Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Oogie Boogie Fever: Henry James and The Turn of the Screw


In the novella The Turn of the Screw, Henry James brings us a little creepfest that may be hard for you to appreciate in the installment the class read. (And if you're not an AmLit student, go online to Project Gutenberg and read the whole thing. It really is good, and maybe your hair standing on end will keep you warm. )

Here's the quick plot summary: (SPOILERS for the haven't-read-it-yet folks.) A mysterious narrator tells the story of someone he knew -- a governess -- who had a horrific experience while working for two orphaned children. She was hired by the children's uncle to care for them in a large, country house, but forbidden to contact him concerning them. (Cue dramatic music.) The children, Flora and Miles, are a little weird, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, seems to be Not Telling Something in a capital-letters kind of way.

The governess eventually discovers that, 1. Miles has been expelled from his boarding school for something mysterious and probably horrible; 2. Miles and Flora see dead people, and talk to them every chance they get; 3. Flora resents the snot out of the governess for interfering with the aforementioned conversations; and 4. the dead people are the former governess, Miss Jessel, and her lover, the butler Peter Quint, who died apparently because everybody associated with Flora and Miles kicks the bucket sooner rather than later.

The governess decides it's her duty to protect the children from the ghosts, although it's unclear what the threat actually is. It's important to realize that ALL her information about Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, including suggestions that they, while alive, had an unsavory influence on the children, comes from Mrs. Grose. The governess never questions this information, but instead takes on the "moral" job of saving the children's souls from Jessel and Quint. In the course of trying to shield them, however, she makes Flora so mad, the girl goes to live with her disinterested uncle. In trying to protect Miles from Peter Quint (who appears to be standing outside the window, which wouldn't be all that scary, except that it's on the second floor), something happens to the child and he dies. Eventually the governess dies, and this account of the story comes down to the narrator in all its creepy sophistication.
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Here are some questions about it for us to ponder right here, in lieu of class, and these are questions that have kept James scholars busy for generations, so don't be too glib with your answers.
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First, where do we locate the real evil in this story? Is it in Flora and Miles, the ghosts, the governess? The answer to this question hinges on what we believe about the efforts to corrupt, or protect, the children, and on the answer to another big question . . .
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. . . Is the governess a reliable narrator? If we take her at face value, she is protecting two innocent children from soul-stealing ghosts. If we start to question her motives, or her sanity (after all, she's the one who admits to seeing Peter Quint and Miss Jessel), then a new picture can emerge. She could also be the credulous dupe of Mrs. Grose, who might have some supernatural axe to grind herself. It's all so COMPLICATED.
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That, of course, leads us to wonder who is sane in this story, and who is delusional. Go ahead and wonder that in the comments box, but again, don't be too quick to make the call, and ALWAYS offer evidence from the story to back yourself up.

38 comments:

  1. We need to find the real evil in this story and figure out why everybody close to them is has died sooner rather than later.

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  2. So you're voting for Flora and Miles as the Root of All Evil, Justin?

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  3. I think that Flora and Miles are the root of all evil because of the fact that they can see dead people.

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  4. Folks, let's work a little harder hear. The governess SAYS they can see dead people. They persistently deny it. The only person who admits to seeing the ghosts is the governess. Further, one of the main themes we might discuss is the innocence of children, and who, exactly, is corrupting that innocence. It helps to remember that Flora is eight and Miles is ten. They are not even old enough, really, to have a clear idea of right and wrong.

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  5. I found the piece a little hard to follow because of the style it was written.However it seems to me the Mrs. Grose is trying to keep the children in their innocence, and not telling them the whole truth about what is happening, so thee is no real way that the kids are causeing all of this.

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  6. As I have a sick mind about me, I think that perhaps the children killed the people they came into contact with and that when they did this, the only person to know about it being Ms. Grose, they buried the bodies somewhere on the property. Perhaps these "evil" souls are simply trying to warn the governess that her butt is about to be fried by the sweet little innocent DEMONS she's been taking care of. I don't believe that the authors of the late 19th-early 20th century were quite that dark (at lease until World War broke out, then all hell probably broke loose in the darkness category), but I haven't read much literature from that period so I can't say. I also think that the governess is not a very reliable narrator, in fact, I don't believe that the man telling her story is one either. He was obviously smitten with the woman and may have changed some parts to make her look more like a victim than she really was. I never figured out who she was in love with however. I remember that at the beginning of the whole shebang, the man is telling his audience that the woman fell in love or something to that extent, yet I came away without a romantic interest for her...other than Ms. Grose. And again, I HIGHLY doubt authors of the time would have written about lesbian lovers...right?

