Chapter 5- The World Beyond the Tunnel

A) Read from “ I walk back along the clean grey pavement under the clean steel bridge…” to “ Once again I try to wipe the dark-green slime off my hands.”

Here is a glossary that may help you:

Ordeal: A very unpleasant and prolonged experience. `‘the ordeal of having to give evidence’

The old world: the rural world before the village was built.

Hedgerow: A rough or mixed hedge of wild shrubs and occasional trees, typically bordering a road or field.

Hovel: A small squalid or simply constructed house.

Tumbledown: (of a building or other structure) falling or fallen into ruin; dilapidated

Lurk: Be or remain hidden so as to wait in ambush for someone or something.

Debris: Scattered pieces of rubbish or remains.

Pram: A four-wheeled carriage for a baby, pushed by a person on foot.

Misshapen: Not having the normal or natural shape or form.

Raggedy:  untidy, shabby.

Billy: pot

Causeway:A raised road or track across low or wet ground.

(Source: Oxford Dictionary)

B) Do the following activities:

1) Describe these places: “the Lanes”, “the Cottages”, the “desolate no-man´s land” ,the tunnel.

2) Underline all the words that suggest that the world beyond the tunnel looked neglected.

3) Explain the children´s feelings when they went across the tunnel.

4) Connect  the last sentence of this extract to the end of the previous chapter.

Stephen´s hypotheses

Stephen´s hypotheses change a lot along the novel. At the beginning, Stephen believed  Keith´s mother was a spy helping the Germans. Later, this first hypothesis evolves into the belief that Mrs Hayward was  having an affair with a shotdown German pilot whom she is also helping to survive. 

Everything starts when Keith tells Stephen the six words: “My mother is a German spy”. Stephen is surprised and excited about the idea of going out and investigating. The first hypothesis that comes up to his mind is “She has her eye on all of us”, and together with his friend Keith, he starts  observing her closely and following her around. They believe she is passing information about the neighbours in the Close to the Germans. They even consider the idea that she might have been responsible for the destruction of  Miss Durrant´s house.

The Landscape Beyond the Tunnel

What is there beyond the tunnel?

On the other side of the tunnel, there used to be a narrow path that was almost covered by the growth of vegetation on each side of it in the summer. Even though the path was just one, it was usually called “The Lanes”. A bit further on,  there were some tumbledown hovels that the children called “the Cottages”, ignoring the fact that it was an extremely grand name for such collapsed dwellings. All around the place, there were pieces of damaged objects,  children with ragged clothes and “misshapen dogs”. An abandoned farm was also located in “The Lanes” and it was important because it marked the frontier between the Cottages and, as Stephen called it, “no-man’s land”.

Stephen´s hypotheses on what is going on in chapters 4 and 5

         All along the novel, Keith and Stephen create different hypotheses about the adult world and all the events they can´t understand. Sometimes, these hypotheses can be illogical and childish, but they can also help us construct our own theories of what is going on. As in a real investigation, the children gradually gather new pieces of information, which make their hypotheses transform. The evolution of these changes can be clearly seen in chapters 4 and 5.

Stephen´s inarticulacy

In spite of his vivid imagination and the rich workings of his mind, Stephen seems to become inarticulate  when he has to interact with most of the other characters in the book.

Stephen´s difficulty with expression can be clearly seen when Mrs Hayward comes to Braemar to talk to him in chapter 5 .

What information do Barbara Berril and Mrs Hayward provide as regards Keith's personality?

  In chapter 5, both Barbara Berrill and Mrs Hayward provide some new information as regards Keith, which throws light on his character. Up to this point, we have only learnt about him from Stephen's point of view, and according to him, Keith has a very strong personality that made him the leader of all their conjunct projects. Keith admired him blindly and  felt extremely grateful to be his only friend.  However, what the female characters comment on Keith  give us a new insight on his character.

On the one hand, Barbara Berrill says nobody likes Keith because he is very bossy and arrogant. The reason  nobody visits Keith is because he doesn't have any friends and that’s why Stephen is so welcomed at Keith's house. Therefore, we understand Stephen's gratefulness just stems from his sense of inferiority, because he shouldn´t be grateful to have to suffer Keith´s haughtiness. On the other hand, Mrs. Hayward confirms what Barbara commented about Keith:` “It's such fun for Keith,” she says “ finding a real friend, because it does get a bit lonely sometimes if you don’t have any brothers or sisters, and he doesn’t make friends easily.”´ However, her next statement about Keith astonishes Stephen completely: “But Keith’s easily led, as I’m sure you realise”. In Stephen's view, Keith is always “the instigator and commander of every enterprise”. Having a different perspective make us wonder if Stephen may have played a more active role in their adventures than the one he is convinced he has. The question arises:  What did Mrs Hayward observe and know about her son that made her get the idea that he was influenced by Stephen? Could it be that even though Keith suggests the ideas for their projects, Stephen is the one who gets carried away by them and the one who keeps them going? Could Stephen´s role be more important than what he himself realises?

In conclusion, the female character´s comments on Keith confirm the unreliability of the narrator, and make us question his perspective on the roles they played in their relationship.

The "X" in chapter 5

Click on this link  to see a Flowchart with different possible interpretations of the X

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?