Henry James’ the Turn of the Screw Essay

Readers might wonder with whom she was in love. Then the Master told the Governess about the previous governess and her death (James 296). The readers probably want to know the reason of the previous governess' death. When the Master talked about the duties of the Governess, he required her not to contact him in any way (James 297). We do not know why he made that requirement. As the story continues, the readers have many more unsolved questions such as why Miles was dismissed from school, why the Governess could describe Peter Quint exactly though she never meet him, and why the Governess thought that ghosts wanted to catch the two children. Ned Lukacher thinks that "[the way James] has said something also becomes a way of not having said something else" (132). For instance, James revealed some hints regarding the reason Miles was dismissed. We know that "[Miles]'s an injury to the others" (304) and Mrs. Grose thought Miles was "no boy for [her]" (305). However, these hints do not help the readers to completely understand why Miles was sent away from his school. Instead, more questions are posed, such as how such a ten-year-old boy could injure other students and why Mrs. Grose thought about Miles that way. The readers can not easily find the specific and reasonable answers in the story, so they have to guess the answers based on their own

On the surface one would find it difficult to believe that Frederick Douglass and Hester Prynne could be anything alike. For starters, Frederick Douglass was a real person. A true historical figure in the Antebellum period of The United States. This was a man who was born a slave, escaped to his freedom and became one of the louder voices calling to abolish slavery. Then we have Hester Prynne, who is a fictional character from the mind of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Her time period was years before that of Douglass, as she lived Puritan New England. Looking at these two comparatively from the outside, it is hard to believe that the two would represent any of the same ideas. However, delving deeper into what they stood for, the hardships they endured, and how the came out better on the other end it is clear that the two of them are one in the same. Douglas and Prynne represent everything that America is supposed to be moving forward out of the Antebellum time period.

“Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at henry—threw to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry’s right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry…. Into which he dare not throw… invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life…. Roger’s arm was conditioned by civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.”

‘The Crucible’ written by Arthur Miller and my related material ‘Happy Feet’ by George Miller is true to this statement “Understanding nourishes belonging…a lack of understanding prevents it” that represents the interpretation of belonging. To define belong is to have the correct personal and social assets to be a member of a particular group or it could be to fit a particular environment.

Devices used in public persuasion have been used in politics for as long as politics have been alive, some of which will be explored in rhetoric. Rhetoric being different compositional techniques for persuasive speaking or writing, which idea is to have an impressive effect on its audience. There are three main rhetorical devices that I’ve noticed in speeches/ writing: allusions, metaphors, and parallelism. Patrick Henry was an exceptional example of a historical revolutionary figure using rhetorical figures in his most popular speech, “Liberty or Death”. I will be exploring his and others uses of allusions, metaphors, and parallelism as I go on.

Additionally, this conversation indicates the situational irony revealed by between the two characters: Norma and Mr. Steward. Mrs. Lewis didn’t believe her husband would be the one that dies. She didn’t realize that she was so self-absorbed and never truly knew her husband. This conversation between two characters leaves the readers on a cliffhanger. Readers were also not aware that Mr. Lewis would

My topic for this Crucible essay is discussing a theme. The theme that I chose from the vast variety of options I could have picked from is “Hunger for Power.” In the following paragraphs I will tell about who in my eyes has most power and how they chose to use it and how they affect the community by their choices, and finally answer the question of how powerful is power.

Miles represents a socially and sexually corrupt figure by the ghost of Peter Quint who violated status on two occasions. His being “too free” with Miles leads to controversy as well as his love affair with the previous governess. The governess’s knowledge on the history behind Quint and Miles changes drastically as she learns more information to discover truth. Her rejection of the idea that Miles could be “bad” transforms into an obsession noting his every action in hopes to reveal that the children are being possessed by ghosts. Despite the connotation of Quint’s clash of class boundaries, the text also suggests the potential homosexual nature of his association with Miles. Therefore, the ghost of Quint stands for everything the Governess is afraid of, and his sense of menace dictates Miles living through his identity.

Douglas, the narrator, presents the book in the introduction involving two children to be another turn of the screw. This concept paints a

As ‘The Turn of the Screw’ was written in the 19th century when most of his family were famous and praised for their study of the mind and investigations into spirit phenomena, this could have inspired Henry to write the story. The fact that his older brother was famous and successful man when it came to psychology and physiology may have contributed to sibling rivalry. Henry had written novels that hadn’t sold well and had written plays that were far too intellectual for many of the general public to even watch. Writing a psychological ghost story in a spirit-obsessed era when his family were renowned for their knowledge seems to be best explanation as to why the novella was written.

Henry James’ arrays of characters helps to tie the reality of social conflict in this fictional horror story. His characters each have various economic backgrounds and interact differently with each other. This diversity brings these social conflicts to light and helps readers understand the root of these conflicts. In The Turn of the Screw, Henry James uses characterization and conflict to reveal the horrors of social class in American society.

There are several points mentioned in the story telling governess is not reliable in whatever she is saying. Things like governess promising Mrs. Grose to write a letter to her master telling what was going on at Bly which was stolen by Miles, but she letter admitted that it contains nothing, and telling Mrs. Grose that the ghost of Miss Jessel wanted to posses Flora but the story tells that

The critics from psychanalytic perspective claim that the existence of ghosts is the governess’s hysterical delusion. The ghost is the projection of governess's own sexual hysteria, which resulted from the conflict between native romantic impulses and idealistic innocence required by Victorian society (Renner). The inexperienced governess encounters the "handsome," "bold," young gentleman with "charming ways with women" (James, 4) and she

The Aspern Papers by Henry James illustrates a classic opposition throughout the story: the underestimation of the old by the young. The narrator, Aspern’s publisher, sets himself to the task of retrieving several mysterious “papers” from a former lover of his idol, and goes in with the easy confidence of a young man who never dreams that anyone, much less an elderly lady, could be not one, but in fact several, steps ahead of him at all times in his hunt for literary gold. The relationship between Miss Bordereau and the narrator is that of the cat and the mouse, with the narrator believing he is the cat, and Miss Bordereau knowing that she has the upper hand by the simple fact of possession. The narrator

The very setting of the fireside at which Griffin's guests swap stories establishes an atmosphere with which many of us are familiar. We can all relate to sitting around a fire exchanging ghost stories. By employing this particular narrative frame James encourages the reader to abandon their scepticism and give themselves over to a belief in the ghosts. The reader shares in the eagerness of the guests to be frightened; to be delighted by horror. Upon seeing Douglas' distress at the thought of the tale he must tell, and its "dreadful - dreadfulness", one of the female guests actually cries, "Oh how delicious!"5