Summary
Chapter 1 begins with Harriet, an eleven-year-old girl living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, teaching her friend Sport how to play Town. She makes up the names, families, and occupations of people living in her town, and writes them all down in her notebook. Harriet tries over and over to get Sport to use his imagination and invent people and scenarios in their town, but he does not take to the game the way she does.
Ole Golly, Harriet's nanny, comes outside to scold her for playing in the mud, and says that she is going to take Harriet and Sport somewhere because now that they are eleven, it is time for them to see more of the world. On the way, Harriet explains her spy notebook: she uses it on her "spy route," to go around the neighborhood and spy on certain people and families to learn things about them. She also writes down everything she observes in the world and her thoughts on it, because when she sees something she wants to remember it.
Ole Golly says she is taking them to Far Rockaway to see how her own family lives. This is mind-boggling to Harriet, who never imagined Ole Golly having a family. Ole Golly takes them into a little private house behind an apartment building. A very large woman greets them enthusiastically in broken English. Harriet is astonished to learn that this is Mrs. Golly, Ole Golly's mother. Ole Golly says she brought them here because they have never seen a small, modest house like this, nor met a woman like Mrs. Golly, who has lived her whole life in this room, and never had any interest in books, school, or anyone else. When Ole Golly announces that it is time for them to leave, Mrs. Golly rocks back and forth in sorrow and shouts that Ole Golly is always leaving. She does not calm down until Ole Golly reminds her that she will be back next week.
When Harriet gets home, she writes in her notebook about Mrs. Golly, remarking that she thinks Ole Golly is so sad to look at Mrs. Golly because she is such a dumb mother. Harriet does want to know what goes on in Mrs. Golly's head. Before bed that night, Ole Golly reads her a passage from Dostoyevsky about loving all God's creation and, through this, coming to know everything there is to know. This pleases Harriet, who wants to be a spy so that she can know everything.
The next morning is Harriet's first day of sixth grade, and as she has done every day for five years, she takes a tomato sandwich for lunch. Harriet speaks briefly to her parents, who are there in the morning, and gets a reminder to mind her manners. Then she goes to school. Harriet attends the Gregory School, which is primarily a girls' school, though boys are allowed to attend up through sixth grade. Harriet is sad to think that Sport will have to go to another school next year. There are only two other boys in her class: Pinky Whitehead, who she thinks is extremely dumb, and a boy she calls The Boy with the Purple Socks, who came as a new student last year and is so boring that Harriet cannot be bothered to remember his real name.
Harriet's other best friend is Janie Gibbs, who wants to be a scientist and plans one day to blow up the world. Janie, Sport, and Harriet all watch as other students arrive, like Beth Ellen Hansen, who is despised because she is the prettiest girl in school; Rachel Hennessey and Marion Hawthorne, who do everything together and who Harriet dislikes; and Carrie Andrews and Laura Peters. Harriet writes observations about all these people as she sees them, and most of them are biting, rude remarks, like "Carrie Andrews is considerably fatter this year."
During the morning assembly given by the dean Miss Angela Whitehead, Harriet writes in her notebook. She remembers that Ole Golly told her there are as many ways to live as there are people on the earth, and that she should not turn a blind eye, but should see all of them. She is eager to get back to her spy route, because she was away all summer out in the country where the houses are too far apart for her to spy.
In homeroom, Miss Elson leads them in the election of their class officer for the year, who controls much of the goings-on of the class, including writing down the names of those who are disorderly when the teacher leaves the room, and editing the Sixth Grade Page of the school paper. Sport and Janie nominate Harriet, as they always do, but then Rachel Hennessey and Beth Ellen Hansen nominate Marion Hawthorne, and, as usual, Marion Hawthorne gets it when it comes to a vote. This makes Harriet extremely angry, so she writes about it in her notebook.
Harriet heads home from school for her cake and milk, which the cook makes her at exactly the same time every day. She always runs smack into the cook whenever she enters the kitchen, because she does not watch where she is going. Afterwards, Harriet heads upstairs to her perfectly organized and tidy room, and gets ready to go out on her spy route. She dons her old pair of blue jeans with belt hooks to hold all her spy gear, like a flashlight, a canteen, and a Boy Scout knife. Then she heads out to spy.
