s wrong one for a belt or a bus’ (pg.17).Clearly, what makes something right or wrong here is simply whether Keith or Stephen do it. We recognise and empathise with the childhood insecurity in Stephen that enables Keith to impose his own ‘Rightness’. Paradoxically, he is reluctant to do what Mrs. Hayward and Uncle Peter ask of him. This again expressively highlights the subservience of Stephen and indicates he only follows those who dominate him physically and intellectually (Keith).No adult will dominate a young innocent boy like Stephen.
Furthermore, we can see the gradual metamorphosis of Stephen to an adult at the ending of the novel when Stephen decides to take rations to the man (Uncle Peter) living in the barns under the corrugated iron. His behaviour contrasts with the banging on the iron with sticks which we see earlier in the book. Stephen shows his ever-growing manhood as even though the man is sick and hidden and could not compel Stephen physically, Stephen is incapable of ignoring his innate authority as an adult. It also emphasises the fact that ‘Spies’ is a ‘bildungsroman’ as it shows the development in maturity of the protagonist – Stephen.
