The Russia House | Themes

Part of what makes le Carre's fiction appealing is its emphasis on human nature. Le Carre's novels are not about great armies of spies that clash in the night, deciding the fate of all humanity. Instead, they are stories of individual people, whose personalities shape what they do. Central in The Russia House is Barley's personality, not the characteristics of his government, or his spy agency, or the Western world, Ned recognizes this, which is why he knows well ahead of time what Barley really intends to do. Ned's colleagues do not realize Barley's intentions; they naively think...

[The entire page is 125 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass