I'm The King of The Castle (novel) - Themes

Themes

A main theme is power. The whole book revolves around the want and need for power, shown right from the start with Mr Hooper wanting his own father to die so he could have the property. The theme stays constant through the whole book as Edmund Hooper wants power over Kingshaw. However, later on in the book when Kingshaw makes a break for it and Hooper goes and follows Kingshaw who takes control and finally has power over Hooper. Evil is another big theme in this book. You can, again, see this theme the whole way through the book as you follow the torment that Hooper does to Kingshaw and the destruction that Hooper causes, which all causes enjoyment for Hooper. Animals feature throughout Hill's novel, and are often used to symbolize various aspects of the boys' relationship. This also links in with the sense of dynasty in the Hooper household, an upper-class countryside mansion that has fallen into decay. Isolation is another key theme of the novel. The boys lack a healthy relationship with their parents, who are oblivious to their fighting. The entire book seems to question the innocence of childhood, and demonstrate how young children have the capacity to commit truly cruel acts. Nature is another theme in this book. Hill has made quite a few references to the specific flowers and trees in the 'garden' at Warings. The trees include Yew trees which are very dark and dingy and usually appear in a graveyard. Also the mention of Rhodendendrons as well, these flowers are dark and heavy and seem like a burden. Love can be considered another theme, however it's not about how much love the parents have, it's more the lack of love that everyone has. The parents do not know their own children and just seem to dust them under the carpet. They try halfheartedly to get the two boys to get along but they do not know what each boy is capable of and they have no idea what the two boys want.