I Spy is a short story written by Graham Greene. He was an English author, playwrite and literary critic.

His works explore

different permutations of morality and amorality in modern society, and often feature exotic settings in different parts of the world.
The main theme of the story is how the main character Charlie Stowe was trying to steal cigarettes from his fathers shop to prove his
classmates that he was not a little boy. We may distinguish the genre of the text as fiction. The story has not really had place, though
it may be based on a true story. The text is presented mostly as a description of Charlies feelings and thoughts.
It is about a boy, Charlie Stowe, who has never smoked a cigarette and therefore he decides to break into his fathers tobacco
shop to steal a pack of cigarettes. His father comes home and along with him are two men. Charlie hides in the shop and watches his
father and the two men while they talk about something Charlie does not understand. When Charlies father and the two men leave
the house, Charlie goes back to bed and realises that he and his father are very much alike.
The story is told by an omniscient third-person narrator and Charlie Stowe is the main character. He is 12 years old, lives
with his mother and father and attends County School. His relationship to his father is not very good and he is unreal to him: but he
did not love his father, his father was unreal to him, a wraith, pale, thin, indefinite The mothers responsibility for Charlies
childhood makes her much more important to him and he loves her. According to Charlie, she is nice towards everyone except the
Huns. This expression, the Huns, was an English word for Germans during World War 1 and with the use of this and the word
Zeppelins I believe the story takes place during the Great War Charlies father is a very unreliable man who does not give any
attention to Charlie, and Charlie does not care about him until he sees him along with two men in the tobacco shop...
The main theme of the story is how main character of the story Charlie Stowe was able to steal some of his fathers stock - a
packet with cigarettes from his fathers shop, with the purpose to prove his classmates that he is not a little boy.
The idea of the story is that real parents should pay enough attention to their children, to bring them up properly in order that there
wasnt conflicts in their family.
So in the beginning of the story we have an exposition, where we get to know about the main character Charlie Stowe; the time of the
seen is night. Charlie Stowe waited in his bedroom until he heard his mother snore. Then we got to know that it was the time of war,
as searchlight passed across the sky, seeking enemy airship. Then Charlie draught the thought the cracks in the window frame.
We have a detached construction in the second paragraph from the world But the thought of the tobacconists shop where author
pays our attention to the fact that Charlie wanted to smth with it. then we see that he was 12 years old and that boys at County
school nocked at him because he had never smoked a cigarette. The author uses periphrases concerning to cigarettes The packet
were piled twelve deep below. The cigarettes were called Gold Flake and Players.
The author compares his fathers little shop with the Reszke, Abdulla, Woodbines which under a thin haze of stale smoke epithet, which disguise his crime. To point out a steal author uses parallel construction his crime, it was a crime. Then author tells
us Charlie didnt love him at all, to prove it Graham Greene uses comparison: he was unreal to him, a wraith, pale. thin, and
indefinite - all this is the enumeration. To show us the...
When a thing, which has always been in the same place for years and we have forgotten all about it, gets moved we notice
immediately. We become confused and we look at the thing in a whole new way because of its new place in e.g. our living room.
These changes in our everyday life make an impression on us and that is exactly what happens to Charlie Stowe in the short story I
Spy when he realises that his father is not who he always thought he was. One day his father is the thing that gets a new place in the
room Charlies life.
A new place a new meaning
The short story takes place during the First World War, because words like the Zeppelins and the English word for Germans,
namely Huns appears (page 93, line 2). There is from the text not giv-ing any location, but Charlie could hear the blew of the wind
and the beating of the waves (page 92, line 8), also the fact that the father had said he would be in Norwich (page 93, line 4) gives me
the idea that the setting is somewhere by the eastern seashore maybe in East Anglia.
Morality in Graham Greene's "I Spy"
Britons lived in constant fear of a takeover by the German "huns," and this fear inspired Graham Greene to comment on morality in
man in his short story, "I Spy." Greene explains, through the conflict that his protagonists suffer, that sometimes society's morals are
artificially removed, for example in a time of war in which the object is to kill as many people as possible that aren't on your side. In
these situations, people have to make their own decisions about morality and right and wrong, and this absolutely terrifies them. This
is shown in "I Spy" through the characters, imagery, and setting in the story.
The imagery in "I Spy" also helps show the central idea of fear. Throughout the story, light is represented as a danger of being caught,
and each time Charlie shies away from the light. The candle in his mother's room, the spotlights sweeping the windows of the shop,
and the policeman's flashlight all provide threats to Charlie's mission of stealing a cigarette. In addition, the nature of the shop itself
lends itself to intrigue and fear. The phrase "smoke-filled room" traditionally stirs feelings of clandestine deals and surreptitious
secrets, and this room is no different. The apprehension is almost as visible as the smoke in this room of shadowy transactions.
