Liar & Spy

The novel highlights a motif or pattern of perception and how it influences a person’s view of the world. There are several examples of this throughout the novel, spread across a wide variety of characters. One such instance is Georges’s realization that the shop he knows as “Bennie’s” and considers to be one of his “places” also belongs to Candy, Safer’s sister. Candy calls the shop “the Chock-Nut.” This baffles Georges, who has never heard it called by the name on the sign. When he marvels at this to Bennie, Bennie is unmoved. Seeking more information, Georges asks what Bennie calls it. Bennie tells him, “work” (40). Here the novel develops three ways of perceiving the same shop. Importantly, while Georges considers it “Bennie’s,” Bennie himself does not seem to feel the same sense of ownership or attachment.

Another example of the ways in which perception impacts reality occurs when the novel explores Bob English’s interest in spelling reform. He challenges Georges to perceive misspelled words in new ways, pointing out that people perceive the same letter as many different sounds depending on the words they appear in. When he highlights this with the word “fish” and a new spelling of “ghoti,” he points out that we perceive the gh sound as f in the word laugh, for example. Candy also challenges Georges’s acceptance of perception as reality when she insists that she would simply call her own lunch table the “cool table” and let everyone sit there. Georges says this is not possible, but Candy understands that what makes the cool table cool is the collective perception of its coolness; changing the definition of “cool” therefore makes it possible to change the lunchroom hierarchy.

Finally, Georges and Safer’s differing perceptions on their spy game leads to conflict and nearly ends their friendship. While Safer perceives the adventure as a game of make-believe between friends, Georges perceives it to be real. What Safer sees as imaginative contributions to their adventures, Georges perceives to be lies. Georges’s father gently suggests that his son shift his perspective by asking, “Did you go down there thinking you would find real spies? […] So weren’t you kind of on notice from the beginning that it was a game?” (147-48). When Georges protests that Safer “acted serious. Like he believed it,” Georges’s father points out, “Some games are played that way” (148). Changing his perspective on Safer’s actions and motivations from lies and mockery to play and games helps Georges to repair their friendship and move forward. Just as pointillism functions as a symbol for perspective, the motif of perception’s influence on reality helps develop the novel’s messages about the importance of one’s mindset.