The King of the Castle by Susan Hill and The Half Brothers by Elizabeth Gaskell

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The King of the Castle by Susan Hill and The Half Brothers by Elizabeth Gaskell Compare and contrast the presentation of Charles Kingshaw and Edmund Hooper in I'm the King of the Castle with Gregory and the narrator in The Half Brothers. Examine their respective relationships, comment on the behaviour of the adults and explain how it affects the boys and helps influence the outcome of each text. I'm the King of the Castle is a fairly recent novel compared The Half Brothers, a pre 20th century text. The two texts deal with the issues that arise from family relationships. However, I'm the King of the Castle portrays bullying within a family relationship and The Half Brothers portrays jealousy in a family relationship. In I'm the King of the Castle Edmund Hooper, the son of Joseph Hooper who is the owner of Warings shows many similarities with the narrator in The Half Brothers. Both boys are the sons of successful, dominant men who are the heads and owners of their houses. Because of the influence of their fathers, both boys are dominant and enjoy the feeling of being in control. Like his father, Edmund lacks friends and has a detached outlook on life. He is displeased at the news of Kingshaw joining his home, but is not concerned about Kingshaw interfering with his relationship with his father as the family relationship is dysfunctional anyway. Joseph Hooper says '[he] had failed from the very beginning to integrate him-self with Edmund' the fact that Edmund has a lack of love from his parents is evident in his behaviour. Edmund has an evil nature and a clear lack of conscience where he drives Kingshaw to his death and shows no remorse 'and a spur of triumph went through him' as he realises Kingshaw's death was because of his actions. The narrator in The Half Brothers is spoilt like Edmund and considers himself to be far better than his half brother as this is what he has been brought up to believe. He says '[He] sometimes repeated the

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