Week 3: "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James

 

Reviews by Belén Tizón Méndez

and Begoña Rodriguez Varela

Chapters 13-18: The Turn of the

 Screw by Henry James reviewed by Belén Tizón Méndez

 

Source for picture: here

The recurrent topics of this novel are present in these chapters. The governess’ fears for the children are a constant, and, in her attempts to prevent them from being corrupted, she overprotects them. This excessive protection turns her into a manipulative being;she instances the children to write letters to their uncle but does not allow them to send those letters under the pretence of it just being an educational task. She persistently advocates her role as Flora’s and Miles’s nurturer par excellence.

Hallucination and secrecy are also a theme in these pages. The governess finds Mrs Jessel usurping her desk and mistrusts her intentions. The desk is a symbol of power, control exerted by the governess and, Miss Jessel, for some strange reason, challenges this control by occupying it. Suspicion looms. Neither Flora nor Mrs Grose care about the governess’s absence.

The governess keeps showing her insecurity, as a stereotype of a woman of the time, in this drifting vessel commanded by obscure characters.

Towards denôument....

 A review of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw

by Begoña Rodríguez Varela

From the beginning, Douglas’ guests and we, readers alike become jurors of a story written by an unnamed (curious) governess and have to decide whether it is an eerie ghost story or a character study. Clearly, Henry James was a master of this ambiguity. Indeed, openness and ambiguity go hand in hand in this novella and it is impossible to make up our minds. So, was this the author’s main purpose?

Maybe.

In fact, one finds arguments in favour of one thesis or the other. The dialogues between the characters with constant interruptions and probable hidden secrets under carefully selected language help to accumulate tension and create a labyrinthine, claustrophobic atmosphere.

And then, the question arises; Are the ghosts real or just projections of the governess’ own fears and neuroticism? That doesn´t really matter. They are the "real" threats which make the governess shield the not-so-innocent children so obsessively that Flora ends up suffering a nervous breakdown and the governess killing Miles......from suffocation.