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  7. I was about to say that the governess was the root of all evil, since she is the only one that believes she is seeing dead people and also has some weird sexual attraction of one of the ghosts. however, after reading Miss Leah's comment i have taken a different stance. The children never actually admit to seeing the ghosts, but why would they if they had something to do with their deaths. There is something very wrong with the children, the fact that Miles was expelled with no explanation, or when flora gets sick and leaves just as things start to unravel.. that's a little weird

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  8. I think the real evil is Mrs. Grose. She tends to leave out things and denies that there are really ghosts. She wants to hide the fact that there is something mysterious going on in the house.

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  9. I actually enjoyed reading this story, it was so creepy in a completely not-realistic way that it entertained me. As you have mentioned, there are a lot of complexities as to who the good/evil is. I would argue that there was no "good" in this story. Everyone seemed, at least from my perspective, to be a puppet of evil of some sort or another, especially Mrs. Grose. She played the part of a happy, almost too naive lady, which could cover what I thought was a manipulative character. The governess doesn't stand very highly in my mind either... she simply believed everything Mrs. Grose said, almost as if she was under a spell. Then she saw ghosts. At best, everyone was mentally unstable; at worst, everyone was either a witch or cast under a spell for all I know (but perhaps I'm getting carried away.) And I don't even know what to make of those "innocent" children.

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  10. Weird story, pretty interesting. Ithink Mrs. Grose is the real evil one. The story was pretty good kind of got into it, but also confusing at some parts

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  11. The real evil is speculative-I think the evil lies somewhere with the past of the uncle??
    There seems to be entirely too much pinned up rage in Miles and he seems to be lashing out. What has the Uncle done that he wishes them to be sent away and to never contact him again?The Governess says she has seen Miss Jessel and Peter Quint? Does she actually kill Miles?

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  12. This story brought me to the thought that things are not always as they seem. The governess had her own sense of what reality was based on how things appeared. She spoke of the greatness of Bly. Everything she described almost sounded too good. She was "dazzled" by the loveliness of the children and equated the physical beauty with innocence and morality. An example of this is when she dismisses the cruel charge against Miles as grotesque because of the "sweetness of innocence" about him.
    This may be a stretch, but I think that she, in her lonely and altered reality, transferred her feelings for the Master onto the children She believed herself to be remarkable and that would show itself "publicly." I took this to mean that she thought that in keeping the charge to take care of everything without ever a word, the Master would take notice of her. There are many details that don't quite add up, but I think the evil is in the governess' warped sense of realty.

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  13. This is a great analysis of the governess -- she may well have a warped sense of reality, and even more, may have some kind of messiah complex, where she feels she has to save everyone. Michael, I'd be interested in knowing why you think Mrs. Grose is the evil one. You could have a strong case, we just don't know the details.

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  14. Corey Hedge
    I think that Mrs.Gross is the evil one because the childeren never said that they could see ghosts, but i also think it was weird that there was never a reason why Miles was expelled from school.

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  15. Oh, and Leah, I wonder if the governess isn't in some way romantically attracted to the absent uncle, who might actually be the narrator of the frame story. I don't think she's attracted to Mrs. Grose, nor do I think she's got some thing for Peter Quint. It IS interesting that she feels that Miles and Flora can't be evil, because they are beautiful children. She's not a very critical thinker.

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  16. The evil is found in the ghosts. Having the ability to see the ghosts could be seen as the ability to see death, the governess' own death and that of the little boy. When the girl moved in with her uncle, she was no longer in harms way since the ghosts probably were confined within the borders of the country home.

    The narration would have been better in third person to prevent a bias view of the story. We don't know the governess' mental state therefore we can't truly determine if her point of view is credible.

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  17. Third person narration would certainly have removed some of the doubt. I think, though, that the ambiguity of the governess's mental state is part of James intention here. He doesn't WANT us to find easy answers. And we always have to consider that the ghosts are real, as you suggest, and intent on harming the children. That's a completely viable and supportable position to take.

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  18. My vote for the root of all evil is the governess. She seems to be wrapped up in the romantic fantasy from early on in the tale. She has a far fetched crush on the aloof uncle, and seems to be wrapped up in her pride for child rearing skills. James's style of writing in her voice makes me feel like a therapist listening to a client ramble on and on. I think she has an unhealthy high sense of herself and her moral duty, and it shines through in her conversations with Mrs. Grose. Who the governess sees as a simplton, in need of her help and support. The fact that before Mile's arrival she was so obsessed with his expulsion from school foreshadowed a severe lack of tolerance for unmoral behavior. I think she lost her marbles, and out of a moral sense to save the corrupt Mile's soul, killed him. The ghosts are creations of her own dementedness that manfest due to being in the isolation and pressure of the job. From early on in the frame story I felt she was trying to woe the aduience into adoring her moral backbone and innocent nature. Smelled pretty fishy to me. I think from sentence one she was hiding something and was latching on to any scapegoat that entered her detached conscious.

