Ambiguities In Henry James's The Turn Of The Screw

Firstly, through the Finch family, Atticus teaches both his children that they should never judge a book by its cover, and that courage is one of the most important qualities one can have. Near the beginning of the book, Scout comes home from school, extremely flustered about the day. She then continues to rant about how awful the children at school are, as well as her teacher. Atticus, her father, replies “... You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”. Later in the book, Atticus sends his son, Jem, to an old woman’s house, whom he hates, to read to her. Unknowingly by Jem, he is being sent to help the woman out of a morphine addiction. After Jem has completed his service, they find that the woman has died and sent a gift to Jem as a thanks for all he has done. In turn, Jem is completely dumbfounded by the gesture to the point that “[His] eyes nearly [pop] out of his head”. Atticus comforts Jem, then continues to explain the courage of the woman and the heroism of Jem, and how courage is “... when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”. Not only does this show how Atticus’ core values as a parent, it also shows how he parents and how he wants his children to grow up to be. On the other side of things however, the Ewell family has incredibly loose family values, and certain members of the family are unwilling to help the family improve their way of life.

Throughout the novel Turn Of The Screw by Henry James, there is plenty of evidence that proves the Governess is insane.In the novel she is constantly thinking irrationally, she turns against the people she trusts and the children she adores, and there is a significant amount of evidence that the ghosts are all apart of the governess’ imagination. The governess’ irrational thinking, paranoia, and hallucinations prove that she is insane and that the ghosts are all in her head.

Through out the short novella, 'The Turn of the Screw,' by Henry James, the governess continually has encounters with apparitions that seem to only appear to her. As Miles' behavior in school worsens so that he is prevented from returning, and as Flora becomes ill with a fever, the governess blames these ghosts for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora, and labels them as evil and manipulative forces in their lives. But why is it that these ghosts only seem to appear to the governess even when the children are present at the time of the sightings by the governess? Evidence from the short story leads the reader to believe that the ghosts are not real but are merely the evidence of the fragmenting sanity of the governess.

Henry James’s ‘Turn of the Screw’ can be interpreted in many different ways. He constructed his novel in order to make allusions to sexual topics, (without stating anything explicitly) madness, ghosts and the Victorian society. In this essay I will be analysing each of the above in order to make a conclusion as to what I think the children need protecting from. As for the ghosts being present or not,

Later in the book, Jeremy is punished to reading to a sick elderly woman (Mrs. Dubose) each day for a month, as a result of his yard-wrecking burst of vengeance. At the end of what turned out to be a bit over a month, Mrs. Dubose dies. Only after this event does Atticus explain to Jem the task that the elderly woman had set out finishing before her death. Mrs. Dubose had developed a dependency to morphine, resulting from an innocent enough prescription of the opiate. The old woman set her mind to freeing herself from the addiction before her time came, an incredible task for someone in any condition, let alone her sickly self. When Mr. Finch’s actions (Arranging the readings) were questioned, Atticus stated “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” This act taught Jem a new meaning of courage. Jeremy struggled to see the occurrence as significant, because he did not agree to the rude, racist, and unfair statements Mrs. Dubose had shouted him and his sister. Because of that, Jem’s personal integrity is challenged. He dislikes the hatred Maycomb County’s people seem to have for minorities and anyone who doesn’t “fit the mold,” and refuses to see the grey areas where ones virtues often seem to lurk. Jeremy Atticus Finch’s morally right mindset is shaped and

Ambiguity in The Turn of the Screw The Turn of the Screw, is a tale about two young children who live under the care of their newly hired governess out in the countryside at Bly. Shortly after the governess’s arrival, two ghosts sporadically appear to her, but it is not long before she realizes that they are not there to see her. “On the spot there came to me the added shock of certitude that it was not for me he had come there. He had come for someone else” (James 34). Also, it just so happened that the people who the ghosts decided to come for, where the children she would now be looking after.

