Stormbreaker

Mrs. Jones’s habit of sucking on peppermint lozenges is a motif reflecting The Moral Complexity of Espionage. Alex notices this habit when he first meets her. However, it is not until she prepares him to see Sayle that he thinks about the meaning of the peppermints. Alex wonders if she loves peppermints because her job requires her to put agents in danger: “[P]erhaps it was easier for her if her breath was sweet” (84). Mrs. Jones’s work forces her to make difficult, sometimes questionable, decisions that likely take a psychological toll. Enjoyable habits, even one as small as sucking on peppermints, might alleviate her guilt. Alex’s guess at Mrs. Jones’s reason for loving peppermints reflects their strained relationship. Though Mrs. Jones appears more empathetic than Blunt, Alex sees her attempts to act maternally as possibly manipulative. This strain continues throughout the series, though Alex learns more about her life and realizes that she truly cares about him.

The Judgment Day painting is a symbol of Sayle’s plan to murder England’s schoolchildren. It first appears when Alex enters Sayle’s house and sees “a swirling mass of doomed souls and demons” (90). This artwork is the first one Alex sees in the house and the one to which he pays the most attention.