Henry Graham Greene 

OM CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991), professionally known as Graham Greene,

was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th
century.[1][2] Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his
lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed
them). He was shortlisted, in 1966 and 1967, for the Nobel Prize for Literature.[3][4] Through 67 years of writings,
which included over 25 novels, he explored the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world, often
through a Catholic perspective.

The story begins with the main character, a boy, Charlie Stove, waiting for his mother to fall asleep. He gets out
of bed and goes down the steps to his father's tobacco shop. He goes down and thinks about his father. The boy
doesn’t doubt that he is committing a crime by stealing cigarettes, but this doesn’t matter to him, because he
doesn’t love his father. He's scared. When reaches the bottom floor, he hears people's voices. He holds his
breath and tries to remain unnoticed. It turns out that these people are his father and strangers in the uniform.
The boy is surprised by his father's behavior. His father takes a few packs of cigarettes, and after his refusal of
talking to the family, they leave. Charlie goes back up to his bed and falls asleep.

The problem raised by the author in this story is a problem of the fate of families during the war. Throughout
the story, we see the family whose members are separated from each other.

This image also includes the author's idea – to show how war can separate people spiritually and physically. At
the beginning of the story, we learn that Charlie is close to his mother, but they don't even see each other once
throughout the story. The boy waits for her to fall asleep, and his secrets estrange him from her. We also learn
that he doesn’t love his father, but it is his father who the boy becomes closest physically to, and when he is
enriched with affection and empathy to him, his father gets taken away by the officers and the physical
possibility of family reunification vanishes.

The story is told in the third person. Sometimes it includes the main character's thoughts and dialogues between
other characters. The narrative is interlaced with reflections presented in the boy's mind, but they are still
narrated in the third person.

The prevailing mood of the story is dark, mysterious, and tense. At the beginning of the story, even such quiet
actions as mom's snoring are heard against the background of explosions. Searchlights create a sense of eternal
surveillance. Even when the main character is already in bed and falling asleep, we don’t get relieved, because
there is still an air of uncertainty. The setting plays an important role in the story.

In such a short story, it is difficult to distinguish the components, but, nevertheless, we can highlight the
exposition. This is the moment when Charlie gets out of bed and contemplates on his parents and school. All the
way down to the tobacco shop is a development of action. The action seems to be heating up. The symbol of the
circles of hell appears. Upstairs, the boy is afraid and uncertain. At the very bottom, he sees a betrayer caught,
as in Dante's hell. This is the climax of the story. When he goes upstairs, he changes his mind. The boy falls
asleep – this is the denouement. But we can say that the end of the story remains open, because we don't know
what will happen to the characters afterwards.

Тo show Charlie’s attitude towards his parents, the author uses epithets. Thinking of the mother he uses:
“passionate demonstrative love”, “her…boisterous presence”, “noisy chanty”, and those of father: “he was
unreal to him, a wraith, pale, thin, and indefinite”. In a sentence “but his father’s affection and dislike were as
indefinite as his movements” we can find a simile, which shows us that the boy is scared because of uncertainty,
as I mentioned it before.

The meaning of the title is quite simple. I spy. As the story isn’t told in the first person, this phrase can be
applied to each character. Both father and son are spies. This phrase sounds like a typical phrase of a child who
is proud that he is like his parent. I spy means I'm a spy, like my dad.