A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Whose Reality: Spies

Michael Fraynes novel demonstrates the alternate understanding that children have of the world they inhabit. Stephen is depicted as an outsider looking into the world of the Haywards: he is a social inferior to the rarified world that his friend Keith inhabits, and his parents are a far cry from the sophistication of Mr and Mrs Haywood. However, as the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that the Haywoods are outsiders to their own world. At first Stephen and Keith believe that this is because Mrs Haywood is a German spy, but it becomes apparent that she has contracted herself into a loveless marriage with a dominating and violent man. Through all this she maintains a facade of calm sophistication, just as Mr Haywood attempts bonhomie to mask his menace. While the child Stephen maintains his confusion in this world, the adult Stephen is attempting to make sense of the situation - trying to make sense of those around the child Stephen as well as understand himself as a child. This means that the reader has different understandings of the story as it is presented. There is the incomprehension of the child, who is confused by such ideas as the Juice living in Trewinnick, and the perspective of the adult, whose understanding is clouded by time and faulty memory. This means that we never quite trust the picture as presented by the narrator. Entirely peripheral to the action of the novel and to the existence of the child Stephen is his family. Mr and Mrs Wheatley are nebulous characters at best, and the odd phrases that his father uses emphasises this. They are gentle, blurred characters who are juxtaposed to the definite, controlling and sophisticated characters of the Haywoods. The only other friend that Stephen seems to have is the rather unlikeable Barbara Berrill, who is the sister to his brothers girlfriend. Barbara intrudes upon the privet world of Stephen and although there seems to be a paralleled loneliness in this girl, it is also clear that Barbara understands much more of the world than Stephen does. She interprets the actions of the adults they spy upon, demonstrating a much greater sophistication of comprehension than Stephen and making him feel gauche and ignorant. She highlights Stephens childlike characteristics; she is the one who kisses him, projecting him to an adolescence that he does not otherwise display.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

The Characters
Stephen Wheatley The narrator of the novel, both as a child and as an adult, Stephen is caught between the worlds of the Haywards and his own family. He sees the Haywards existence as sophisticated and glamorous and longs to be a part of it. It is interesting that he sees himself as being heavily influenced by Keith and his plans, whereas the Haywards see Stephen as the leader. This could indicate how divorced the Haywards are from reality. Keith Hayward Keith is the boy who begins each of the great schemes the two boys have. His life is ordered by his controlling father and he tries to keep control over his own life by his leadership of Stephen. To control Stephen he uses many of the mannerisms of his father. Although he is often contemptuous of Stephen we can see that Keith is most dismissive of those traits he possesses. Bobs Hayward Mrs Haywood has married a man she is not in love with and the marriage is not a happy one. She spends most of her life inside, escaping her reality in a world of fiction - the endless procession of library books. She her husband is very controlling, and any independence Mrs Haywood has is the result of subterfuge. Throughout the novel, she is taking food and messages to her sisters husband, who has deserted from the air force and with whom she is in love. Ted Hayward The controlling and rather menacing figure of Keiths father is in many ways peripheral to the actual action as Stephen describes it, but it becomes increasingly clear that it is he who dictates the action of his wife and son. Unlike many of the fathers on the street, he is a constant presence and his violence, like many of the actions in this novel, occurs outside the view of the narrator and therefore the reader. Auntie Dee The younger sister of Bobs Haywood, is in many ways contrasted with her. She is smiling, open and friendly, with an infant daughter. Her husband is ostensibly away in the air-force for the Duration and does not seem to control his wife in the same way as Ted Hayward. Auntie Dee is betrayed by both her husband and her sister, and by the end of the narration she is far more alone than she has appeared throughout the story. Barbara Berrill Barbara is the rather irritating presence in Stephens life. Like him, she seems to be a loner, and seeks him out; unlike him she seems to have a greater understanding of the dynamics of the relationships that surround them. She becomes a sort of girl-friend to Stephen, during the absence of Keith, but is in no way a replacement. Like Keith, she is responsible for Stephen betraying Mrs Haywood - another example of Stephen exonerating his childhood self of guilt. Geoff Wheatley The older brother of Stephen, Geoff is worldly in a way that Stephen is not. He has a girlfriend (Deirdre, the sister of Barbara), smokes cigarettes and reads naturist magazines. He refers to Stephen as Poor kid and is quite peripheral to Stephens world.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Mr Wheatley Stephen describes his father as like some mild-natured furry animal; he is the complete antithesis to Mr Haywood. Ironically of course, it is he who is working for intelligence during the war, and he is a German Jew. But, like the rest of Stephens family, his ordinary nature is outweighed by the sophistication presented by the Haywoods. Mrs Wheatley Stephens mother is even more inconsequential than his father. The only parts she seems to play in the novel is in asking Stephen to stay home on Friday evenings at the beginning of the narrative, and then later ask him to get out from under her feet. She also mops up Stephens injuries after Keith has cut him with the bayonet. Uncle Peter For most of the novel, Uncle Peter is absent from the action - a war hero who is away flying planes for his country. He seems an entirely heroic figure. However, it is revealed that Uncle Peter is a far more controlling figure than Hayward, albeit in an entirely different way. It is his hidden presence that dictates the action of the two sisters - Dee and Bobs during the novel. His character also epitomises the alternate realities vying for attention in Stephens imagination; at the same time he is a tramp, a German spy, an English soldier and Uncle Peter. The child Stephen never reconciles these conflicting ideas.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

