The Secret Agent

Initially, The Secret Agent is not an easy read because of its "jumping" nature. The novel constantly jumps from present to past to flashbacks to everything in between. Once you can get over that then the book's underlying themes start to make some sort of sense. "Mr. Verloc, getting off the sofa with ponderous reluctance, opened the door leading into the kitchen to get more air, and thus disclosed the innocent Stevie, seated very good and quiet at a deal table, drawing circles, circles; innumerable circles, concentric, eccentric; a coruscating whirl of circles that by their tangled multitude of repeated curves, uniformity of form and confusion of intersecting lines suggested a rendering of cosmic chaos, the symbolism of a mad art attempting the inconceivable." In this quote we can see the initial development of the idea of trust in the novel. Stevie, an idealistic, naive, and autistic boy, puts way too much trust in authority. He's an innocent who only intends to do good, but he is tricked and deceived into doing an evil, deadly act. Trust is a dangerous game which can leave one vulnerable, and as the explosion goes off and Stevie dies, the development of trust's dangerous nature is finalized. Without trust, Stevie would have never died. Without trust, Winnie would have never killed her husband. Without trust, the novel would have taken on a completely different turn. The world is not perfect, and there is no reason we should trust and believe every single thing an authority (or government) figure spews out at us.