Maternal Instinct in The Turn of the Screw Essay

The Grandma tried to keep her family safe by trying to take a different direction other than Florida because of The Misfit, who is criminal who escaped from the Federal Pen. She convinces them to go to East Tennessee instead to visit some of her connections since she grew up there. ---“Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people.”(Par. 2) She wouldn’t feel comfortable by taking her children in that direction since a criminal was on the loose in the area. Also the Grandma mentions to her son that he should take the kids somewhere they haven’t been before since they had already been to Florida. ---"You all ought to take them somewhere else for a change so they would see different parts of the world and be broad.”(Par. 4) I figure that the Grandma was just trying to do a mother’s job to do anything

The children's sexuality was more important to the governess than the supernatural occurrences going on that could have affected the wellbeing of the house, and put the children in physical danger.

Hopewell have similar social class standards, however they differ in one aspect of the southern culture: family allegiance. The grandmother is selfish; she only wants what she wants with no regard of her family’s desires. She constantly makes her feelings towards the trip to Florida known and also refuses to leave her cat behind. She will do whatever it takes to get her way, and she simply does not care about anyone other than herself. Even when the Misfit and his gang were taking her family into the woods to be murdered, she had little concern for them and focused on saving her own skin, “You wouldn’t shoot a lady would you?” (O’Connor 433). The reader can tell by the above statement that the grandmother holds herself to such a high standard that not even a murderer could harm a “lady” such as herself.

Grose. They discover that Flora has disappeared while Miles plays the piano. They finally spot Flora on the far side of the Sea of Azof. When they begin their journey back to the house with Flora, the governess sees the ghost of Miss Jessel. She points the ghost out to Mrs. Grose, but she sees nothing. Mrs. Grose says,”She isn’t there, little lady, and nobody’s there—and you never see nothing, my sweet! How can poor Miss Jessel—-when poor Miss Jessel’s dead and buried?” (James 71). The governess is the only one that sees Miss Jessel for a second time. Mrs. Grose now knows that the no ghosts actually exist, and the governess is truly insane. The governess imagines all of the crazy things going on at Bly.

One of the most critically discussed works in twentieth-century American literature, The Turn of the Screw has inspired a variety of critical interpretations since its publication in 1898. Until 1934, the book was considered a traditional ghost story. Edmund Wilson, however, soon challenged that view with his assertions that The Turn of the Screw is a psychological study of the unstable governess whose visions of ghosts are merely delusions. Wilson’s essay initiated a critical debate concerning the interpretation of the novel, which continues even today (Poupard 313). Speculation considering the truth of the events occurring in The Turn of the Screw depends greatly on the reader’s assessment of the reliability of the governess as a

As the story begins, we are first introduced to Mrs. Freeman, a hired hand on the Hopewell farm. At first glance Mrs. Freeman appears to be simple “good country people,” but that is not the case. It is very ironic that Mrs. Hopewell refers to her as a “lady and that she was never ashamed to take her anywhere or introduce her to anybody that they might meet” (452.) In reality Mrs. Freeman is a busybody and harbors secret fascination with the macabre. She has “a special fondness for the details of secret infections, hidden deformities, assaults upon children. Of diseases she preferred the lingering or the uncurable" (455). Her secret fascination and penchant for gossip is quite different from what one would think “good country people” let alone a “lady” would be interested in. Mrs. Freeman never hesitates to share the details of her daughters' lives with Mrs. Hopewell. One gets the impression that Mrs. Freeman will divulge

Also Rex and Rosemary didn’t consider the needs of their children when they decided to leave the doors and windows open at night, which led to Jeannette’s dangerous encounter with a pervert. Rex and Rosemary also can’t provide their children with food every night because rex cannot keep a steady job which leads the kids to scavenge. ‘’ If we asked mom about food- In a casual way, because we didn’t want to cause any trouble- she’d simply shrug and say she couldn’t make something out of nothing’’(Walls 68). Jeannette begins to steal food from her classmates, while Brian was scavenging too. This is another example of Rex and Rosemary not caring about their children’s needs. ‘’The next day Lori, Brian, and I were sitting at one of the spool tables in the depot playing five-card draw and keeping an eye on Maureen while mom and dad spent some downtime at the owl club’’( Walls 87). Although Lori is the oldest, she should not obtain the responsibility to babysit her younger sibling’s while her parents fulfill their own needs. Rex and Rosemary neglected the children’s safety and Maureen (the youngest) was put into danger when a gun was involved when Billy