The Features of the novel

One of the consistent features of this novel is the use of homonyms to demonstrate Stephens incomplete and confused understanding of the world. Jews become juice; private is confused with privet and privet is in turn confused with privy. Even the names are a subject of confusion - Mr Pincher is apparently a kleptomaniac, although the adult Stephen acknowledges that [p]erhaps it was just the name, it occurs to me now. There is also the mysterious code of x: does it represent a mathematical code, a kiss or menses? Each chapter begins with the musings of the adult and ageing Stephen, who is attempting to put some sort of order and focus on the activities of himself as a child. He tries to make sense of the ideas and images of the past and imagine them in the current physical context. This creates a sense of dislocation and unreality about all of the events, and makes the reader question their understanding of the narrative. The character roles are not clearly defined, either: although Stephen as a narrator should be, to some degree the protagonist, or hero, he is living in a created drama, where Mrs Haywood is the heroine - or femme fatale. Stephen looks at Keith and realises that Keith is not the hero of the drama that he has always imagined, but that somehow Keith is the creator of the drama; once again our perspective shifts, even the narrator is not in charge. The confusion that the young boy has about the world around him is not clarified by age. The older Stephen is just as unsure about what he thought then, about what he felt about everything. He even finds that he feels separate from the undersized boy with the teapot ears. Ultimately of course, we cannot even trust the identity of the narrator, who turns out to be a German spy himself, and even reverts back to his original name: Stefan Weitzler.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Activities
Key Passages Ask students to read through the following passages. Get them to identify what the conflicting realities there are in each passage. Ask students to think about the role that each character in the passage feels they have. What is the alternate reality that each character has? Pages 45-46: Stephen looks at photographs of Mrs Haywood and Auntie Dee and thinks about them as children for the first time. Page 53: Stephen for the first time recognises that Keith constructs the reality that they are both living in, rather than just being a passive observer. Pages 69-70: Stephen thinks about Mrs Haywood and Auntie Dee as sisters and as people. Pages 85-86: The adult Stephen thinks about the physical setting for the drama, and realises that it has been superimposed upon a previous reality. Page 94: The mutability of x; the introduction of dreams as an alternate reality. Page 119: Stephens parents conception of him as the instigator of the boys adventures; how different people have entirely different perceptions of the same event. Pages 139-140: The adult Stephen struggles to come to terms with the conceptions and understandings of the child Stephen. Pages 153-157: Barbara Berrill interprets the events Stephen has been watching, with entirely different conclusions. Pages 187-188: Stephen loses his fear of Mr Haywood; as an audience we see the limits of Haywoods ability to control. Pages 199-200: Stephen confronts the German spy and the adult Stephen once again tries to understand what he was thinking and understanding as a child. Pages 228-229: Stephens family history is revealed, and a different reading of earlier events is now available to the reader.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Venn diagrams
Each of the characters worlds impacts upon the others, with the character of Stephen in the centre. Create a diagram that incorporates all of the characters, demonstrating their relationships with each other. eg

