There are many characters in the novel "I"m the King of The Castle" who might be described as "loners". I have chosen the two main characters, Edmund Hooper and Charles Kingshaw, because they are the main characters of the novel and I sympathize with both of them the most for being loners. The definition of a loner is a person who avoids the company of others and this is the characteristic that is shown most strongly in both Hooper and Kingshaw.
Edmund Hooper is a loner to a great extent. Firstly, Hooper is used to being with only himself. This is evident as he told his father that it "won't be anything new" if his father went to London to work and left him alone at Warings. Thus, this proves to us that Hooper has gotten used to being with himself to the extent that he felt it was not new for his father to go away for work and leave him alone. Hence, this shows us that he is a loner. In addition, Hooper also lacks the care of his father and mother. His mother died when he was very young and his father was always out of town to work. He was not given proper care and concern and preferred to stay by himself. This affected him and caused him to dislike and thus, avoid being in the company of others. Therefore, Hooper feels that the arrival of Kingshaw and his mother was an intrusion to his privacy at Warings. Hence, this proves to us again that Hooper is a loner. Moreover, we can see that Hooper likes to be with himself and avoids the company of others due to the words that he said. Hooper had thought, "nobody must come here" in Chapter 1, when he was walking through the garden. This can be cross-referenced to Chapter 2, where he thought, "nobody should come here", when he was molding plasticine. This tells us that Hooper does not want people to come to Warings, and this, in turn, shows us that he did not like the company of others. Hence, this proves that Hooper is a loner.
Besides this, Hooper also wants to do things all by himself.