Imagery, in addition to showing lack of morals, contrasts it by showing pillars of morality and fortitude, the two agents
accompanying Mr. Stowe. With their identical suits, bowlers, and mackintoshes, these government agents, presumably from the
British MI-5, represent those that do not have to make decisions for themselves and have their code of morality laid before them.
Finally, the setting of "I Spy" does a great deal to support the central idea of having to choose ones moral decisions. This is Great in
the early twentieth century, when the last remnants of the British Empire are being swept away and global warfare is everyone's
biggest fear. is also coming off its "jingoism" (meaning incredibly nationalistic) policy, meaning that there are a great deal of ardent
patriots living in the area. Charlie's mother is one of these, having nothing but good to say about the queen, and nothing but bad to
say about the Germans. Charlie's father also validates the patriotism, saying that once the neighbors find out he is a spy, they will tear
down the tobacconists shop. These neighbors would normally not band together to do such a violent act, but for the time. They are

used to hearing that everything related to is perfect, and everything related to Germany should be destroyed, and will act accordingly.
The story takes place in a coastal town, so spotlights are continually sweeping across the sea looking for German boats, and across
the skies looking for enemy dirigibles. These lights serve a dual purpose, however, and subconsciously remind the population that
even they can be watched. This may lead to conflict within ordinary people, who may always worry whether their actions are "good"
or "good for the state" or could be interpreted as conflicting with the interests of . It is evident that these lights, built to protect, can
also strike fear into the hearts of people struggling to make their everyday moral decisions.
There will always be instances in which definite morality is suspended or removed. People will always be forced to make up their
own set of morals and abide by them, and they will always be fearful that their set of morals is wrong. The differences that arise
among people is how they act on these fears and code of morals. Charlie and his father both experienced the fear of being discovered
in the wrong. They also both experienced the despair at knowing there is no other choice but the action they are taking. In reality,
however, both Charlie and his father took the easy way out in dealing with their problems. Charlie could have simply stood up to his
tormenters and defended his right not to smoke, and Mr. Stowes could have refused to become a spy for Germany. Both of these
responses could have resulted in serious personal injury, but it should have been a small price to pay for keeping one's honor.
The Disparity Between Representation and Reality
Greene is interested in showing the gap between life as it is remembered, recorded or retold, and life as it is lived. Acts of storytelling
occur quite frequently throughout the novel. The most obvious example is the story of Juan, the young martyr. One thing that
becomes apparent by the novel's close is how very different Juan's story of martyrdom is from the priest's. Juan's life is characterized
from start to finish by composure, loyalty and, above all, unshakeable faith. Although the priest certainly is an admirable figure,
especially by the time of the novel's close, he still faces death afraid and unable to repent. But Greene is not juxtaposing the two
accounts of martyrdom merely to highlight the priest's shortcomings, but rather to show that real-life differs from idealistic stories, in
most cases. This theme extends beyond storytelling to other forms of representation. For example, the priest takes note of how little
the gringo looks like his picture on the wanted poster in the police office, and the lieutenant fails to recognize the priest because the
priest does not have the delicate hands that a stereotypical priest would have. Stories, pictures and other kinds of representation can
give a misleading, exaggerated picture of a person, and Greene is interested in writing about reality as it is truly experienced, even if
he himself is attempting to create that sense of unvarnished reality through his own storytelling.
The Interrelated Nature of So-called Opposites
Love and hate, beauty and suffering, good and evil are just a few of the many pairs of seeming opposites that Greene insists are not
really opposites at all. In the lieutenant's case, for example, his hatred of priests originally stems from a love of and a concern for
poor people. Both feelings stem from the same strong emotionsthe desire to protect the innocent and the rejection of injustice in
any form. The priest often discovers the beauty of life in the moments of greatest suffering and hardship. Moreover, the priest and the
lieutenant, who play such opposing roles throughout the novel (i.e. the hunted and hunter, the priest-hater and the priest) come
together at the end of the novel and reach a kind of qualified understanding of one another.Motifs Animals
There are many references to animals throughout this novel. The most striking one, perhaps, is the crippled dog that the priest
discovers at the abandoned estate. In that scene the priest battles the dog over a bone with a few bites of meat on it and the implicit
question is whether anything separates us from the animals. Are human beings reducible to the will to survive? It is a question of
great importance to the priest, who often is at a loss to justify his desire to live (especially when he considers the pain his presence
inflicts upon others). His struggle with the maimed mongrel over a morsel of meat is a pathetic scene, one in which hunger and the
will to live seem to win out over human dignity, and the priest recognizes this. There are also many mentions of insects throughout
the novel, notably in scenes involving the lieutenant. Greene refers to insects hurling themselves into lamps or being crushed
underfoot. Pointless life careening to pointless death seems to be the import of these details, and the implicit question is whether
human life is similarly futile and meaningless.
