The Spire
Explain how Golding establishes the main themes of The Spire through his portrayal of Jocelin in the first five chapters of The Spire. The bent and twisted hunchback Jocelin is the cornerstone for interpreting and bringing forth the multitude of interesting themes within the novel. Through Golding's experience of World War II, he established many scathing criticisms of humanity in his literature. In The Spire this is represented by the character of Jocelin, a Dean of a nameless cathedral obsessed with the vision of erecting a four-hundred foot spire. Jocelin is the penultimate antihero, the introduction of the story tells us how "He was laughing chin up, and shaking his head. God the father was exploding in his face." It defies the expectations of what context a Dean would place God into, especially in humour, so very early on into this novel are these very slight and gentle implications of corruption, this is also exacerbated when the slight phallic pun of "Eighteen inches" is joked by Golding, and we get a sense of..."expecting the reverse" in the chapters to come. Jocelin later lustfully examines Goody Pangall, what is interesting to note is to note is how Jocelin refers to her while looking at her, he mentions her only as "Pangall's wife" which is incredibly reminiscent of Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men where the female of the story is only referred to as "Curley's
With what techniques and with what success does Gilman shape the readers response to the central character
With what techniques and with what success does Gilman shape the readers response to the central character. Gilman uses setting in the novella to create a sense of isolation. The house they have moved into "is quite alone standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village..there are hedges walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses". The narrator described the house as an isolated place, separate from society. The "gates that lock" and "separate little houses" describes a house that restricts and confines its occupants. The isolation and restriction of the house reflects the mental position of John's wife. Her actions are restricted by her husband and brother who are "physician(s) of high standing". They believe that their method is the only way she will recover and as a result, she is confined to the room with the yellow wallpaper. The setting of the novella is a good technique, it allows some readers to feel sympathy for the narrator and her oppression early in the story. The use of a first person narrative is another technique Gilman has employed. John's wife acting as the narrator allows her to take us through her path of insanity. We are placed in her head and given constant reason to empathise with her. We are told "he says that with (her) imaginative power and habit of story making, a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to
