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The Letter “X”
Stephen exhibits what is almost an obsession (perhaps connected to OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) against getting germs on himself. He finds “germs” on a variety of objects: the slime from the tunnel, the children from the Cottages, and the bayonet that Keith pushes into his throat. In general, germs represent anything that is undesirable. First and foremost, Stephen associates them with dirtiness and messiness and uses them to describe the state of his room, which is “a hopeless tangle of string and plasticine and electric cord and forgotten socks and dust, of old cardboard boxes of moldering butterflies and broken birds’ eggs left over from abandoned projects in the past.” Thus, germs provide one way in which Stephen distinguishes his poorer family from Keith’s more affluent and “impeccable” one. Furthermore, Stephen connects the word “germs” with “Germans.” Thus, they also symbolize what Stephen sees as the characteristic quality of Germans, who are “evil and insidious,” and reveal the general nationalistic hatred of Germans in the England of the novel.
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Germs Symbol Timeline in Spies
The timeline below shows where the symbol Germs appears in Spies. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...tries to ignore these words, but he feels them take root in him like insidious “germs.”
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Chapter 6
...the house. Everything is still and dark and frightening. Stephen goes through the tunnel, getting germs on his hands from the slime, and finally makes it into the open, through the...
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...walk past the Cottages, where dogs bark and dirty children (who are “plainly laden with germs”) stare at them. Stephen feels like a member of an alien race here, but realizes...
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Chapter 7
...is German, but simultaneously believes he is an old tramp, because tramps are covered in germs and “germs” are similar to Germans. He also visits the possibility that “x” could be...
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Chapter 8
...the cigarette and puts it in her mouth, and Stephen cries out that she’ll get germs from it. Barbara suspects that Geoff and Deirdre were here smoking and kissing, and Stephen...
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Chapter 9
...her hands, and Barbara leans forward and kisses him. Stephen can’t help thinking about the germs from her mouth, and he suddenly thinks “I’ve found a value for x.” Barbara then...
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Chapter 10
...are. Stephen still can’t help thinking of the man as being German (and giving off germs), even though the man clearly knows Stephen and the other people of the Close.
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...throat. He keeps pushing it harder until it draws blood, and Stephen can feel the “germs” on the blade entering his body. Stephen starts to cry and bleeds more, and he...
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