Drummonds was the educational institution Hooper had been attending

Red Room

Tin Shed

Doll Room

Leydell Castle

Fielding’s Farm

Drummonds was the educational institution Hooper had been attending. His school, in many ways would have influenced his upbringing. As it is indeed a boarding school and students reside there for a long period of time before returning home, a lot of the values and morals they learn would have to come from the school. However, in Hooper’s case we can see that he has grown up to be and is growing up to be a monstrous person with destructive elements. Perhaps in this instance, the school has failed to drill into him values and their importance and hence in a way was reason for him going wayward. Or in another instance, Hooper’s character and personality was too strong that his environment could not penetrate through it. Rather unlikely though, Hooper was merely 11 and at this age, not many children have already formed a persona of their own.

As for Kingshaw, Drummonds served as nothing more but a constant reminder of the nightmare ahead for him. With the announcement of the “good news” by Mr Hooper that Kingshaw would be indeed heading to Drummonds with the much dreaded Hooper himself, Kinghsaw was catapulted out of his tolerance zone and plunged straight into the perpetual worry about the nightmare that awaited him. It is also mentionable that it was after this announcement that Kinghsaw ran to the tin shed in search of solace but instead got locked inside by Hooper and received a rude shock instead of asylum. His devastation was furthered when Hooper announced that he would be Head of Dorm next term. This meant that Hooper would retain the power and hold over him as in Warings, in Drummonds too. Hooper even said that he would gather his friends to torture Kingshaw too. This was unbearable for Kingshaw and he could not imagine furthering his nightmare in another place. As Hooper deploys psychological weapons and taunts Kingshaw using his fears, Kingshaw tries as might to shut his voice out. It was this prospect of Kingshaw going to Drummonds that had to a considerable extent, contributed to his decision pertaining his suicide.

Kingshaw had schooled at St Vincents since he was seven years old. Unlike other children who dreaded leaving home and going to a foreign place, Kingshaw was tensed with excitement upon his departure and separation from his Mother. He, in fact wanted her to leave faster so that “it could all begin.” The years he spent there had accumulated and built up a sense of belonging in him. He felt that he belonged there and that he had become the person they had all wanted him to be. It was this sense of belonging that he was devoid of for much of his life. This could be attributed to his family’s dysfunctional status. When he was ill, he was taken care of at school, granted attention from many and was seen to that his needs were fulfilled, from television to biscuits. He even wrote to his mother, at the meager age of seven that he found school “smashing” and thought to himself that he should stay there for ever and ever. Quite odd indeed, for a young boy not to miss home but instead feel satisfied and secure at his new surroundings.

He even made friends like Devereux, Lynch, Mr Gardner and Broughton-Smith with whom he might have gone to Italy with. However, any pleasantry had its fair share of oddities. It was also over here that he met the weird deputy senior prefect, Lesage and the odd Fernwick who was terribly stoic. Despite these occurrences, it would not be wrong to say that Kingshaw did find happiness in St Vincent, if not in its people, in the physical sense of belonging and security it gave him. When he learnt that he would not be going back to St Vincents, it was mostly the physical attributes of the place he thought of, its smell, its structure and how he liked it there. Hence his departure from the one place that made him feel safe would have added weight to his decision regarding his suicide. Leaving St Vincents was like leaving his one and only comfort zone, his avenue of asylum and this might have been unbearable for him.