Memories are the key to unlocking the way in which people will understand the world around them. Individuals will shape their future from the memories they experienced in their youth. Stefan is the main character in Michael Frayn’s novel ‘Spies’. Stefan’s life is structured around the events that occurred in his past and the memories formed around these experiences. His memories are both positive and negative and therefore had equally positive and negative effects on the person he became. Everyday people will also be shaped on how their memories affected them when they were younger.
Memories are triggered by an often external stimulus such as a smell or a sound or even just the mere sight of something can allow flashbacks of memories to occur. In Stefan’s case his recollections started with a scent of something from when he was a child. “The third week of June, and there it is again: the same almost embarrassingly familiar breath of sweetness that comes every year about this time”. Stefan smelt the scent of privet which made him remember the times in which he used to play games in a privet hedge when he was younger. People will also regularly hear a song which reminds them of a certain time in their lives in which they heard that song and memories from that particular space in time.
The detection of the scent allowed Stefan to access old memories that he hadn’t thought about in an extended period of time. Several of these memories changed the way in which he understood the world around him. In his childhood he and his best friend, Keith played a game in which they pretended that Keith’s mother was a spy. The ending of this game debatably caused the death of Uncle Peter. This memory made Stefan understand the concept of right and wrong and that for every action there is a consequence. This shaped Stefan into a responsible person who could take accountability for his mistakes. “I feel a lump coming to my throat, I’m so sorry for Uncle Peter, I’m so sorry for...