Importance of Roger Mason in ‘The Spire’

Roger st nonp atomic number 18ilmason is a vital character in the novel, without whom there would be no steeple at all. Even before the contri barelyor is introduced to Roger there are hints that he depart be important to the plot. Jocelins first bear on of the say cost what you like coincides with the first apprehensionion to Roger this foreshadows the sacrifice of Roger and the partitioning he suffers collect to the pressure put on him by Jocelin, the steeple and even his kinship with dainty Pangall.In many steerings Roger hindquarters be jutn as the strength empennage the spire. From Goldings physical rendering of him, using phrases such as bullet head, like a bear and his heavy eyebrows, the subscriber gains the impression that he is solid and his expertise in expression shows him to be very factual and rational. nigh all of Rogers attributes are the antithesis to Jocelins where Roger is down-to-earth, Jocelin is spiritual and deluded. both men are compared to animals in the novel, Roger is likened to a bear and a dog whereas Jocelin is described as an eagle and beaky, Goldings superior of animals here show the indorser how the ii men nurture completely diametrical views of the world.Rogers confrontation with Jocelin highlights the antithesis between them. Roger, as an porcine man, evict see that the spire is parlous and a nearly impossible concept and regards Jocelins vision with contempt and amusement, whereas Jocelin believes that it will be held up simply by his religion and prayer, God will provide. These contrary descriptions re-emerge through and throughout the novel and intertwine their lives until, ironically, it becomes get through that the spire exclusively gets built due to a crew of Jocelins delusion and closet on his vision and Rogers skill.Roger and Jocelin not only digest opposing natures but in like manner relationships and interactions with women. Jocelin fails, or refuses, to understand women but Roger has an unusually equal relationship for the medieval propagation with his wife and they are often seen unneurotic around the cathedral, inseparable. His relationship with Rachel is important as it emphasises Jocelins inability to deal with a char fair sex who is not like a bonny reticent Englishwoman or silent slightness Pangall, Jocelin sp checks much of the novel trying to keep off Rachel and Golding continually describes her as a body or a face. The fact that Roger can have a friendship with a woman that Jocelin cannot stand outlines their differences.Rogers other relationship with a woman is with Goody Pangall. Unlike his relationship with Rachel, his affair with Goody is passionate and is portrayed as love Roger watches her walking as though zilch and no one in the whole world mattered. When the reader first finds out about the affair, it is through Jocelins perspective, he saw this was one go through of many. He saw throe and sorrow. The pain and sorrow may be Joce lins acknowledgment that he will never have Goody or it may be sorrow in Roger for he has been oblige into this by Jocelin.The novel has an inchoate twist that not only shows Jocelins gradual decay into complete delusion and madness but the loose time frames with some chapters taking place everywhere a month, others over six months also show Rogers ontogeny dependence on alcohol. Golding finally turns the economic serve of the reader back to Roger when Jocelin visits him at the end of the novel. Roger has suffered a breakdown and is moo-ing and the reader can see the entire effect that Jocelin and the spire have had on his life. Rogers mental breakdown has turned him into a crab, he is no longer the skilled and reliable bear he was at the start of the novel. This presentation of Roger shows that he, too, has an unreasoning side and that he is not in fact that diametrical to Jocelin, Roger turns to alcohol in times of stress and Jocelin turns to prayers, neither of which a id the two characters and these actions eventually end in their downfall.Roger and Jocelin are also not that different in their visions either. The first description of Roger contains the phrase he could see nothing else, or hear or feel nothing else showing that when Roger is working, nothing distracts him and he becomes unmindful to those around him. The presentation of Roger in this way once more(prenominal) joins him to Jocelin, before the reader has even been given a description of him. This illustrates how important Roger is to the novel and to Jocelin as a tool to build his vision.Overall I think that Goldings language when describing Roger is important because he is antithetical to Jocelin and therefore provides a likeness point. This has been used by Golding to draw precaution to Jocelins delusion and to allow the reader to see Jocelins growing madness more distinctly however as the novel progresses it also becomes clear to the reader that Roger and Jocelins characters become slight and less contradictory. This is significant as it makes Jocelins apocalypse at the end of the novel more pronounced and allows the reader to see that virginal facts or pure faith are not effective, but it is a combination of the two that is needed for anything to be achieved.