This is a critical essay for the book "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill. Its main focus are the themes of imprisonment and escape.

Essay by dodgypillsB+, November 2003

download word file, 2 pages 3.0

Downloaded 25 times

CRITICAL ESSAY

In her novel, "I'm the king of the castle", Susan Hill conveys the themes of imprisonment and escape through a number of key incidents, symbolism and using the relationship between characters.

Being trapped can to some people be a very traumatic experience. The sheer claustrophobia of it all can be extremely scarring. In this essay many forms of entrapment will be put forth but also many forms of escape.

One of the key incidents in the novel is when Edmund Hooper lures Charles Kingshaw into the Red Room. Inside the room are displays of old moths and dusty old books. The symbolism of all the moths pinned down is that of being trapped; the moths couldn't 'get free'. Hooper then runs out of the room and locks Kingshaw inside. Kingshaw here is trapped. Instead of crying for help, he stays quiet and waits until he can hear someone outside before making a noise to escape.

This perhaps shows that he has been to boarding school and does not react in what we would call the normal way.

When Kingshaw finds Fielding, he was escaping from the house. He later used Fielding quite frequently as a way of getting away from Hooper for a bit but this later all comes crashing down as Hooper also befriends Fielding and turns him against Kingshaw. Because Fielding was Kingshaw's only friend, he lost his form of escape which effectively imprisons him in Hooper's house.

One of the major key incidents in the book that really puts forth the particular theme of imprisonment is when Kingshaw runs away to Hang Wood. It first starts out as an escape but when he realises that Hooper is following him, it turns into a metaphorical hell. Because of Hooper, they get lost and don't make it...