Each setting is carefully chosen by Susan Hill in her novel “The King of the Castle”, to present different incidents and their effects on the characters. Throughout the novel, there are many references to the settings, which contribute to the mood and the atmosphere of a scene, as well as the readers’ response. The two main contrasting settings used are Warings, Hooper’s home, and Hangwood, which is woodland on the west of the house. The novel is mainly set in Warings. For some of the characters it is a place of hope and a new opportunity in life and for others is a battlefield without truce. It is an “ugly house, nothing to boast of”, except the “idea of a family history”. The word “ugly” mirrors the unpleasant atmosphere inside the house. Also if there is …show more content…
Kingshaw gets the chance to reverse the roles and show off his skills and abilities. When they get lost “he knew that he would have to take charge of things”. It is Kingshaws’ duty to take them out of the woods and this reveals how mature he is as a child. At night though, Kingshaw, “felt closed in, and stifled with the everlasting dark greenness overhead”. Hill exaggerates with the word “everlasting” to emphasize how deep inside the woods they were and makes the reader empathise with the image of being lost into Hangwood alone. Also it is a breathless and frightening place. For Kingshaw, Hangwood is a place of peace and escape and that’s why he chooses to die there. The foreshadowing moment “He would have liked to be there, lying down in the stream without his cloths on” shows his will of committing suicide and his mental state at that time. When you remove your clothes is like releasing weight from your soul. “The leaves locked together more tightly overhead”. This metaphor shows that Kingshaw was enclosed in his own world where no sunlight could enter –there was no hope for him- , and as his eyes closed darkness spread