In Michael Frayn's Spies, the description of Keith as Stephen's "best friend" doesn't fit him as much as the "officer corps in [their] army two men". Keith is obviously described as pushy, domineering, dominating and domineering on occasion, always needing to be in charge, always needing to 'have someone to be braver than'. It's in these moments that we see how little of a true friend Keith is to Stephen, and how he acts more like a leader than an equal. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Right at the beginning of the novel, in chapter 2, Stephen feels like he is "lucky to be friends with Keith", which shows just how Stephen is very grateful towards Keith, to the point that he is willing to be pushed and guided by him. During the first interaction between Stephen and Keith, Keith's social standing is much higher than Stephen's as he lives in an elegant and impeccable house, "number 2. Chollerton". The Haywards." And the kids are "socially color coded" as Stephen attends a public school while Keith goes to a private school. It's also worth noting that Keith is most likely the way he is because of his family life. The Mr. Hayward is described as apathetic, formal and is even blatantly stated to be abusive to Keith. In the third chapter, while Stephen and Keith are investigating Mrs. Hayward, Keith repeatedly misspells words in their logbook , Stephen doesn't call him out on it, and at the end of the novel, when Mrs. Hayward realizes that Keith misspelled "private" as "privet," Stephen has half a mind to take responsibility for it to spare Keith the embarrassment it shows how much Stephen is willing to stoop for Keith, perhaps because he thinks he owes it to him. When Mrs. Hayward visits Braemar and tells Stephen that Keith is "easily led," Stephen stands staring at her in disbelief, unable to do so. he even imagines Keith being driven by him. He wonders how Keith manages to fool both mothers into thinking Stephen is the leader. This leads to feeling sympathy for Keith rather than Stephen, as Mrs. Hayward's words imply that Keith is being mistreated at home, presumably by his father. Keith is also depicted as a bully in various scenarios as he does not recognize Stephen's behavior. courage and often undermines, belittles, and mocks him, as when Stephen gives Keith the sock he found in the tin box or when Stephen offers theories about Mrs. Hayward's whereabouts. Keith ignores him and his "eyelids droop" in disapproval to demonstrate to Stephen that his ideas do not deserve recognition and that any ideas that are not Keith's are invalid. The juxtaposition between Keith and his father clearly shows the same condescending sneer and arrogant expression. Later in the story, Keith also mocks Stephen for "hiding [his] face like a little child" when he sees the man near the tin box. The hypocrisy of this statement, however, shines through immediately afterwards when they hear someone approaching and they both hide their faces in the mud. This is the first time we see the boys as equals, while the second is when they rush back to the Close after terrorizing the tramp, "none of [their] leaders, none of [their] led." This shows that fear is the balancing force between the boys and also shows that Stephen has now started to realize Keith's role and is therefore now trying to take on a leadership position. Another example of Keith's dominant nature comes when he borrows..