The Little Governess

young woman who, leaving her small country home for the first time, takes a job as a governess in a wealthy household.  Shortly after her arrival, she begins to suffer from insomnia and fancies that she sees ghosts roaming about the grounds.  James is a master story-teller and, at times, the complexities of the story make it difficult to follow.  The Turn of the Screw is a story within a story, the tale of the governess being read aloud as a ghost story among friends.  Harold C. Goddard wrote a fascinating

the Screw” a young Governess is hired by a wealthy man who is the uncle to two children that live in Bly, the estate and setting in which the story takes place. In the ghastly tale by James, the Governess begins to notice things that are out of place. The old manor is home to a host of souls that have perished previous to her arrival, which leaves the governess on edge as she becomes more and more aware of the odd happenings in Bly. The story focuses on the haunting of the Governess by the former valet

four main characters; the Governess, Mrs. Grose, Miles, and Flora. Other minor characters in the book are Miss Jessel, Peter Quint, and the children’s Uncle. I think Henry James portrays each of these characters in a certain mysterious and ambiguous way, and this is what helps catch the reader’s attention. Some people believe that Henry James wants the reader to infer that the entire story was just a hallucination that the Governess had. While others say that the Governess was completely sane and that

Protecting Miles and Flora in The Turn of the Screw “I saw my service so strongly and simply. I was there to protect and defend the little creatures…” The governess sees it as her duty to protect Miles and Flora. What do they need protection from and how does Henry James illustrate this in his novel “The Turn of the Screw”? 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

an insane woman’s imagination. However, the governess is sane, because the ghosts that she sees are real, and because of the unexplained death of the young child miles. The governess has the ability to see the spirits that dwell in the manor Bly. Before she had ever seen a painting of Quint, or even knew who he was, she was able to describe his ghost. When the governess tells Mrs. Grose about Peter Quint, she is skeptical at first. However, the governess then says that the “[ghost] has red hair, very

Humans have the power to perceive and can take objective information and develop it into a highly subjective opinion. The governess exemplifies how one’s own mind and the power of perception shape every relationship and ultimately determine the outcome of one’s life. In The Turn of the Screw, Henry James effectively uses ambiguity to make the reader question if the governess is paranoid or experiencing paranormal activity of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint. James allows the readers to see the undeveloped

novella centers around a young governess who is in charge of watching her employer’s kids at an estate in Bly. The governess’ social standing and desire to keep her job reveal the instability of jobs for women in this era. Her employer, the uncle of Miles and Flora, is a typical wealthy landowner who has “ his own town residence...but it [is] to his country home” that the governess is sent to work (James 149). It is important to note that it is perhaps the governess’ first job (Pouquette 257) and

the argument that the ghosts are real. In this story we see many strange things taking place at a house on Harley Street in a town called Bly. We meet Mrs. Grose a housekeeper who is taking care of the house while the master is out of town. The governess, also the narrator and unnamed in this story, has more credentials than the housekeeper and is mainly in charge of caring for

career as a governess. The governess gets a job where she takes care of siblings Miles and Flora. While she is watching the children she come across ghosts and convinces herself that they are after the children. As the story progresses and the governess begins losing control of the children as she starts to go slightly mad from the ghosts that only she can see. At the climax of the story Flore leaves the house with the house keeper Mrs. Grose after she suffer a brake down from the governess pushing her

In the Turn of the screw by Henry James, Peter Quint looked after Miles, who lived at his Uncle’s house with his sister after his parents died. Miss Jessel was a governess who looked after his sister Flora. Peter Quint was Miles tutor, however his relationship with him little too close to Miles suggesting sexual assault between the two. Before Miles and Peter Quint have a close relationship, Miles and his sister Flora lose their parents. They have to go live with their uncle, but the uncle hires