Red Room and moths, crow, thrush banging opening a
snail's shell, killing of turkeys, humiliation of elephants,
killing of fish...KINGSHAW'S DEATH AND HOOPER'S
TRIUMPH
The crow swooping down/ scarlet/ dead moths/ thrush banging opening a snail's shell "It was surprising how long
he had suceeded. It would not last." "You're scared of me, Kingshaw [...] You don't know what I might do to you, I
could do anything at all."
Childhood
Mr. Hooper had problems in childhood, Hooper
is diff child, Kingshaw is always bullied and
isolated...Kingshaw - no one understands and is
isolated....Hooper - an evil boy...adults
misinterpretation...Fielding reminding of normal
child
Power
Hooper in Warings & Kingshaw outside, shift of power in Hang Wood, Mr. Hooper wanting
Warings, Helena wanting to be his wife
"I'm the king of the castle" "[Hooper's] room was high up at the back [...] Above him, there were only the attics."/ to
put a mark on this house/ "It's my window now (Kingshaw)" "Kingshaw knew that he had won, but he did not feel
the winner; Hooper had conceded him nothing." "A room that Hooper did not know had become Kingshaw's
fortress." "Hooper always won." "Kingshaw, heard, for the first time, a note of fear in Hooper's voice and knew that
he was leader again, now." "Dumbly, Kingshaw followed." "now he was leader, he wanted to stay there." "Kingshaw
knew that he was the loser."
Isolation
House isolated. hostility -
trapped, Mr. Hooper - no
wife, no attachment with
son....Hooper - prefers to
be alone, lack of love -
evil...Helena - superficial,
fake, no husband and
wants to settle...Kingshaw -
no one understands
him...hence lack of
love...Fielding - confident
because of love
Some distance from any other house/ failed to ingratiate himself with his son/ she looked at him and did
not understand/ not so very many friends "But there was nothing that he would say, nobody to say it to."
"He felt his own extreme isolation, high up in the cornfield" "He liked being alone, he was used to it, he
was safe with himself.. Other people were unpredicatble." "He could not even hear any birds." "He felt
absolutely alone.""There was nobody to go to. Nobody to tell."
Parental-child relationships
"For he knew that he had failed, from the very beginning, to ingratiate himself with Edmund." "I have tried to avoid my
own father's mistakes but I have only succeeded in replacing them with so many of my own." "You shall have your
friend" "But there was nothing that he would say, nobody to say it to." "He wanted to go to his mother [...] But he never
did go to her, he made himself cope alone." "Kingshaw's father and Turville"s father had watched and laughed, and
looked away again, blind, unaware." "I think they may be friends." "Edmund will be like any other healthy boy. I am not
to blame [...] he felt exonerated." "They talked at length about their children, knowing nothing of the truth." "She was
anxious, now, to care for them both equally, not to make a favourite of her own son." "she worried a good deal about
her own capacity for motherhood, about wether she said the right things and looked sufficiently at ease, in his
presence." "I think I know what is best for you."
"She had never known anything at all that
was true about him."
Being watched
"Watched by Mrs. Kingshaw" "He could see a figure, looking down at him
from one of the top windows of the house." "He [Hooper] watched and watched." "Hooper watched him." "From somewhere, Hooper had been watching."
Characters
Edmund
cold, secretive, isolated, doesn't want to share his
house, evil....watchful approach, unresponsive to
father, he sees if he gain control, Hooper's fears
are forgotten, lack of conscience, doesn't reflect
so no thoughts of him, mind s blank when he
creates trouble, triumph on Kingshaw's death, still
a child,
"Hooper wanted to know what was going on inside his head" "Hooper was unpredictable,
clever, inventive." "Hooper's fear was a straightforward response to an outside situation.
