A Turn of the Screw - Henry James

I have been reading a lot this month. I am currently in between work and it is my 29th day in limbo. Though this started off stressful, I have been slowly realising that I am enjoying taking some time to sit and relax after working non-stop for the past three years. So for this month's post I have written a little something on one of the books I have read recently. I enjoyed writing this little piece and think I will write more on this blog, the more books I finish.

The Turn of the Screw is a Gothic Victorian Novella by the one and only Henry James. It was first published in 1898, towards the end of the Victorian era, and is concerned by many to be one of the most ambiguous and analysed ghost story in his history. It was a joy to read and I am surprised by how much I liked it and how fast I read it.

Plot Summary:

The book starts with friends sat around a fire on Christmas Eve sharing ghost stories. The Turn of the Screw is one of the tails that is shared...

A unnamed governess, recently hired to care for a rich man's orphaned niece and nephew moves to Bly manor in Essex. She becomes quickly enamoured with the children, Miles and Flora, which throughout the book turns into somewhat of an obsession.

Miles has been sent home from boarding school for summer with a letter of expulsion but will not talk about what has happened. The governess and the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose, cannot understand why such a lovely boy could have been expelled. Soon into her stay at Bly, the governess starts to see figures around the grounds but she does not recognise them. When she asks Mrs. Grose about them, she explains that they sound like two previous employees of the Manor. Miss Jessel, the governess' predecessor and Peter Quint, a servant. She explains that they have both been dead for some time though. Mrs. Grose goes on to say that they spent a great deal of time with Miles and Flora before their deaths, leaving the governess to believe that the children are seeing these figures as well and are being influenced by them.

Throughout the story, both the children go "missing" for periods of time, only to be found by the governess again within the house. She believes that it is the apparitions taking them away. The reader is led to think that there is something in fact wrong with the children, as the way that they are acting is suspicious and creepy and the way they speak to the governess is anything but childlike. It is more all knowing. Flora is found gone towards the end of the book, but the governess cannot find her anywhere in the house. She ends up seeing her by the small lake on the grounds with Miss Jessel. This leads her to believe that the children must see the figures as well and that they are a threat to the them. She finally approaches the children about the apparitions but they say they cannot see them. The governess decides it is best to send Flora away from the house, for her own protection and safety, to live with her uncle and Mrs. Grose.

Left alone with Miles now, the governess finally approaches him about what he did to warrant his expulsion. Miles says he cannot remember but it was something he said to someone that got back to the headmaster. We never find out exactly what he said. It is then that he expresses being very uncomfortable around the governess but she does not listen. She then sees the figure of Peter Quint out of the window and ties to protect Miles from him by wrapping him in her arms, only to find him dead when the figure is gone.

Thoughts:

First of all...are her visions representing her subconscious and better judgement? Are they trying to help the children in the end rather than hurt them like she thinks?

From my perspective, I thought that the governess just loved the children so much that she couldn't see why they would possibly be thought of as naughty. It annoys me that we never hear what Miles said to have gotten expelled, but then maybe he was never actually expelled at all and the obviously disturbed governess (she needs (modern day) therapy) just pulled him out of school to be closer to him.

At first, the fact that she keeps talking about the figures she keeps seeing as being in the children's minds led me to think that there was something wrong with the children, but after a while, I started thinking that the children are just lonely and them playing pretend by themselves leads the governess and her deranged mind to think that they are seeing things as well.

Towards the end I started to realise that it was actually the governess that was seeing things and no one else and that maybe the children aren't that bad of children, because we don't explicitly see them doing anything truly horrible (unless I missed something). This thought really solidified in the final chapter when she is talking about Miles being really nervous and how you could see it on his face as she is talking to him. The fact that he had wanted her to leave for a few chapters should have given it away to me sooner.

I think that someone this in love with the children would never have intentionally kill one of then. I think personally, it makes more sense that he is smothered as she is trying to protect him from her own deluded visions.

All in all, I enjoyed it. This was my first time reading Henry James. His writing style is very extra. I underlined some truly amazing way he puts certain things that authors these days wouldn't dream about being able to replicate. I think its extravagancy goes well with the governess' romanticising and over exaggerating everything, though I don't know how it would fare with any other story. It was difficult for me to stay focused at times and so I don't know how I would manage with a longer novel.

Final thing. I honestly forgot that it started with people telling ghost stories. Like, what happened to them? It doesn't conclude with them again in the room. Is that because the main narrator is somehow apart of this? The uncle? Luke (anther servant)? who knows...

Image © Taylor J. Norris