Kingshaw’s Misery in I’m the King of the Castle Essay

Through bulge the novel Im the King of the Castle by Susan Hill, we are constantly aware of the chastening felt by twelve-year-old Charles Kingshaw. This, and the way it is shown, is genuinely important in rightfully thought his character, and what heretoforetu on the wholey leads him to his own death.Charles Kingshaw has a serial publication of irrational fears. Although this is modal(prenominal) for most children, his fears are so crippling that they go far beyond the typical childish nightmare. An instance of one of these fears is swimming pools. Early on in the rule book, Kingshaw recalls being taken to an open-air swimming pool by his father as a oftentimes younger child. He remembers how he had feared the water, non however because he couldnt swim, plainly as well because of its glassy, stilted blueness and how peoples limbs looked huge and pale and swollen underneath.He also fears the terrible moths in the Red Room at Warings, and is shitless of touching their f urry bodies. Another fear he has is of triumphs. Even in the beginning he is attacked by the crow in the cornfield outside Warings, Kingshaw notes that it has chevy black wings and small, glinting eyes. He has to divide himself that it is duncical to be scared of a rotten bird. Later on, when Hooper puts the stuffed crow on his bed, he is faint with fear and wishes for his own death purge though he knows immediately that it is not real.This is just one guinea pig of the way Hooper exploits Kingshaws fears during the novel. When he brings Kingshaw to the Red Room to show him the moths, it seems he just wants to show off. simply he immediately recognises that Kingshaw is afraid when, upon see the moths, when he sharply draws his breath. Hooper mocks him and orders him to touch one, and Kingshaws instinct is to fight as hard as he can anything to avoid having to looking at them. Hooper watches him and sees this, and runs out of the manner, locking the door behind him. Later on, Hooper locks Kingshaw in the dark shed, go away him to fantasize intimately murderers lurking in the shadows.Kingshaw thinks of Hooper as clever and cunning and thinks he will never be able to escape his endless persecution. He is unbalanced by the open hostility Hooper treats him with, and doesnt know how to beget him. However, it would be possible for Kingshaw to standard Hooper. Physically, he is taller and is strong enough to guard Hooper a bruise when they have their lone about(prenominal) fistfight, on their very starting time meeting, and bites him hard enough to make him withdraw when Hooper tries to intimidate Kingshaw on the stairs. Kingshaw would also have the capacity to beat Hooper in his mind games, if he only knew it Hooper finds Kingshaw frustrating, and is at a loss to get past his dull, unshakable stare. His insults are very childish (stupid head scaredy-baby), and Kingshaw even recognises that Hooper is not very used to being a bully. to that extent Kingshaw is too and fatalistic, to see his own potential.Kingshaws fatalism is important in understanding his wretchedness. His description of himself is very telling of his outlook on lifeHe had no good opinion of his own chances, against Hooper. Or against anyone. He was not cowardly. Just realistic, hopeless. He did not give into people, just went, from the beginning, with the assurance that he would be beaten. It meant that there was no surprise, and no disappointment, about anything.At umpteen points in the novel, Kingshaw has moments of genuine happiness, in which he feels untouchable and in control. This is reflected in the title of the book itself, and in a later chapter in the book in which he actually climbs to the top of an ancient ruin of a stronghold. However, this euphoria never lasts, and he falls from his castle every time- all because of his own refusal to fight against what he feels is inevitability Hooper will always beat him, he will never win.We see these mome nts of happiness and his sudden guesswork back to reality multiple times when he discovers his secret room in Warings and Hooper finds it, so he decided to just let him in when he ventures on his own into the woods and Hooper follows him when he climbs up onto the tractor in the cornfield, feeling on top of the world, and gets stuck when dismounting it so he fears it will hoist back an crush him. In the chapter in which he fearlessly climbs the castle whilst Hooper begs for help on a wall below him, Kingshaw feels that surge of world-beater again I am the KingI could kill him. But Kingshaw knows that he will not, knowing that any power he acquired would only be temporary. So he tries to help Hooper, and we, as readers, feel frustrated with his helplessness.Kingshaws mother does nothing to save her son from Hooper, or from his own fear. In fact, she contributes to his misery by determinedly riseing to settle with her own needs for money and companionship, and ignoring Kingshaws declarations of his hate for Hooper along the way. She asks him to tell Mummy if he is upset about anything, but when he tells her how much he dislikes Hooper she tells him it is wicked to say such things. Kingshaw is deeply ashamed of his mother, of her airs and pretences and the fact that she behaves altogether without pride. He knows he ought to care abouthis mother but doesnt. This is quite disturbing for a child to say, but it is understandable, as she had never known anything about him. This is proved by her mark to Mr Hooper about how Charles is settling down so happily at Warings. Charles is stimulate but is in no way surprised at her masterly lack of understanding.Susan Hill is very particular in the way she uses nomenclature to show Charles Kingshaws misery. The book is in third person narrative, largely told from Kingshaws point of view, and often uses slightly nave, childish vocabulary He felt absolutely alone, there might be no other person in the whole world. The re is also some informal language which pulls the reader into this childs world, and endears us to him. An example of this is his thought that, It always took longer than you expected, walking. This makes us feel Kingshaws misery more during his moments of extreme terror. During these times the sentences get longer, punctuated by a series of commas, indicating a panicked, frantic train of thought He sweated a little, squirm this way and that, and reaching his left arm round behind him, to try and unhitch the string. This clearly shows us his raw, desperate fear.Rather than using a great deal of emotive, descriptive narration, which could detract focus from Kingshaws character, the writer has us perplex Im the King of the Castle through Charles Kingshaws feelings, experiences and memories. This is very effective as it lets us become more and more mixed in Kingshaws character our attachment to him builds up into a flood throughout the novel until he ultimately commits suicide. Wh en this happens our hopes fall as Kingshaw did so many times before and does now, one final time.