Clocks, watches and natural time
The importance of time and its measure is foregrounded by the presence of clocks in the novel, especially in the actions where Stella is involved: "It was some minutes since she had heard eight strike."[24] Time is also seen as measured by natural processes: "nothing spoke but the clock... the petals detached themselves from a rose in the bowl."[34] There is a particular emphasis on time during the meetings between spies-lovers: "even her wrist watch seemed to belie time,"[35] "their two wristwatches… never perfectly synchronising."[36] Also, time in the isolated Holme Dene seems to work in a unique way: "the grandfather clock, on the other hand, must have stood there always⎯time had clogged its ticking."[37]
Photographs
In Stella's flats, photographs emphasise the importance of the past and the problematic of representation. We are told that there "were two photographs, not framed yet⎯the younger of the two men was Roderick, Stella’s twenty-year-old son."[2] Photographs of Robert in Holme Dene seem to contribute to the construction of Robert's identity: "sixty or seventy photographs, upward from snapshots to crowded groups, had been passepartouted or framed… All of the photographs featured Robert."[26]
Windows and mirrors
By making Stella look through windows and into mirrors, the author highlights the importance of perceiving the environment, most importantly during scenes involving plotting and espionage: "Over the photographs, hung a mirror⎯into which, on hearing Harrison’s footstep actually on the stairs, she looked; not at herself but with the idea of studying, at just one more remove from reality, the door of this room opening behind her."[2] Her looking through windows dramatises the isolation and partial safety in which the citizens lived through the Blitz at their homes, and it also symbolises the tensions between her self-image and how she may be regarded from the outside.
Mirrors also underscore Stella's concerns about her own appearance and her identity as perceived by others: "She carried the lamp to meet one of its own reflections in a mirror, and, lifting it, studied the romantic face that was still hers."[38]
Newspapers
Newspapers are the main vehicle for information and propaganda dissemination. Additionally, the novel problematises the way they may determine people's perception of the war: "Bowen’s point is that these two ways of reacting to newspapers are fundamentally similar: one brashly independent-minded, the other fragilely seeking for a sense of self, but both caught up in the war as story."[20] In particular, Louie is seen to be profoundly affected by the discourse of newspapers: she "now felt badly about any part of herself which in any way did not fit into the papers’ picture... [she] came to love newspapers physically."[39]
