I’M THE KING OF THE CASTLE

I’m The King of The Castle• Plot• Context• Narrative techniques• Characters• Setting• Themes & Setting

PLOT CONTEXTNarrativeTECHNIQUES

CHARACTERS SETTING THEMES & SYMBOLISM

PLOTWrite a summary of ITKOTC in no more than 30 words.

PLOTA fatherless boy, Kingshaw and a motherless boy, Hooper are forced to live together. The parents are ignorant of the daily bullying by Hooper. Helpless and hopeless, Kingshaw kills himself.

PLOT• Charles Kingshaw and his mother Helena come to live with Edmund

Hooper and his father Joseph in Warings. But, Kingshaw is made unwelcome by Hooper : " I DID NOT WANT YOU TO COME HERE".• Kingshaw is bullied and persecuted by Hooper (ex : he locks him up in the

Red Room with the moths). • Kingshaw takes a walk in the cornfield and he is attacked by a crow. • After that Hooper puts a dead crow in Kingshaw's room to frighten him,

and while the parents are in London, Charles decides to escape from Hooper in Hang Wood. • Kingshaw is followed by Hooper in Hangwood. However, Hooper feels

unsafe in the wood and hurts himself. Kingshaw is now in a position of superiority.

• After that they are found by a hunter, and Kingshaw is severely punished by his mother. Joseph Hooper decides to take the family to Leydell Castle. After trying to climb up the tower ruins, Hooper falls and injures himself. • While Hooper is at the hospital, Kingshaw meets Anthony Fielding. • When Hooper comes back home, he blames his accident on Kingshaw's.

He also learns that Helena and Joseph are going to get married. • Anthony Fielding comes to Warings and Hooper tries to sympathise

with him so that Kingshaw is left alone. To express his anger, Kingshaw burns Hooper’s battle plans. • The next morning, Kingshaw finds a paper in his room saying

“Something will happen to you, Kingshaw ”. Scared, he decides to go into Hang Wood where he commits suicide.

CONTEXTWritten in 1969 (published in 1970) set in the 1960’s

Significant world events – Vietnam war, Civil rights movement, JFK assassination, man on the Moon.

Mass Media

Childhood and Teenage

A time of significant social, cultural and political change – yet the characters in the

novel are untouched by the world. They are locked and isolated in their own small worlds

of The Warings, Hang Wood, Leydell Castle etc.

The birth of the teenager made childhood and adolescence a complicated time for adults.

Teenagers who worked had money and freedom without the responsibilities of

adulthood. Whilst the image of the ‘rebellious’ teenager was largely created by the media,

there was still anxiety that the world of childhood and adolescence was becoming

separate and isolated from the adult world.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUESNarrative Device/TechniqueRepetition

Oxymoron

Juxtaposition

Hyperbole

Imagery (metaphor, simile, personification)

Motifs & Symbolism

Semantic field

Descriptive language (adjectives)

Sentence structure

Narrative point of view

Pathetic Fallacy

Flashbacks

CHARACTERS Which words apply to which character? Give evidence.

• Cruel• Manipulative• Superficial• Overreacting• Pessimistic• Controlling• Isolated• Ineffective• Cold• Ignorant

• Distant• Insensitive• Vulnerable• Compassionate• Remorseless• Confident• Relentless• Hostile• Anxious

SETTING: unpick the quote – what does it tell us?Warings : “ some distance from any other house ” : “ Warings was ugly. It was entirely graceless, rather tall and badly angled built of dark red bricks ” “ yew trees ” “ high ceiling rooms, with heavy, sashed windows, the oak wall panelling and the oak doors, and the oak staircase, the massive furniture ” Red Room : “ the stiff, animal bodies and the dead fish, and the rows of outstretched moths”” the silent room ”

SETTINGHang Wood : At first, during Kingshaw’s walk in the cornfield, the forest is “ dark ”, the branches are “ clearly outlined ” When Kingshaw escaped into Hang Wood, there is a dead rabbit, and then Kingshaw becomes obsessed with the river : “ the water of the stream and the pond looked completely transparent ” “ I never want to leave it, this is the best feeling in the world ”. Leydell Castle : “ He felt high above them, very tall and strong, too, nobody could touch him ”“ Up here, I’m the king ” ” He thought suddenly, I could kill him ”

THEMES/ SYMBOLS: How do the following reflect the plot/meaning/themes? Give specific examples.

• Hooper’s battle plans • Mrs Kingshaw’s clothes, jewellery, party planning• Crow • Nature • Hang wood • Punch and Judy • Warings • Weather• Mrs Boland preparing food, drinks and providing company for the children