57 pages • 1 hour read
Ken FollettEye of the Needle
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1978A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Faber’s Stiletto
A stiletto is a thin, narrow knife. Faber wears a stiletto on his left forearm as a form of protection. Faber uses this stiletto to kill Mrs. Garden, several Home Guard soldiers, his former co-tenant, Parkin, and a German agent. To Faber, this stiletto is a symbol of strength and protection, and when he is staying with Lucy and David, he obsessively checks to make sure it is both hidden and accessible to him. Faber is clearly trained and comfortable in using this weapon both in a surprise attack and a face-to-face fight. The stiletto is a symbol of Faber’s professionalism as a spy, as well as his willingness to protect himself at all costs.
When Percy and Bloggs use the stiletto to track Faber’s movements, the symbolism of the knife changes slightly. For them, the hidden weapon symbolizes the hidden danger Faber represents and the lengths he is willing to go to get his information into Hitler’s hands. It therefore becomes a symbol of the danger that information poses for all of Britain.
David’s Wheelchair
After the car accident, David lives with the amputation of both his legs, requiring a wheelchair to help him get around. The reality of living with such a dramatic injury has left David struggling to prove himself as a man. To have this happen the night before he was due to become a pilot in the war has compounded David’s feeling that he has lost his manhood, causing a rift in his marriage as David fights to prove that he is still capable while feeling as though he has been cheated out of his identity and his chance to become a war hero.
The wheelchair is a symbol of David’s lost manhood. It is a physical reminder of all he has left behind with the loss of his legs. However, as David moves to Storm Island and takes on the task of running a sheep farm, the wheelchair is not a hinderance, but a way in which David can prove himself despite the chair. In this way, the wheelchair takes on the symbolism of strength and perseverance. For David, the wheelchair becomes nothing more than another tool at his disposal. For Lucy, however, the wheelchair takes on other meanings. The wheelchair represents the lack of intimacy in her marriage, the tension between herself and David, and the destruction of the dreams she had for her future. After Faber comes to the island and Lucy sees David’s wheelchair abandoned on the island, it represents not only the devastation of David’s death, but also the danger Lucy is in alone on the island.
Storm Island
Storm Island is a small island off the coast of Scotland. The island is owned by David Rose’s father and houses a small sheep farm. Lucy and David move to Storm Island after the car accident that took David’s legs on their wedding night. The island is isolated, visited only every two weeks by a local boat captain, and houses only the Roses and their sheepherder, Tom.
David arrives at Storm Island angry with the world because of the loss of his legs and the lost opportunity to become a war hero. The island takes on the symbolism of a prison for David, a place where he has been locked away to hide him from a world where he feels he no longer fits in with the average man. Despite his feelings of inadequacy, he proves to be quite capable in running the sheep farm and doing the manual labor required. However, this does not lead to a sense of accomplishment or manliness, and his sense of being less than a man continues to disrupt the intimacy in his marriage.
Lucy arrives on Storm Island with a sense of hope, believing this opportunity will allow David the space and freedom to become accustomed to his new abilities. Lucy hopes that time on their own will strengthen their marriage and help David through the anger and depression associated with his injuries. However, as time passes, Lucy also begins to feel as though Storm Island is a prison where she is stuck with a husband who no longer has interest in being intimate with her and no longer seeks her company. Lucy questions her faith in a marriage that appears irretrievably broken. When Faber arrives on the island, Lucy initially sees hope in a new romance. However, when Faber’s true intentions become obvious, Storm Island takes on the symbolism of an isolated prison once more, a place Lucy must defend or not only lose her own life, but also lose the opportunity her country and its allies have to win the war.
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By Ken Follett