At first, Griet is viewed as an innocent girl, who is compelled to work as an maid due to her father’s incapability to provide for her family. She does not want to leave her family and go to an unknown place, but she has to; in order

Parents play a big role in every child’s life; their future is determined by their parent’s constant influences, but what happens when a child has no real parenting to begin with? In Oryx & Crake, by Margaret Atwood, the absence of love and attention turns characters into emotionally unstable individuals that reflect their parent relationships through negative actions. Atwood explores various different themes and topics throughout the book and how social influences. The poor parenting of the characters in the story prove that the lack of human relationships turn the characters into dysfunctional individuals, creates a fear of having close relationships, and turns them into a naive human who trusts others too much. Despite the characters different relationships with parents, they all ultimately portray how the influence of bad parenthood can reflect in the child’s negative actions throughout life.

As the family is driving along, the grandmother awakens from a nap and recalls “an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (189). This recollection happens while the family is driving through the town of Toomsboro, GA. The grandmother is extremely manipulative and selfish and coaxes the family into visiting the old plantation by lying to them with the possibility of finding hidden treasure. The name of the town is only a slight indication of the terrible tragedy that is yet to come. It is no

The governess, in her mind, believed she knew what the intentions of others were though, in reality, she had no evidence. After a simple agreement about the children's activities, the governess believed that herself and Ms. Grose would be in some sort of pact or pledge where they saw eye to eye on all situations. After this interpretation of Ms. Grose as a close friend, the governess began to feel distraught when Ms. Grose was busy cleaning the house and didn't habitually stop work to consult with the governess.

Puissant, complex, sinister, twisted, is the human mind. The human mind is that without a moon, dark and warped. The human mind is that without the stars, sinful and impure thus corrupting others. The human mind even considered ‘sane’ is in contrast unconscious. This depiction of the human mind is depicted through the governess, who has hallucinations of ghosts, in Henry James’ Turn of the Screw. The governess, the young protagonist of this novella, moved to Bly to be a governess of two children, Miles and Flora, whom are strangers to her. Also, upon her interviewing to be governess she fell madly in love with her potential employer. Due to the governess’ job and her sexual repression, the governess’ mind is unconscious due to Freud’s theory which thus enables the diagnostic of the governess to be that she has schizophrenia.

The governess immediately questions what he could have done wrong to get himself expelled. Mrs. Grose defends Miles, and when the governess finally meets him the governess is taken by his looks and charm, and thinks she was crazy to think that he could have done anything wrong. Then, as she becomes more suspicious and paranoid, one night Flora sneaks out of bed and is staring out the window at someone outside. The governess thinks she is staring at the ghost of Miss Jessel, but it is really Miles. This makes the governess even more convinced that something fishy is going on with Miles, Flora, and the ghosts.

Along with the repression of her sexual feelings, it’s relatively reasonable to assume that the governess has also suffered from the loss of her own child from a previous pregnancy. The governess becomes quickly attached to the children upon first meeting them stating that “[Flora] had probably more than anything else to do with me restlessness that, before morning, made me several times rise and wander about my room to take in the whole picture and prospect” (James 8). The reasoning for this attachment is that the governess is trying to fill in a hole that her child’s death left. She feels as though she’s unable to cope with this loss and creates the alter Miss Jessel who’s based off of an anonymous woman who committed suicide after also losing a child. This can be evidenced from “Miss Jessel” having a sudden death

A horrible epiphany of the truth about the plantation strikes the grandmother which then leads her family and herself to a mishap. It is significant that the story reveals how nowadays, circumstances are getting worse because before, everything was fine and this produces a positive effect to the young characters such as the grandchildren. Having said that, this is also the reason why they get into a misadventure where they encounter their vicious murderers.