No sleep could pass the governess's eyes without continually casting thought to the mere beauty of the child she had met only days earlier. The meeting with the young master Miles only stringed the governess's infatuation with the physical features of the young children. After receiving by letter that Miles was expelled from school, the governess herself found malcontent for the boy, but her first glance at the boy on meeting him cast away all previous distaste.

Miles and the Governess also resemble extremely ambiguous behavior. The scene of the governess’s questioning due to Mile’s appearance outside in the middle of the night seems elliptical. His kiss that the

In the book, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, the mental state of the main character, the governess is constantly argued. The governess reports several sighting of two ghosts, Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, however, people discuss if these events are real or fak. The governess is insane because she imagines the ghosts, has severe repressive desires and is extremely paranoid over the safety of her charges.

Every time the governess is conflicted, her mind turns and is unstable. Even before Miles arrives at Bly, the governess questions his demeanor and is paranoid about his reason for dismissal from school. She assumes that he has done something evil and "that he 's an injury to others." (page 10). Mrs. Grose tries to persuade her that he wouldn 't be that way. However, she is yet unsure of Miles ' character and further discusses him with Mrs. Grose. The governess is still concerned about Miles ' wrongful ways, but when questioned if she 's afraid of him, she "gave way for the time to the apprehension of ridicule." (page 12). It is her paranoia that opens the door for negative thoughts and images to enter her mind.

On the other hand, readers are reluctant to rely on her as a narrator because her inner thoughts display her defense mechanisms that alter her reality. While some readers might assume James uses first person narration to heighten the mystery and horror of his Gothic Tale, those who consider the Governess’s narrative in light of Psychoanalytic criticism see that The Turn of the Screw exposes the subjective nature of reality.

Boo! The worst answer to the many mysteries at Bly in Henry James’ novella Turn of the Screw, is the Blackstone theory. The children are not under any possession, nor is Mrs. Grose, and Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are not out to get the Governess because the two are only a figment of her imagination, and the Governess is insane and delusional. Why she believes an eight and ten year old are actually under the control of “ghosts” is strange.

In The Turn of The Screw many eventful things happen throughout the novel, but the author James leaves an unanswered question about his novel at the end of the story. That is the governesses being an unreliable narrator in the novel or is she a reliable narrator in the novel, this causes arising at the higher question that is left up to the reader to decide on. For one who sees the governess an unreliable narrator thinks about the change or outcome the governess will cause for the children like innocent that can be easily be taken away from one if not both of the children if the governess cannot keep a straight mind set. This desire of want that the governess craves will be the downfall for the children and herself. So does the effect of the governess being

The governess’ knowledge of Quint and Miss Jessel’s affair, despite their social class, gives the governess the idea of her and her employer’s possible relationship. The difference in the governess’ and her employer’s social standings compared to that of Quint’s and Jessel’s are quite similar, with Quint being the valet at Bly and Miss Jessel being the previous governess. The governess is “drawn to her employer...who has a higher rank than she, [so] she makes much of the illicit affair between… Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, a man of much lower class” (“The Turn of the Screw” 252). Mrs. Grose describes Miss Jessel as simply a “lady” and that Quint is “dreadfully below” her (James 185). Wilson continues to tie Jessel and Quint’s relationship with

The Turn of the Screw is one of the most controversial works in literature and the text has provoked a variety of critical interpretations from its publication in 1898. In this novel, the governess tells her experience with two apparitions that no one but she could see. And the governess accuses the ghosts of servants for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora. Critics concerning about the truth of the story are divided two basic camps based on their acceptance or rejection of the governess's credibility as a storyteller. Some critics believe that the ghosts are real and the governess is a rational and credible narrator, while the others believe that the ghosts are hallucinations of the governess and regard the governess as an incredible and mentally abnormal narrator. Also, we could speculate the author’s intention on the basis of his life experience and other works of Henry James. This essay will examine the reliability of the governess on the basis of the text and interpret Henry James’s intention on the basis of other sources.