1. What role does the relationship between Bill Roach and Jim Prideaux play in the novel?

[Jen]

1. What role does the relationship between Bill Roach and Jim Prideaux play in the novel?

[John]

Contrary to some of the comments on the Shelfari site, I don't believe that Jim is trying to recruit Bill. I think the relationship shows that even betrayed and damaged, Jim remains a fundamentally decent person, trying to build up and support a wounded and lonely child.

[Jen]

I agree with John. I didn't see the shelfari comments but I never got the impression that Jim was trying to recruit Bill. Both had been betrayed. Bill by his parents and Jim by the people he trusted and loved.

[John]

Jen wrote: "I agree with John. I didn't see the shelfari comments but I never got the impression that Jim was trying to recruit Bill. Both had been betrayed. Bill by his parents and Jim by the people he truste..."

Nice note on the fact that both had been betrayed, Jen. I didn't catch that similarity.

[Jan]

It's a while since I read the book, maybe 4 or 5 years.

I think Jim recognised Bill as a fellow outsider and felt sympathy for him. Jen's right that betrayal was a part of it, but to me the fellow feeling was also around needing to be true to yourself, despite what others might think of you or try to force you to be.

Maybe Le Carré included this relationship to show another side to Jim, one that those in the Circus wouldn't have known about.

[Jen]

Perhaps I am more cynical. There are some interesting parallels between them. Bill Roach loves Jim as someone to look up to and who will protect him. Jim loved Bill Hayden in similar ways (he was also a shy kid). Both were betrayed by people they trusted.

Perhaps even more interesting was the way it ended with Bill Roach saying to himself that the gun was an illusion (love blinds you from seeing the true person). Similarly Jim probably suspected Bill but his love for him also caused an illusion.

So both Bill Roach and Jim loved men who were ultimately not who they claimed to be. Question is will Jim make different choices and be trustworthy for Bill (I think there are glimmers of that). Bill roach presents Jim with an alternative - a chance for a new direction grounded in trust.

[Jan]

No, not more cynical. It all works around betrayal. I was thinking of the need to be true to yourself in the context of Bill being the new boy and therefore vulnerable to the kind of torture young boys like to inflict on those they perceive as weak, but who are actually a threat to the established order. Jim had been tortured by his captors in Budapest, and then forced out of the Circus because he was also perceived as weak and a threat to the stability at the Circus. Pressure like that might make some people conform to the peer group, but Jim went his own way and I think saw the same potential in Bill. That's how it seemed to me, anyway.

Now I'm feeling vague, but isn't there also something in the relationship around Bill needing Jim to be some kind of replacement/alternative father figure, whereas Jim knows that you can't replace the person who betrayed you so at the same time as he looks out for Bill, he also tries to stop Bill hero-worshipping him?

[Patrick]

Even though I agree with the comments made about betrayal and with the fact that Jim does not explicitly try to "recruit" Bill, Prideaux nevertheless "uses" Bill as a watcher, partly in playfulness, as a game, in order to create a bond between the two, but also partly because Prideaux felt he was being tracked; otherwise, why would he have given hidden the gun near his trailer? He obviously needed some help in order to prevent any vindictive approach whether from the Russians or from disgruntled Circus elements.

[Nate]

Bill Roach is Bill Hayden's child. He refers to him in the end when he asks Smiley to give "a boy" some money from the reptile fund. Jim Prideaux is loyal to Bill Hayden so he specifically works there to look after him, thus adding to the betrayal that Jim feels when he realizes who the mole has been and who betrayed him.