Consider Frayn's presentation of Mrs.Hayward

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Consider Frayn’s presentation of Mrs.Hayward

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        The way Frayn presents Mrs.Hayward suggests that there is a lot of mystery surrounding her; is she a spy? Why does she go to the tunnel? Presented as one of the main characters in the novel, she is shown as concerned parent, a secretive woman, a suspicious German spy, and an intrusive character. Frayn presents these views of Mrs.Hayward in a number of different ways, such as by the choice of language used, the situations she involves herself with, and the timing of her appearances in the novel. Frayn uses these techniques to allow the reader to gather the evidence and decide upon their own opinion of Mrs.Hayward.

        It is clear throughout the novel that despite her being one of the main characters, whom the whole story revolves around, she is either known at Keith’s mother or Mrs.Hayward and her first name is never revealed. Keith’s mother is first introduced in chapter one, as a figment of the older Stephen’s imagination, “She must be in her nineties now. Or dead”, and is described to be “weeping” in front of the younger Stephen. Frayn decides to introduce her this way to show that back then she would have been an adult, and that she is a emotional character. The way he changes tenses and reveals the “weeping” before her introduction shows the dramatic effect of being introduced into his past, making it seem as though a solemn tone must be used to describe Mrs. Hayward.

        In chapter 2, she is shown as she was fifty years ago; through the eyes of the young Stephen. Frayn decides to show how she acts towards Stephen, “she didn’t speak to him personally, but she’d address him and Keith collectively…” to show that she follows the order of class, or merely regards Stephen as unimportant. He also describes how “she spent a lot of the day with her feet up on the sofa”; a relaxed, unoccupied mother, but hen states how occupied she is, conveying her through the eyes of Stephen to show what others thought about her behaviour, “she posted letters, it sometimes seemed to Stephen, several times a day”. This could be to hint that she it too occupied to fit her lifestyle, and there is something mysterious about her character. She is described, in comparison to Auntie Dee in this chapter, to produce a stereotypical image of a mother, “tall…unhurried and calm smiling…back and forth all the time” Near the end of chapter two, Frayn produces a scene of confusion and uncertainty involving blurry events from the past (from Stephen as an old man) involving a policeman, “coming to arrest Keith’s mother…she looks ill and frightened…running down the street…I see that look cross Keith mother’s face…I see something else beside the fear”. Frayn delivers these lines as if to reflect the state of confusion Keith’s mother will face in the novel, as if to show she will do something to make this happen, as if it is unexpected. The end words, “’My mother’, he said reflectively, almost regretfully, ‘is a German spy’” from Keith, adds a tone of suspicion towards Mrs. Hayward, and provides an explanation as to why the events occurred. Frayn decides to include the words here and form Keith to show the simple gesture offered my Keith to reveals this about his mother, as if he regrets it, or wants to investigate into it. 

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        Chapter three focuses on the ‘German spy’ aspect of Mrs. Hayward. The boys look through her diary, and aspects of her life are revealed that way. Frayn uses this technique to show the background of her life and what she will do in the future, to expand on her ‘secrecy’. Frayn uses the idea of Keith’s mother deceiving her own family because she has deceived her country, through the image of her and Auntie Dee as young girls, where Stephen notes “there’s something almost improper about the sight of them like this…something quite upsetting about Auntie Dee’s innocent ignorance ...

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