Compare the ways in which George Elliot in 'Silas Marner' and Susan Hill in 'I'm the king of the castle' present the importance of children in the English class system.

Compare the ways in which George Elliot in ‘Silas Marner’ and Susan Hill in ‘I'm the king of the castle’ present the importance of children in the English class system.

‘I’m the king of the castle’ by Susan hill and ‘Silas Marner’ by George Elliot both have central characters that are children. I think that social class is involved in both these books in a number of ways.

‘I’m the king of the castle’ is about a boy who’s got a single mother. There were very few jobs for single mothers when this book is set. So when Mrs Kingshaw got offered a job as a governess in a big house (Warings), she took it to support herself and her son, Charles Kingshaw. When they arrive things go badly from the start for Charles. The boy Mrs Kingshaw is governing is Edmund Hooper, (son of Joseph Hooper) is destined to inherit the Warings estate. Edmund considers himself better than Charles because of this he also thinks that he has power over Charles. This is shown in the way Edmund bullies Charles and also in the way he acts round him. The superiority that Edmund thinks he has over Charles is based on ownership. “This house is mine” attitude, even though the house is not yet Edmunds shows this. Also Edmund is going to inherit a big country estate whereas Charles has only inherited a photograph of his father

Throughout most of the book Charles would love to have his and Edmunds roles switched round but in ‘Silas Marner’ Eppies who’s has grown up in relative squalor compared to Edmund would rather stay poor than live in one of the most influential house holds in the town, the Cass’.

Eppie is the squire Cass’s daughter from a secret marriage to a local drunk and opium addict. This secret wife died and left Eppie on her own, whilst she was very young. Silas Marner found Eppie and took her in. The squire knew all about Eppie but thought ...

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Dynasty is very important to Hooper in ‘I’m the king of the castle’ but Eppie and Charles aren’t bothered about it. Even though Eppie could inherit a lot of money form the squire.

The authors use the children to express the way they feel about children in the English class system. The children at the top of the class system i.e. the rich first class people, like Edmund, are portrayed as arrogant people with big egos, and a sense of superiority. Not very easy people to get on with, whereas the lower class children like Eppie, Charles and fielding tend to be easier to get on with and have better well rounded personalities. Hooper is the sort of person to kick a man when’s he's down whereas Charles would offer a helping hand and get him back on his feet.

Eppie loves Silas as if he is her real father, she even calls him father. You can tell the fondness she holds for Silas in this, “you shall never be alone again father.” She said that to Silas before she got married. Eppie, even though she’s adopted loves Silas. But Charles detests both his real mother and Mr Hooper (who is trying to be a father figure for Charles) even though he is being provided with everything ‘they’ think he could want. This shows that the authors are trying to emphasize their thoughts that lower class children tend to grow up better and learn to live life to the full even when times are particularly hard.