Spies - Chapter 5. Using the chapter as a starting point explore how Frayn presents the theme of growing up in the novel.

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The following extract comes from chapter 5. Using the passage as a starting point explore how Frayn presents the theme of growing up in the novel.

        The extract I will be using as a starting point follows just after Stephen has been spying on Mrs Hayward and figures out, due to the slime, where she has been disappearing to with her basket instead of going to the shops. The passage describes the environment on the other side of the tunnel and is presented by Frayn in first person narration from older Stephen recollecting his memories and remembering what it was like from the eyes of younger Stephen. Frayn presents growing up in a variety of ways, techniques and experiences and shows how Stephens childhood was a frightening and confusing time where Stephen experiences his sexual awakening and transition into a young man.

        Frayn uses a semantic field of fear in the extract to show growing up is a frightening time as there are lots of references of “peril” and repetition of the word “ordeal”. This is to emphasise the fact that through the tunnel on the other side is a very unpleasant and terrifying world and Stephen is finding the whole experience somewhat scary. The tunnel is a motif of growing up that presents itself throughout the novel. It describes the journey through the tunnel from childhood, represented by the comforting and familiar world of the Close, to adulthood and the unfamiliar and frightening landscape of maturity which is portrayed by the “sly tumbledown hovels lurking behind the undergrowth” that is the cottages and lanes and barns. On the other side of the tunnel Frayn uses lots of references to decay and aging such as “ancient” and “debris” which hints at the adultery and moral decay which is occurring in the barns between Mrs Hayward and Uncle Peter.

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        Frayn uses another motif in the passage which is the “dark green slime” Stephen tries to wipe of his hands. The slime is a motif for adultery because adultery is a nasty thing which links in with slime which is also foul and disgusting. Frayn presents growing up through the use of this motif as it hints at Stephens reluctance to grow up into the adult world as he is trying to get the slime, which is associated with adultery, off his hands. Other motifs in the novel are the recurring “x”, which Stephen wants to discover the meaning of, ...

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