Consider the ways Frayn presents Uncle Peter in 'Spies'

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Consider the ways Frayn presents Uncle Peter - Redrafted

In the novel Spies, Frayn presents the character of Uncle Peter in a variety of ways. Although he is not physically present for a large portion of the novel, the contrasts in his character, such as the conflicting traits of the brave fighter and the terrified man, are developed throughout.

We are first introduced to Uncle Peter in chapter two, as an absent figure of worship in Auntie Dee’s house. Uncle Peter is established as a bomber pilot away fighting during WW2, a particularly dangerous job that generated a great level of respect amongst the people of the Home Front, as demonstrated by the young Stephen’s idolisation of him. His wife, Dee, is therefore depicted as having transformed their house into a shrine to her husband, with ‘the untidiness itself glow[ing] with a kind of sacred light… they reflected the glory of Uncle Peter’. He is portrayed as a warm and loving father and husband, with a kind and open nature mirrored by his wife and his baby girl, Milly. Hints of his supposed character are given to us, and we learn of his ‘cheerful bravery’ and ‘recklessly open smile’. We learn of his caring for his daughter later in chapter four when he is said to be ‘laughing… he was holding her [Milly] in his arms’. These traits establish Uncle Peter as a friendly and likeable character, seemingly perfect, and a model of ideal masculinity and bravery to young Stephen, as well the children and women of the Close.

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The religious connotations surrounding Uncle Peter permeate several chapters, first appearing on more than one separate occasion in chapter two, and reinforced in chapter 4. He is said to be ‘like a saint’, and the image of his portrait being surrounded in a silver frame creates a sense of how his character is loved and idolised. The motif of the silver framed picture first appears in Auntie Dee’s house as ‘a photograph of Uncle Peter in a silver frame on the mantelpiece’, and reinforced when another picture appears in the Hayward’s dining room, ‘on the sideboard, between two cut-glass ...

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