Genre
Thriller, Spy Novel.
Setting and Context
The novel is set in Britain, during May and June of 1914, just at the start of World War One.
Narrator and Point of View
Richard Hannay is the narrator of the novel and everything that happens is told from his perspective.
Tone and Mood
Suspicious and threatening.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Hannay is the protagonist; the antagonists are the German spies who are triying to prevent him from spilling details of their plot to steal British defense secrets.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is World War One; although the war has not started officially during the novel, it is the key conflict within it as there is widespread knowledge that is it all but inevitable.
Climax
The German spies are captured and the secrets of Britain's defenses strategies are kept safe.
Foreshadowing
Scudder's death foreshadows that danger that Hannay is now going to find himself in.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Throughout the novel, real-life details from World War One are alluded to, for example, strategies of German spies who were trying to prevent Britain from being able to defend herself even before the war had broken out.
Imagery
The images painted are generally intended to convey the remoteness of the Scottish lands that Hannay flees to. The moor, for example, is painted as wild, deserted and lonely.
Paradox
Scudder had faked his own death to ensure his safety but he is the only character in the book who actually dies twice, one in a fiction he made up himself, and once when he is murdered by German spies.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between Hannay and Sir Harry as both men have travelled extensively in Africa and therefore feel the tie of having been colonial ex-pats on the continent.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The Black Stone Conspirators is the phrase used to describe the German spies who are never seen as individuals but rather as a dangerous group threat.
Personification
N/A
