Narcissus' Pursuit

William Golding is the Nobel Prize Laureate in 1983 and one of the most eminent contemporary English novelists. The Spire is Golding's fifth novel. It is a story about Jocelin, the Dean of Salisbury Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Jocelin is bewitched by the vision of a spire and convinced that he has been chosen by God. Then, he becomes fanatical and desperate to establish a four hundred-foot spire that is based on a swamp foundation. Western scholars have made a rather exhaustive study of the novel from the perspective of the evil human nature motif. However, the significance of Jocelin's psychic development in the novel has been neglected. A close reading of the text shows that Jocelin's psychic development is the key to the analysis of the novel. The spire is no other than the reflection of Jocelin's psychic development, which plays an important role in the development of the novel.This thesis is aimed at reassessing the theme of the novel by unraveling Jocelin's psychic development. Lacan's theory of "Ideal-I" will be applied so as to illustrate the relationship between the spire and Jocelin's psychic development. The spire is the projection of Jocelin's Ideal-I, namely, the Godly "I" that is characterized by divine humanitarianism and spirituality. Jocelin's love for the spire resembles Narcissus' love for his reflection in the water. Jocelin is fascinated by the illusive "I" and embarks on the pursuit for his selfhood. However, his visional "I" is combined with God's image. His identification with God cannot be accepted by the secular world. When he is involved in the secular world, he finds the differences between him and God, which separates him from his Godly "I". The fall of the spire is the culmination of his split self. After the spire collapses, he is able to engage in introspection and realizes the lack of Godly Ideal-I. Then the spire transforms to the recurring visions of an upward waterfall and an apple tree right before Jocelin's death. It implies his spiritual rebirth and reestablishes his relationship with the Godly "I". In this sense, The Spire is the record of Jocelin's psychic development. It is about Jocelin's quest for Godly "I" and his pilgrimage to self-discovery. This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is the introduction. It focuses on literature review and a brief account of the general layout of the thesis. Chapter Two elaborates on Lacan's theory on the three realms in an individual's psychology (the imaginary, the symbolic and the real) and their respective effects in the individual's psychic development. Chapter Three makes an analysis of Jocelin's misrecognition. It is due to his identification with the imaginary spire. Chapter Four focuses on Jocelin's futile quest for the symbolic spire, which is actually his desire for phallus. It is his desire for phallus that results in his splitting and castration. Chapter Five illustrates Jocelin's belated epiphany via his encounter with the real spire. Chapter Six is the conclusion. The conclusion of this thesis is that Jocelin's obsession with the construction of the spire is driven by the desire for a Godly Ideal-I rather than the evil nature. The process of the spire construction is Jocelin's pilgrimage to his ideal-I.