The Spire on his back whereas the latter is the will of God. His narcissism is belied by these failing structures he reinterprets to maintain his worldview. "The Spire" is subject to critical analysis by Steve Eddy in the York Notes Advanced series and reviews by Frank Kermode and David Skilton are included in "William Golding: Novels 1954–1967." Don Crompton, in "A View from the Spire: William Golding's Later Novels," analyses the novel and relates it to its pagan and mythical elements. More recently, Mark Kinkead-Weekes and Ian Gregor cover all of William Golding's novels in "William Golding: A Critical Study of
The Spire the warnings of the master builder, Roger Mason. The cathedral has insufficient foundations to support a spire of the magnificence demanded by Jocelin, but he believes he has been chosen by God and given a vision to erect a great spire to exalt the town and to bring its people closer to God. As the novel progresses, Golding explores Jocelin's growing obsession with the completion of the spire, during which he is increasingly afflicted by pain in his spine (which the reader gradually comes to realise is the result of tuberculosis). Jocelin interprets the burning heat in his back as