Bt his own was quite different, and Hooper had the measure of it, he had done so from
his first day at Warings." He had the same cold way of looking/ nobody must come here/
Hooper watched/ blank/ and a spurt of triumph went through him
Helena
doesn't understand son, lives in future, fake, no man and lonely so wants to settle down,
unaware of impression she puts, false way of speaking
"bracelets went sliding up and down her arm"
"Do not spoil everything for me [...] do not take
away my chance" "I must think of myself a little
more." she looked at him and did not
understand/ how right I was to come here/ he
hated his mother more than anybody/
"Kinghshaw's mother's an old tart" "she wears
dangly earings" "made a little gesture of
surprise and pleasure.""'we maybe anywhere,
by then, we may not still be here.'" "clipping
along in her high-heeled shoes and her smart
green costume." "He hated his mother more
than anybody, more even than Hooper, now."
"He was sick with shame at her."
Kinshaw
Victim, sympathy, isolated, keeps on going to the past, low self esteem because of fears, he has
friends, resourcefulness in hang wood, climbing, strange places (Miss Mellitt) – insecurity,
relationship with mother is uncomfortable, desire for affection – mother + fielding and likes when
Mr. Hooper holds him, sympathetic for animals, affection for Hooper in Hang Wood, wrong to think
about people suffer, innocent, fears – nightmares, moths, water, crow
It's alright/ Hooper was always the winner/ resourceful/ dreadful caawing of the crows/ peaceful,
Devereux and Broughton Smith has invited him over/ nobody had ever done that before/ Up here I;m
the king/ If I shoot an arrow, I can kill you/ let it go on, let me not have to be put down yet...out of
shame and gratitude and relief "He was the type of boy whose name people forgot." "Kingshaw felt
responsible for him, he hd an odd sort of concern."
Mr. Hooper
suffered as child, no wife, doesn't understand Edmund,
nothing achieved in life, Warings only pride, lonely so wants
Helena but no affection for her,
"For he knew himself to be an innefectual man [...] a man who had failed" "They were gratified
with one another, and with this new arrangement in their lives."
Fielding
normal child, secure, confident, natural, bright, tries to protect Kingshaw but couldn't, contrast with
Hooper and Kingshaw, represents normal world beyond Warings, simple friendship are of no match to
Hooper's evil power
You needn't be frightened of just what somebody else says
Setting
Fielding's farm
Bright, realistic, happy, cutting of animals is
normal, not fake, ordinary life
Hang Wood
Wild, Kingshaw's territory,
cornfield hostile to Kingshaw,
Hooper vulnerable,ironically
kingshaw feels free when lost
"Terrifying and safe" "He liked it here [...] He liked the smell, and the sense of
being completely hidden. Everything around him seemed innocent [...] it was
quite all right." "Though perhaps he could do much less than in his own
house. That was his territory, he was master. Here, they were somehow, more
equal." "He didn't even mind Hooper, now. Not in the wood."
Warings
family pride,
connection with death,
is isolated, Hooper's
territory, dark, dull and
scary
"The idea that it was his, the idea of a family history
pleased him" "It smells un-lived in, of old things, like a
musuem""Warings was ugly, entirely graceless" "We
might as well be on the moon. He thought of Warings,
surrounded by high hedge, dark and inaccessible." "solidity and the gloom" "I hate this house. I hate it."
Symbolsim
sounds and foxes far away -
parents (danger) in Warings,
Yew trees: death
Red Room: death and unnatural
"removed from their
poison-fume bottles with
tweezers, spread out and then
pinned through their horny
bodieson to the card." "the sick room smelled sour"
Crow: Hooper
Stream: peaceful
"I would like to find a stream or a wood by myself. Anything to get away."
"I never want to leave it, this is the best feeling in the world." "He wished
he could lie down in the sream, just lie and lie, with the water moving over
him."
Rooms of the house: personalities
Kingshaw: nursery. Hooper: [Hooper's] room was high up at the back [...] Above him, there were only
the attics."
Scourge of the marsh monster: evil
Tractor: Kingshaw's power outside Warings
"Kingshaw felt very high up, and somehow powerful, it was sitting on the back of a great beast."
Warts: unluck, death and childish fears
1st rabbit: Kingshaw is free, 2nd: dead rabbit,
death, wounds; 3rd: K could've killed Hooper
but realsed him
"It quivered and twitched with life" (rabbit 1) "Wound [...] full of matter and blood and grubs."
Deer: predator, prey relationship
Bracelets: MRs. Kingshaw's insecurities and relationship with Mr. Hooper