Stormbreaker

The moral complexity of espionage and its impact on spies play a definitive role in the characterization and plot of Stormbreaker. MI6 seeks to protect the country’s interests often at any cost. The heads of MI6 in the novel, Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones, believe wholeheartedly that the ends justify the means. Blunt is pragmatic and sees eliminating national and global threats as the most important goals. He recruits the 14-year-old Alex after noticing Alex’s athleticism and perceptive nature at Ian’s funeral and the Royal & General office. The fact that Alex is an adolescent does not give him pause. Alex’s skills impress him and make him believe that he could be an invaluable spy like Ian. Mrs. Jones, who is concerned about having a teenager take on such an immense mission as investigating Sayle, questions the decision to use Alex. Blunt justifies it with this statement:

If the boy gets himself killed, at least it will be the final proof that there is something wrong. At the very least it’ll allow me to postpone the Stormbreaker project and take a good hard look at what’s going on at Port Tallon. In a way, it would almost help us if he was killed (73).

Though Blunt does not take pleasure in the thought of Alex being killed, he is focused on reducing the damage Sayle could cause and eliminating threats. Mrs. Jones is more sensitive than Blunt and tries to make Alex feel at ease and secure. Her attempts to act maternally toward Alex make him critical of her involvement with Blunt and MI6 but also more sympathetic and understanding toward her.

Despite Alex’s understanding that MI6 is desperate to know Sayle’s intentions, he struggles with the demands on him. Blunt’s threat of upending Alex’s life unless he works with them makes him feel like “dead meat” (55), with no agency or control. The sergeant at the training center questions MI6’s decision to recruit Alex, telling him that the training will be difficult because of his youth and that MI6 is expecting too much of him. Though Alex persists, he doubts Blunt and Mrs. Jones’s intentions. He describes Mrs. Jones’s work as sending spies to their deaths and suggests that her peppermint-sucking habit is a method of coping with the morally complex decisions she must make. Even after he uncovers Sayle’s plan and averts a catastrophe, he has a complicated relationship with MI6. When Alex learns from Blunt and Mrs. Jones that they plan to give him another assignment when they need him again, he is exasperated, irritated, and overwhelmed. He then says, “[H]e’d never been given a choice. Nowadays, spies weren’t employed. They were used” (228). Blunt and Mrs. Jones use Alex when they deem it necessary but do not give Alex a choice to accept or decline. Though they intend to protect Britain and the world, their willingness to put him in dangerous situations frustrates Alex throughout the series, with each installment demanding more of him and putting him in greater danger.