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  19. The Turn of the Screw was an interesting story for me and very different from any spooky/scary story that I have ever read before. Throughout the entire story new leads or events would occur that would just make another character seem like they where the true evil in the story. I do believe that Mrs. Grose the housekeeper was the true evil and the center of all the mysteriousness in the house. She does a great job of acting and making herself seem like someone who doesn’t know about anything going on and is completely innocent. She is very happy and helpful the entire time; this role made it seem that she would have no idea or involvement with the eerie events that where going on. First of all she denies that there are ghosts in the house and it seems like she is hiding something mysterious that something odd is going on in the home. Overall, even after making these assumptions about Mrs. Grose, at the end of the story I still felt uncertain of whom the true evil was because bunch of clues and events could cause one to point fingers at another character in the story like the children!

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  20. If I had to pick an evil person out of the lot, I would say it was Mrs. Grose...I left the story feeling like she had squeezed Miles so tightly she killed him. I don't know if anyone else got this impression, but I felt like she was so overbearing throughout the story, I felt suffocated just reading the story! Plus, she was obviously not well, and a little bit off her rocker from the get-go. I mean, 10 year olds don't just up and die.

    I think it would be easy to say the kids are the evil ones, I think the story leads you to believe this from pretty early on. But since the crazy ol' lady is telling the story, it is not a stable source for facts. The fact she doesn't mention WHY Miles was expeled made me really question this woman's story and her sanity. She could have been fabricating the whole story, and using it as a scapegoat to curtain her insanity, and give an excuse as to the death (or murder) of Miles.

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  21. Jared Porterfield

    I believe that the governess is the true source of evil in this tale. She, as a method of projectiong her romanic fascination with the uncle, assumes the role of the childrens protector from the supernatural forces at hand. The problem, however, is that the children don't seem to need any protection whatsoever. The Children are never directly stated to see that appartions of the former butler and governess and they dont seem to be in any direct danger. The governess merly assumes that that the children need protection when in reality they dont. This story seems to basically be a horror style parable about minding ones own buisensess

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  22. How do we know that everyone in the story is not evil themselves? Everyone in the story seems to have their share of skeletons in the closet, including the children. Lets look at the governess, we pratically know nothing about her past, where she came from, or what type of person she was before she arrived. All we know about her is that she was given the position by the kids uncle, and that she thought the uncle was attractive. It is very weird that she is the only one who sees the ghost, is she lying? or is everyone else lying? Lets look at the uncle how do we know he is not involved? is it not suspicious that he wants the governess to handle the children and all other affairs by herself with out involving him? It is, so maybe he has done something that he wants no one to find out about; like killing the previous governess, Mrs. Jessel, and the butler, Peter Quint. If that is the case, then it may give us some clues to why the children seem to be so disturbed. Mrs. Grose is just as suspicious as everyone else, she only gives enough information to keep you guessing, and it is quite obvious she knows more than she is providing. Could she have murdered Mrs, Jessel and Peter? Miles is sneaky, and can be bad as he proved to the governes, just what did he do to get expelled from school? Could he have killed them? His little sister Flora obviously has a temper and likes for things to be her way, maybe she killed Mrs. Jessel and Peter because they got on her bad side. So with all of this being said all of them are suspects, all of them have things to hide, all of them could be insane, and maybe just maybe it's all made up by the governess, or the narrator, who is, in fact, unreliable.

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  23. I have to say that I agree with Kyle. First, it was very hard to follow. Second, I do believe taht Flora and Miles werent old enough to know right from wrong and therefore could not possible be the root of all evil. I believe that the governess was the root of all evil, trying to corrupt the children and Mrs. Grose was trying to protect them.

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  24. Could the entire household be a landing place for the witnesses to the uncle's womanizing and murderous ways? It is stated in the beginning that he is a rather "loose" man which is why she fell for him right after the interview. I think that she desperately wanted to do everything right, just to cause him to be proud. Perhaps he killed Ms. Jessel because she threatened him in some way and Mr. Quint tried to save her. If all of the others witnessed this double homicide then they would all act a bit strange. Maybe the uncle fell in love with Ms. Jessel but she had no interest in him after she got the job. When it was discovered that Mr. Quint was her true lover, perhaps the uncle decided to kill them both and the others saw it happen.

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  25. It's confusing as to whom the real "evil" in the story is, not only because the script itself is a bit difficult to read but because the narrator is intentionally keeping you on your toes. For example, if the children are seeing dead people, why don't they realize it? And if they do, shouldn't they be frightened? Mrs. Grose is hiding facts from them possibly because she herself is the evil one. Yet, it points fingers to the children since they themselves are associated with death. On the other hand, the Governess sees things almost too perfectly, as if no evil exists. With this being said it makes her character a tad suspicious... So all in all I think all of the characters have evil in them whether they admit it or not.