If the circles are large enough, students can annotate the parts of the circles that overlap, to explain how the worlds of the characters influence each other.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Character roles At different times in the novel, the characters assume different roles. Write the names of the characters into the first column of a three-column table. In the second column, write down all the roles that the character assumes at different times. In the third column, provide examples, for instance: Character Barbara Berrill observer encourager Role Example pages 153-158 pages 167-168

hero

foil

villain

outsider

observer

encourager

confidante

adversary

ally

love-interest

taskmaster

mentor

sage

temptor

logical

emotional

rival

victim

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Constructing Realities Sometimes peoples realities are constructed by those around them; that is, the world they have created overlaps, or contradicts the world of someone else. An obvious example of this from Spies is the world of Mr and Mrs Haywood. This activity is similar to the Venn diagram one above, in that it asks students to physically think about the ways peoples worlds collide. On a large piece of paper, students should write the names of all the characters, spacing them out and leaving plenty of room between. In different coloured pens, students should draw lines between the characters, where red, might mean conflicting realities and blue sympathetic realities.

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Opposing Interpretations Different people will naturally have differing understandings of the action that is taking place. Looking at the key scenes above, choose at least three and think about the characters in them who are not Stephen. What sorts of feelings might they have? How would they understand the situation as it is unfolding? What feelings might they have? How do these ideas fit in with their everyday lives? Situation & Character Thoughts & Feelings Action in their lives before the event Action in their lives immediately after the event

Whose Reality: Spies

A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Vocabulary Exercise

Using the online tool www.visuwords.com, come up with a vocabulary list for each of the Situation Roles. This tool will also provide students with verbs to help them describe what a given role does. Make sure that you have at least three alternative words for each of the words provided above, and at least three verbs. When the students have done this, they will need to have practice using them. Ask students to write six of the new words they have learned (three roles and three verbs - the roles and verbs will need to be connected, otherwise it will be too difficult) on post-it notes. Give them three more post-it notes each, and ask them to write three characters names on them (one for each note). Students should arrange these nine notes into a random grid on their table, like this:

observer

Mr Wheatley superviser

follows Auntie Dee monitors

Mr Haywood

counterpart

undermines

Students should now draw horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines that link three words from the grid together; using those lines as a guide, students should create eight sentences from these randomly generated words.

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A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Reality Contiuum Looking at the list of quotes below, ask students to place them on a continuum from impossible, to improbable, to unsure and finally, absolutely true.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. Martin Luther King, Jr. Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. C. S. Lewis Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. John Lennon Humankind cannot bear very much reality. T. S. Eliot I accept reality and dare not question it. Walt Whitman Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be. Jack Welch Whatever you believe with feeling becomes your reality. Brian Tracy Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. Les Brown Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth. John Ruskin Reality is just a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs. Robin Williams It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept. Bill Watterson I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it. Garrison Keillor What is reality, anyway? Just a collective hunch. Lily Tomlin Everyone sees drama from his own perspective. Jean-Marie Le Pen Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. Marcus Aurelius

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A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Drawing Parallels One of the useful ways to get thinking about their context, is to ask them to draw parallels between real life and Spies, or between Spies and other texts. For example: Texts such as Freaky Friday, Big and Spies show us that children and adults understand the world in radically different ways. Do you agree? Mrs Haywood is like Goldilocks; she imagines a world that is entirely unlike the one she actually lives in. Discuss. To do this, students will first need to think about the realities that each of the characters in Spies creates. Character Imagined reality Real situation/ situation constructed by others

Rather than you giving students examples such as the ones above (because sadly for them students were born after Big), you can ask them to brainstorm three books, films or TV show they have recently seen. From these texts, students should think about the realities faced by the main characters and how these can compare with the characters in Spies.

