Guiding questions (Chapter 5)

Spies- chapter 5 (up to “(...) one single familiar letter: X")

Guiding questions:

1. Comment on the first sentence. Where has it appeared before? What does the sentence announce the narrator is going to  do in the following paragraphs?
2. At the beginning of this chapter, is Stephen still focusing on his childhood memories or has he shifted onto the narrative present?
3. Was the Close old when Stephen was a child?
4. How had the village been born? What used to be there before?
5. What was there at the end of the Close when you turned right?
6. What was there at the end of the Close when you turned left? Does the landscape there look the same as in Stephen´s childhood?
7. What about the tunnel? How did it use to look? How does it look today?
8. What was it like to cross the tunnel and visit the world beyond it?

After describing the place, the narrator shifts to the memories of his childhood adventures again.

1. What did Stephen and Keith find out about Mrs Haywards´ outings? Where did she go? What evidence did they have? What hypotheses did they come to in order to explain those trips to themselves?
2. What did they finally see with their own eyes? What did they find hidden in the undergrowth? What was there inside?