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  26. Holy cow, this story confused the heck outta me. I think I had to read every single word at least 5 times to get enough of a grip on the story to even post a comment on here!! If were voicing opinions on whos evil in the story, I personally think Im going to go with...uhm, everyone? You have these two orphaned children, who, regardless of whether or not they do converse with the dead, seem to abrubtly end the lives of all who associate with them, and a governess who sees demon faces at the window? I mean, none of this sounds particularly innocent to me!

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  27. These questions have kept James scholars busy for decades? There are James scholars? What a waste. Henry James, if this story is any indication of his personality, must have sucked hard. Writing enigmatic stories don't automatically qualify a piece as quality literature. I'd rather shove a scalpel into my thigh before I read more Henry James.
    First, I think Grose and the governess had some weird, pseuto-erotic feelings towards each other. I think the evil is somehow attached to Grose and her willingness to protect the children. It seems like she has experienced and witness some degree of evil and has decided to live in it. As to the reliability of the narrator and the sanity of all involved parties, how can I judge the mental health of fictional characters? I think the governess is too obsessed with how innocent the children look. She seems to want to treat these children as if they are her own proxy-kids. She seems a bit off to begin with. She doesn't seem to approach her charge like a job, but rather as a surrogate mother. CRAZY.

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  28. I think Mrs.Grose is evil because writer have chosen name which sounds like "Gross" Its a small detail which is easy to miss in this story which is very hard to follow.

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  29. After reading the passage, I came to the conclusion that the governess may be influencing the thoughts of the children because they are too young to make decisions for themselves. As creepy as the narrator is, the children could have some for of evil in their intentions, but the governess is definitely inflicting her personal suggestions to the kids.

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  30. I think that the kids are the evil ones in this story. They obviously know that something unsual is going on but they seem to be hiding an evil secret throughout the story.But because of the ghosts secretive nature the governess is lead to believe that they are harmful to them. As a matter of fact the childrn could have contributed to the end of the butler and the former governess. The spirts are there to warn the new comer to leave at once. This story is a symbolic of how evil can come disgised as anything, even innocent children

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  31. i think that both the kids AND ms grose are the "evil"... ms grose insists that the kids see ghosts but they deny it. so does that mean that she is the one who is crazy? that she is the one who REALLY sees the ghosts?

    OR the kids who always are associated with the deaths of those around them. are they really hiding something dark and scary or do they just have bad luck when it comes to new people? there are no more than ten years old so how could they murder so many people without leaving some sort of trace of evidence.

    i think that no matter what side people take on this story there will always be some sort of evil in the world; whether its children, ghosts, or a babysitter. they all have a creepy underlying demeanor BUT its up to the reader to decide who they think is the "root of all evil".

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  32. I felt like the kids were the evil ones in this story as well having such a horrific past throughout their family and the fact that they are communicating with dead people and yearn to do so. I feel like the root of evil is embedded in those demented children.

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  33. I think that Ms Grose is the true evil in the story, the dark puppet master in the wings. I think that she takes the over-protective governess and bends her to her own dark thoughts. Although the governess is clearly not all there either, Ms Grose never denys any of her visions of the dead, but instead sits quietly while the drama unfolds. I think the children have been demented by her as well, knowing what she did to the previous governess and Quint, probably due to jealousy of his affection.

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  34. Cameron Sonnenber said...

    I don't think she is a reliable narrator at all. She even starts off the story "I remember the whole beginning as a succession of flights and drops, a little seesaw of hte right throbs and the wrong." So you know she is going to sound suspicious of every little thing when she is re-telling the story.

    Ohh this was weird, oh that was suspicious, oh I should have known better, oh I had a feeling about...

    Because of that it makes it hard to tell if she was sain in the first place. I suspect that at the very least she was not because she mentions that the drive through the country refreshed her fortitude which was probably a reprieve proving a point in which she had sunk.

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  35. I like stories like this but it’s hard to follow I don’t understand what other people said about it but i agree with Ms Grose being evil.

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  36. Ashlin Jackson said..

    i have to agree with you Sam. i had a really hard time with reading this story and getting all the details down. so pretty much the summary is all that helped me to get this stuff. i think one word, creepy when it comes to describing the story. the children seem to have something else to them, like bad karma and the governess i think is just crazy in the head .

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  37. Mrs. Grose is the real evil due to all the denials of the ghosts but i also have a good opinion for the kids as well considering they are talking to dead people!!!

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  38. kayla price says:

    i'm not a big fan of english lit. but this story was really complex and twisty for me. however, i was able to understand it more than other stories i've read. i believe that mrs. grose is really evil in this story and that the kids are crazy. do they see the ghost or not?

    this was an interesting story.

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