Abandonment
Many things are abandoned in this novel, and the words "abandoned" or "abandonment" crop up repeatedly. Many of the
townspeople feel that the clergy has abandoned them, and the priest, in turn, feels that the people have abandoned him. Mr. Tench has
abandoned his family, Captain Fellows and Mrs. Fellows abandon their house and their dog, and the priest tries to abandon the
mestizo on the road to Carmen. These are just a few examples. It is an important motif, because it implicitly raises the most important
question, whether human beings have been abandoned by God and left to the cruelty of nature and each other. Significantly, the
greatest act of heroism in the novelthe priest's decision to return to help the gringois a refusal to abandon someone in need, and a
refusal to abandon a dangerous and ugly world.

Katherine Mansfield was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp to a wealthy family in Wellington, New Zealand,
on October 14,1888. She was educated in London, deciding early on that she wanted to be a writer.
"Miss Brill" presents an afternoon in the life of a middle-aged spinster. On her usual Sunday visit to the park, she
imagines the she and the people in the park are characters in a play. Contributing to her good mood is the fact that
she is wearing her prized fur stole. Anticipating the conversation of two strangers who sit down next to her, Miss
Brill's vivacious mood is shattered by the couple's ndicule for her and her fur. She returns to her tiny apartment
and places the fur back in its box, imagining that she hears it crying.
An aging, lonely woman living in Paris and maintaining herself by teaching English is the subject of this character
portrait by Katherine Mansfield. Miss Brills life is one of shabby gentility and pretense; this impression
commences in the opening paragraph as she lovingly takes an old-fashioned fox fur out of its box for her usual
Sunday outing to the gardens. Looking forward to the new Season, she is, however, distracted by a peculiarly
ominous feeling that seems to be in the air and for which she does not know how to accountlike the chill from
a glass of iced water before you sip. Maternally caressing the fur, she looks into its dim little eyes, hearing its
fearful question: What has been happening to me? With this question, the narrator submerges the point of view
into the psyche of Miss Brill, and the reader beholds her pathetic attempt to build a fantasy life to protect her from
the harsh facts of her existence. Like the insidious illness that seems to be creeping to life inside her, Miss Brill is
abruptly forced to confront the reality that her imagination seeks to escape: She is growing old and lonely in her
exile, and the world is an unfriendly place for such people.
Occupying her special seat, Miss Brill gives only partial attention to the band music, for it is obvious that her
main interest in coming to the park each week is to participate in the lives of people around herin fact, she
prides herself on her ability to eavesdrop on the conversations of those nearby without seeming to do so. This is
her escape from a dreary existencea dark little room like a cupboard in a rooming house from which she
emerges four afternoons a week to read to an invalid and cadaverous old man until he falls asleep in his garden.
At first, an elderly couple share her seat but prove uninteresting. Miss Brill recalls last Sundays old Englishman
and his complaining wife, whom Miss Brill had wanted to shakepresumably because the wife scorns the
companionship Miss Brill lacks in her life. Soon, however, she turns her attention toward the crowd of passersby:
raucous children, an old beggar who sells flowers from a tray, and laughing young girls in bright colors who pair
off with soldiers. Hovering just beyond the threshold of a conscious reflection is the knowledge that all the people
who meet in the Jardins Publique Sunday after Sunday, occupying the same benches and chairs, are nearly all old
and look as though they, too, have just come from the same dingy little rooms.
As if the thought were too painful for close scrutiny, Miss Brill focuses on the crowd once again, and this time she
notices a woman wearing a shabby ermine toque approach a dignified, elderly gentleman. Miss Brills sudden,
intense identification with the woman blurs her literal point of view: Now everything, her hair, her face, even her
eyes, was the same color as the shabby ermine, and her hand, in its cleaned glove, lifted to dab her lips, was a tiny
yellowish paw. Immediately, Miss Brill projects a fantasy aura around the pair; next, however, she sees the man
rebuff the woman, crudely blowing cigarette smoke in her face. The womanwhom Miss Brill has come to
identify by her toquecovers her humiliation by smiling brightly and retreats out of Miss Brills sight. As usual,
whenever a painful thought comes too close, Miss Brill turns her attention outward to the sights and sounds
around her.
