I, Spy

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

I, Spy

Literature

Let's read the text together

While reading, focus on the following:

• What is the setting?
  
• What is the perspective of this story?
  
• Who are the characters?
  
• What can you tell about the relationships between them?
  
• In what way are the two male main characters the same?
  

1. In which perspective is the story written?

1. first-person perspective
2. third-person perspective
3. omniscient perspective

Explain your answer

Class discussion.

Explanation

•  The narrator isn’t part of the story
• We only see what Charlie Stowe hears and thinks.

2. Who are the other characters
in this short story (besides Charlie)?

Other characters

• Charlie's mother
• Charlie's father
• The two men who accompany Charlie's father
  
  
• The policeman outside and classmates are mentioned in the story, but play no role, so you don't have to remember them

What are the two elements that you need to describe when talking about setting?

3. What is the setting of this story?

Discuss in pairs / groups of three

Underpin your answers with examples or quotes from the text.

For the time you cannot use WWI.

What is it?

Class discussion.

What is the setting of this story? (time)

In the evening; a searchlight passed the sky.

What is the setting of this story? (place)

The tobacconist shop in a city in England near the shore

Hints in the text:

• The tobacconist’s shop which his father kept; 
• the wind blew from the sea; 
• he would be in Norwich (=England)

4. Charlie and his father are quite similar. Give two examples from the text to underpin this statement.

Discuss in pairs or groups of three.

Correct answer:

• They both hold their collar the same way
  
• They both do things in the dark they should not do.

5. Connect the descriptions to the relationship

Charlie and his father.

Charlie and his mother.

Charlie's father and Charlie's mother.

not (very) good

bad

good

5. Explain previous answers.

Discuss this in pairs or groups of three

Explanation

Charlie and his father: bad

• he did not love his father; his father was unreal to him; [his father] noticed him only spasmodically
  
  Charlie and his mother: good
• "for his mother he felt a passionate demonstrative love"
  
  Charlie and his father: not (very) good
• Mr Stowe doesn’t even want to say goodbye to his wife when he is given the chance.

6a. Charlie's father enters the shop with two men. Who are they?

Bowler hat

Belted mackintosh

6b. What is the reason they
are accompanying the father?

Well..

They have arrested him.

6c. What do you think is going to happen with Charlie's father?

1. He will be probably thrown in jail.
2. He will probably be deported to Germany.
3. He will probably be executed.
4. He will probably get a fine.

6d. Why do you think this is going to happen? Look for clues in the text to underpin your answer.

Discuss this in pairs or groups of three

The clue

• The policemen ask if he wants to say goodbye to his wife, but he says he wants to do that at a later time. 
• He asks if that is possible and one of the policemen says: “while there is life”, foreshadowing his coming death.

At the end of the story Charlie wants to "tell him that he loved him."

7a. Why is this surprising, given the relationships described in question 5?

Well..

They do not have a really good bond.

7b. Why is it understandable, given the answers described in questions 4 and 6?

Well..

• Maybe Charlie finally realised his father and him were quite similar. 
• Another reason could be that he felt something was very wrong.

The title of this short story is I, spy.
To whom does this title refer?

Explain your answer

Class discussion.

The title refers to:

• Charlie, as he spies on his father and the two strange men, but also Mr Stowe. 
• Mr Stowe did things in the dark that he wasn’t supposed to, which could refer to spying.

I think I understand this text well enough for the test.

Yes

No

Continue

If you have answered yes on the previous question, fill in the grid about I, Spy.

If you have answered no, please let me know what you do not understand (yet). Afterwards, fill in the grid as well.