Keith and Stephen’s Relationship

All along Chapter 3, there are many sentences that suggest that Stephen is convinced of Keith’s total superiority and that he accepts it blindly, disregarding any evidence that points to the contrary. His low self-esteem and his sense of inferiority can account for this conviction.

The narrator uses a clear metaphor to describe Keith and Stephen´s asymmetrical relationship: Keith is the “hero” whereas Stephen  is just his “sword bearer”. Therefore, Stephen`s role is limited to follow, help and obey his friend´s orders.  At times, Stephen´s subordination is shown in the way he copies his friend's words:  “‘Nothing´ says Keith. ‘Nothing’ I confirm.” But mostly, Stephen´s voice seems to be annihilated by Keith´s, as the following quotations illustrate: “One of my tasks as his sword-bearer, though, is to prompt his imagination by offering useless suggestions.” “If theories involving secret passages, rockets, time travel, and the like are to carry conviction, they have to be uttered in his voice, not mine.” Moreover, Keith seems to have the power not only to silence Stephen but also to govern his behaviour and thoughts: “(…) I humbly wait for Keith to announce what we’re to think and what we’re to do”.Evidently, their relationship seems to be more an autocracy than a democracy.

Stephen´s admiration for Keith goes so far as to speak of him as a deity: “(...) he is more than a protagonist in the events we are living through- (...) he is in some mysterious way their creator.” Like God´s in the Book of Genesis, Keith´s words have creating power: “In each case he uttered the words, and the words became so. He told the story and the story came to life” The six words “my mother is a German spy” generated a new world for the children, as well as the story of the novel. Stephen does not possess this same power. When he says his father is also a German spy, the only reaction Keith has is a faint movement of his lips in  “a slight dismissive amusement”

If Keith is a God, Stephen is his most faithful acolyte. Not only does Stephen praise Keith all the time in these chapters, but he even silences any doubt he may have about the legitimacy of his friend's  leadership: “I have private reservations about the spelling but keep them to myself, as I do any of the other small occasional reservations I have about his authority.” His low self-esteem and his inferiority complex are the two conditions for this admiration not to be shaken by any conflicting evidence. If Keith misspells a word, Stephen dismisses his doubts, and blindly accepts Keith´s spelling. In chapter 5, he is even ready to own up to his friend's mistakes as if they were his own: “I want to lie and say it was me to spare Keith´s shame (...)”.

Will Stephen´s subservience continue all along the book? Well, that is the question we will have to answer as we go on reading.