The Spire Comparison

The English novel, The Spire, and the American novel, To Have and Have Not, reflect on their heroes throughout the novel through multiple literary aspects. Their titles hint at the plots of each novel, providing the basis for speculation about the storyline before reading them. Since Golding and Hemingway wrote the two novels with different cultures and settings, the novels differ significantly in style. Though the two novels seem to contrast drastically, they both describe heroes who considerably struggle and decease at the resolutions of the plots. However, the authors’ choices of the ending expresses the differences in the era when both novels take place. The authors of The Spire and To Have and Have Not utilize titles, writing styles,

In The Spire, Dean Jocelin dies of tuberculosis, while Harry Morgan in To Have and Have Not is shot in the stomach and also dies. Once again, however, the authors’ choices demonstrate the contrast of the novel. Golding specifically chose Jocelin’s death as a slow, creeping disease on his spine: “a wasting, a consumption of the back and spine” (Golding 210). His tuberculosis in his spine metaphorically represents the slow corrosion and destruction of the spire, also a straight structure meant to be a central component in its location. The death of Harry Morgan is almost the opposite. It is a quick movement and unpredictable. Although this choice of his end suggests that Hemingway wanted to express a direct, merciless time period, he uses multiple pages to display Harry Morgan’s realization at the end of the novel. He indirectly conveys that even though the situations may be harsh, there are ways to avoid becoming involved in a worse one. In the endings, both heroes come to realize their faults and mistakes they made that caused their

The titles, because they are the first impressions of the novels, provide premises for the plot of each novel, either directly or indirectly. The writing style specifically acts like the situation in the time period through its sentence and paragraph structures. The causes of death of the heroes at the ending are specifically chosen to convey a message to readers. Although Golding and Hemingway chose different titles, writing styles, and endings of their novels, both sought to illustrate their heroes’ end through those indirect methods; they both utilized different parts of the novel to depict their heroes as unique characters of their time