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A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Getting Started with Writing Expository = Compare & Contrast In order to have the best preparation for writing a detailed expository essay, students will need to have many examples of the ways in which people construct reality. They should develop a list of examples from the text, parallel texts and real life. Ultimately, students should amass 25 contrasting or similar ways in which people create reality. They should put these examples on index cards for future reference. When students are given a prompt, they should sort through their index cards to establish which examples they can and cannot use. Then, with the pile of usable examples, students should attempt to organise each of the examples into 3 or 4 piles, according to similar ideas. These piles will form the basis of their paragraphs in an essay. Persuasive The key to persuasive writing is to develop students capacity to take a prompt statement and turn it into a proposition. A prompt statement will typically read something like this:

We can evade reality but we cannot avoid the consequences of doing so. Students need to re-write this statement into a proposition. A proposition should: Propose an action Use phrases such as: we should / should not, we must / must not, we need to / need not to
Students can practise this process by systematically going through a long list of Whose Reality Context prompts and turning them into propositions. Creative One way of getting students to mix both creative, persuasive and expository responses, it to get them to write responses from character perspectives. These could be responses such as: Mrs Haywood: Why I married my husband Mr Wheatley: Why I concealed my Jewish heritage from my son Barbara Berrill: Why I destroyed the basket of goods prepared by Mrs Haywood Auntie Dee: Why I asked my sister to help with Peter

If writing creative stories, students need to think about having: 1 Character - develop a character that reflects a character from Spies somehow 1 Setting - develop a setting where a character is likely to come across different realities and perspectives Many problems - think about the way characters respond to other characters. What are all the different perspectives this character could come across?

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A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Homonym Activity This activity is designed to get students writing from two different perspectives. Using the table of homonyms provided, students should come up with two different paragraphs (3-4 sentences may be enough), constructing worlds with pair of homonyms provided.

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A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

that, their house were here they desired pure air he walked about for days it was due in the morning her thoughts were not spoken aloud outside there was a bear a barren wife a bier at the funeral he was greeted with booze the boy bobbed in the water he was running a racket she stood beside the pool cue during the afternoon, he made eight cakes he waited for the doc they were dyeing he had the wrong jeans more than anything, she wished for a djinn he looked warningly at her their manners were strange she was in a cow of a mood all their lives they had lived with this rain she admired the naval officer he kneaded the dough carefully, she hid the file it was a foul memory she was well-heeled he grasped the oar with his bare hands

that there house wear here they desired a pure heir he walked about in a daze there was dew in the morning her thoughts were not allowed outside, he was bare a barons wife a beer at the funeral he was greeted with boos the buoy bobbed in the water he was carrying a racquet she stood beside the pool queue during the afternoon he ate cakes he waited at the dock they were dying he had the wrong genes more than anything, she wished for a gin he looked worn to her their manor was strange the cow mooed all their lives they had lived with this reign she admired the navel of the officer he needed the dough carefully, she hid the phial it was a memory of fowls she was healed well he grasped the ore with his bare hands

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A Ticking Mind Teaching Resource

Prompts No two realities are ever the same. Our understanding of reality is dependent upon both time and place. We construct realities that make us feel better about ourselves. The realities that other people create for us are never as good as our own. It is impossible to ever understand what really happened. Our reality will always impact upon others. Reality is always changing, nothing stays the same. Reality is what everyone agrees to be true, it is never individual. What happens in our imagination is never real. We cannot escape the realities of others. We can never be sure of our own reality.

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