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Chapter 16
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I’m the King of the Castle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Property and Class
Childhood
Fear and Psychological Manipulation
Imprisonment and Escape
Nature
Summary
Analysis
Warings is full of suitcases: Charles and Edmund are almost ready to leave for school. Edmund looks at Charles all day, but Charles avoids eye contact and says nothing.
Charles is so frightened of Edmund, and going to school with Edmund, that even a look from Edmund upsets him.
Active
Themes
When Edmund came back from Fielding’s farm, he didn’t say anything about his chart disappearing. This unnerved Charles—Charles had expected Edmund to be angry and complain to his father. As the days went on, Charles was even tempted to confront Edmund and admit what he’d done.
Charles wants a confrontation with Edmund, but instead Edmund ignores him. This only unnerves Charles further, and makes him increasingly uneasy—since he has failed to get the reaction he wanted, making him feel powerless.
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Themes
Late at night, only a few hours before he’s supposed to leave for school, Charles wakes up. He hears the sound of paper scraping on the ground. He notices a note slipped under his door: “Something will happen to you, Kingshaw.” Charles reads the note and then gets back in bed. Then, “the nightmares began.”
Charles wakes up very early. He gets out of bed and walks outside to the field. As he approaches the wood, he begins to get excited, remembering, “this was his place.” He walks deeper and deeper into the wood, repeating to himself, “This is all right.”
Active
Themes
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That morning, Helena wakes up, happy that her son is about to leave for school. Meanwhile, Charles arrives at the clearing in the wood by the stream, where the stones from the fire are still piled. He removes his clothes, puts his head underwater, and “breathed in a long, careful breath.”
Helena puts her arm around Edmund and tells him that everything is all right. Edmund smells Helena’s “perfumey smell” and listens to “the sound of the men, splashing through the water.”
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