First she sneaks into the private house of Mrs. Agatha K. Plumber, and hides in the dumbwaiter to eavesdrop on Mrs. Plumber's conversation. Mrs. Plumber is talking on the phone with someone, saying she has discovered that the secret of life is to take to your bed and refuse to leave it for anybody. She claims she is "deciding on a profession" while she lies in her bed. Before continuing on her spy route, Harriet stops for an egg cream, listens to conversations at the luncheonette, and tries to guess what people look like based on what they are saying. She gets two out of three guesses right.
Next she stops by Sport's apartment. He is cleaning and preparing to make dinner, because his father, a writer, is always too preoccupied to take care of them, and has not had luck in his attempts to publish lately, so they do not have a lot of money. Harriet asks Sport if he wants to be a writer, and he adamantly says no, he will be either a ball plater or a CPA (accountant), since he takes care of his family's finances already. Her next spy route stop is the Dei Santi's grocery store, where the Dei Santi family are arguing over whether or not their eighteen-year-old son, Fabio, can go out and take the family truck. The Dei Santi siblings chime in, and Harriet wonders what it is like to have brothers and sisters.
That night, as Ole Golly is giving her a bath, Harriet tries to eavesdrop on the conversation her parents are having after her father comes home angry from work. Harriet asks Ole Golly if she will ever leave her, and she says that someday when Harriet is bigger, she will go, because Harriet will not need her anymore. She also asks Ole Golly if she has a boyfriend, and is astonished when she says yes.
Analysis
Though the story has not yet progressed very far, these earliest chapters give readers a good idea of who Harriet is as a character. She is sassy, witty, and always has a sharp comment about the world or the people around her. She is meticulously organized and is a creature of habit, set in her way of doing things and not accustomed to change. She loves to write and observe, and this, paired with her nosy nature, makes spying the perfect pastime. In short, Harriet M. Welsch is not like most eleven-year-old girls, who, according to stereotype, would be just growing out of dolls and developing a fascination with things like makeup and boys. The way Harriet breaks the typical literary role for adolescent girls is part of what makes this book so popular among children who similarly do not fit into a typical mold.
The central object in the story is Harriet's notebook. To Harriet, this notebook is more than just a collection of paper, a place to write down school notes and reminders. Harriet's notebook represents the inner workings of her mind, and the way she interprets the world. The way she keeps it by her side at all times and does not feel comfortable venturing anywhere without it shows how central it is to Harriet's identity. For this reason, Harriet's notebook is like her security blanket.
Aside from Harriet's own characterization, Harriet the Spy is also unique as a 1960s children's book because it examines larger, more challenging themes in a way that is still accessible for young readers. Harriet obviously comes from a wealthy family, and lives comfortably in Manhattan with many people to look after her and cater to her whim. However, as Ole Golly points out in her famous quote, there are as many ways of living as there are people on the earth, and through Harriet's experiences as a spy the book examines all of them. First, Harriet meets Mrs. Golly, a woman who lives humbly and is not as well educated as the people she normally meets. Ole Golly wants Harriet to know about and understand this different way of living, so that she expands her sense of things.
Then, Harriet also sees another kind of life through her best friend, Sport, whose family also does not have the wealth that Harriet's does and who has had to take on many adult responsibilities before he has fully matured. This is also made clear through Sport's realistic view of the world; while Harriet has the luxury of a childlike imagination, Sport has had to mature quickly, and thus is more practical-minded than she is. By contrasting Sport and Harriet, Louise Fitzhugh shows her young readers the different kinds of lives two children the same age can have, and instills a respect for both types.
Ole Golly's role in Harriet's life is significant right from the start. She appears to be the only adult Harriet truly connects with; Harriet does not get along with the cook, does not feel like her parents understand her, and often mocks her teachers and the adults she spies on for their lack of sense. Harriet clearly has a deep respect for Ole Golly, however, and Ole Golly in turn respects her, encouraging her way of living and looking at the world while also preparing her to be a considerate, responsible, wise young lady. Ole Golly is the bridge between Harriet and the rest of the adult world.
