Spy School

As the novel is set in the world of espionage, guns are ubiquitous. The ability to shoot is a basic expectation, and advanced marksmanship is highly valued. The novel complicates and undermines the valorizing of guns through Ben’s general discomfort, lack of skill, and hesitance to use guns against other people. In the first chapter, Ben suddenly realizes that Alexander Hale is likely armed. Instead of being excited by the presence of a firearm, however, Ben’s reaction is more cautious: “In that moment, the entire encounter with him—which had merely been strange and exciting so far—became slightly unsettling as well” (8). In Ben’s first encounter with Erica, she too references the dangers of carrying a gun when she provides him with a Taser as a weapon instead of something more deadly. Ben tries to improve his marksmanship, but throughout the novel he remains ill-equipped to use a gun in actual combat. He notes later in the novel that, “even though I’d been putting in a lot of time on the shooting range lately, I’d somehow managed to get less accurate. The head instructor […] had even suggested it was safer for me not to have a loaded weapon—although he had given me a realistic-looking toy gun so I could bluff my way out of trouble without shooting myself in the foot” (193).

While the other academy students are largely proficient with firearms, Ben never develops comparable skills. Though a few other characters acknowledge that Ben should probably not have a gun, none of them question the usefulness or value of the gun in general. Instead, Ben is just seen as inadequate in that department. One of the major themes of this novel is individuality as a strength. By making the hero of the novel a character who uses their individual critical thinking and innovative approaches to problem-solving, the novel critiques the reliance of the others on guns. Though Ben uses the gun as a tool, he does not use it as a direct weapon against other people. Murray shoots Ben in the arm without hesitation, but Ben uses the gun to dislodge the ice and snow on the roof instead. This is evidence of Ben honoring his strengths and abilities, even though they differ from those of the other students, and critiques the reliance on guns that many narratives contain. Ben’s confrontation with Murray is hallmarked by violence and aversion as he notices Murray’s actions. Ben’s creative problem solving triumphs, aided by Murray’s over-reliance on his firearm. The critique is subtle, but it is noteworthy that the novel avoids situations in which the traditional use of a gun as a weapon against another person successfully solves a problem.