Now, however, a new perception has been awakened in her as a result of this slightly sordid encounter, and it fills
Miss Brill with elation: Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting here, watching it
all! She conceives of life as all theater and playacting, and she herself as a participantone of lifes actresses, no
longer a mere eavesdropper and spectator. The premonitions that tugged at her spirits at the beginning of the story
are dispelled by this vision; she even imagines a future dialogue with the old man to whom she reads, in which she
pronounces herself an actress.
Like the ominous leaf drifting from nowhere out of the sky, a warning chill fills her with sadness and presages the
storys denouement. A young, well-dressed couple appear nearby; inescapably, Miss Brill prepares to overhear,
first having assigned them their romantic roles as hero and heroine fresh from his fathers yacht. Their dialogue
overwhelms Miss Brill with its blatant cruelty:No, not now, said the girl. Not here, I cant. But why?
Because of that stupid old thing at the end there? asked the boy. Why does she come here at allwho wants
her? Why doesnt she keep her silly old mug at home?
The youth continues to importune her, but the girl breaks off in a fit of giggling, derisive laughterat Miss Brills
fur, which to the girl looks like a fried whiting.
The narrator then summarizes Miss Brills return home, commenting only that she bypasses her usual stop at the
bakers for a slice of honeycake. Back in her room, mortified like the woman in the shabby toque, she hurriedly

replaces her fur in its box without looking at it; as the full shock of her rejection strikes, the narrator concludes the
story in a manner reminiscent of the opening: But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something
crying.
The short story Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield gives great insight into how lonely people can begin to warp
their perception of the world around them, causing them to unwittingly deny their loneliness, causing their twisted
perception of the world to crumble. The main character, Miss Brill, sits in the park and eavesdrops on other
conversations. She wears a fox pelt around her neck and strokes it as she listens in on other peoples
conversations. She is a lonely foreigner, yet she doesnt realize it. The lack of realization causes her to distort the
world around her.
Miss Brills eccentric disposition is revealed especially when she pulls her fur out of a box, rubbed the life back
into the dim little eyes and personifies it. Mansfield has Miss Brill give the fur a voice and emotions, when in
reality, it is an inanimate object. This description gives way to Miss Brills appearance and quirky disposition.
Miss Brill continues to stroke it and carries it with her through the story, which Mansfield uses to reveal that she
does not have any other friends or acquaintances in which to socialize with. This exclusion from the world around
Miss Brill gives reason to why she pries on others conversations and behaviors.
Mansfield especially uses Miss Brills reactions and emotions toward the conversations and actions of the other
characters to characterize her. The old couple she saw gives her little emotion at first. She views them as though
theyd just come from cupboards, a metaphor comparing them to forgotten dishes. Mansfield uses this to add
irony later on in the story. The selection of detail that Miss Brill uses to describe the other park members shows
that she is a sagacious observer. Mansfield uses the music that the band is playing in the park as a motif to parallel
Miss Brills emotions. Throughout the story, Miss Brill listens to the band, and connects it with the situations that
she observes. Miss Brill says to herself that the band seemed to know what [the ermine toque] was feeling
when she observes the ermine toque. The recurrence of the music being played by the band is what Mansfield
uses to characterize Miss Brill through internal emotions that Miss Brill had yet to realize herself.
Through all the characterization techniques used by Mansfield, Miss Brill becomes a character who eventually
realizes the truth about herself. Mansfield uses irony when Miss Brill went into the little dark room- her room
like a cupboard. Incorporating the cupboard in the final revelation shows that Miss Brill realizes that she is like
the old couple in the park. When Miss Brill lays the fox fur back inside its box, she puts the lid on and thought
she heard something crying. The crying was Miss Brill herself, which is how Mansfield causes the reader to feel
sympathy for her. This is also a way that the author reveals a compassionate tone. The irony, repetition, motifs,
and revelations in the story cause the reader to grow with Miss Brill, causing a stronger reaction in the pathos of
the reader.
"Miss Brill," by Katherine Mansfield, Sundays are a magical day for Miss Brill until she is forced to step out of
her daydream and face reality. Every Sunday Miss Brill, a shy English school teacher, goes to the Public Gardens
and takes her "special seat" to look forward to listening to the conversations of others.. This lonely older woman
has become quite the expert on eavesdropping. Miss Brill starts to view everything she observes on Sundays in the
form of a beautifully choreographed theatrical performance in which everything, herself included, plays a role.
This is a place where she feels as though she"belongs." One Sunday her fantasy is shattered by the inconsiderate
and harsh remarks of a young couple. Mansfield shows us how hurtful the truth can be to people who haven't
realized or accepted the reality in which they live.
Miss Brill views herself as a needed part of something spectacular on Sundays. She sits on the park bench wearing
the fur that she is so fond of and in her mind nothing could be grander than "the play" at the garden. When
thinking of things, such as the band that plays regularly in the park, Miss Brill compares them to family: "It was
like some one playing with only the family to listen...." Everything and everyone is included in this performance
she loves so dearly. Even the young couple who take a seat on the bench with her are pictured to be the "hero and
heroine" of her magical fairy tale. This is her escape from the life she has; her escape from the truth.
In reality, Miss Brill is a part of nothing. She sits alone on a bench with her ratty old fur and watches the world
pass before her. She sees other people sitting on benches Sunday after Sunday and thinks of them as "funny...odd,
silent, nearly all old...as though they'd just come from dark little rooms." Rather than see herself as one of them,
she creates a fantasy world to escape facing the truth. Even in this seemingly perfect production, within Miss
Brills mind, Mansfield shows us that there is the possibility of evil. Along come the "hero and heroine" of Miss
Brills imagination and the nasty truth cuts like a knife. The young couple begin to ridicule and make fun of the

"stupid, old, lonely lady that no body wants," and in that instant her dream is demolished and little world
crumbles. Miss Brill solemnly walks home, passing up things that she used to look forward to. She sits on her bed,
puts the fur back in its box, and thinks she hears something crying. The fur is symbolic of something old and
lonely that has lost its beauty over the years. The fur is not crying...Miss Brill is. The fantasy is over and the truth
must now sink in.
Analysis of Points of View in "Miss Brill"
Analysis of Points of View in "Miss Brill"
The point of view that Katherine Mansfield has chosen to use in Miss Brill serves two purposes. First, it
illustrates how Miss Brill herself views the world and, second, it helps the reader take the same journey of
burgeoning awareness as Miss Brill.
The story is written in a third person omniscient (although limited) point of view. Miss Brill also interprets the
world around her in a similar fashion. She is her own narrator, watching people around her and filling in their
thoughts to create stories to amuse herself. Compared to most people, Miss Brills thinking is atypical. Generally,
in viewing the world around him, a person will acknowledge his own presence and feelings. For example, if
something is funny, a person will fleetingly think I find that amusing. While that entire sentence may not
consciously cross his mind, the fact that it is humorous is personally related. Miss Brill has no such pattern of
thought. She has somehow managed to not include herself in her reactions; she is merely observing actions and
words. In this manner, she most resembles the narrator of the story by simply watching and relaying the events
around her.
This internalized third person point of view is taken even further when Miss Brill decides that the park and
everyone in it [is] like a play. It [is] exactly like a play (260). This is the epitome of her detached point of view.
Not only is she merely watching the people around her, she is so far removed from them that she feels like a
separate audience. This theory that she hits upon then changes, and she decides that she does, in fact, have a part
in the play as an actress. Even at this point of inclusion, she does not see herself as a leading lady, but as a mere
cast member is the drama that unfolds in the park every Sunday. This seems even more detached. It implies that
she is putting on a show rather than behaving and reacting honestly toward her own life.
As Miss Brill travels from her isolated existence into self-awareness, the reader is also taken on the same trip. The
readers perceptions of Miss Brill during the story mirror and shift...
Point of View" Usage in Mansfield's 'Miss Brill'
Summary: By using the third person omniscient point of view, Mansfeld successfully shows that Miss Brill was
trying to avoid loneliness without creating a feeling of sympathyWithout hiding Miss Brill's own point of view in
the third person point of view, this understanding of Miss Brill's aversion to loneliness would not be possible. .

"Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfeld follows an elderly woman on her usual Sunday afternoon visit to the park.
Miss Brill, this old woman, enjoys listening to the band play loudly and gaily every week, but more importantly,
she observes and draws conclusions about the people around her. Mansfeld uses the third person limited
omniscient point of view to allow the narrator to look into Miss Brill's thoughts and feelings, and it becomes
apparent that she is suffering from loneliness. In order to ease the pain that this feeling of loneliness is creating,
Miss Brill makes up illusions, and tries to free herself from reality, but eventually ends up having to face this
reality. In addition to this, she takes weekly visits to a park and tries to associate herself with the people there.
This idea of Miss Brill trying to avoid loneliness...