Grant Williams Mrs. Manning The Turn of the Screw Summer Reading Essay 7/27/15 The Turn of the Screw‚ by Henry James‚ is a well written ghost story detailing the fictional events at an estate in the town of Bly‚ England. This story is captivating and a thriller to read. Henry James has written over 75 works‚ varying in style from plays to novels. There are very few characters in this story which allowed for detailed characterization‚ and leaves the reader with a mental image of how they would
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people took anything not specified in sexual connotations. Realizing this‚ the authors of the time used this to their advantage and laid a heavy underlying sexual atmosphere as a basis for their stories. Henry James does just that in his Turn of the Screw. Though never directly stating so‚ his main character suffers from sexual repression that came along with her position in the Victorian age and eventually acts upon it‚ while the ghosts in the story then serve as protection for the children
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In The Turn of the Screw by Henry James‚ there are many disputes over the question of the governess’s sanity. While some claim that the apparitions she sees are real‚ deeming her sane‚ others believe that they are materializations of her own imagination. The governess is sane because of her ability to think rationally‚ the apparitions’ resemblance to previous Bly workers‚ and Miles’s acknowledgment of Peter Quint. The governess is sane because she is able to think rationally before acting upon
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“The Turn of Feminism” The novel “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James takes place during the 1840’s when women were treated unfairly and were not seen as having much worth. Their roles mainly consisted of a teacher‚ a governess‚ or a housewife. Women were often viewed as incapable of certain work‚ but the main character in this novel‚ the governess‚ proves that women can accomplish great things when she is caught in a situation where she must fight against supernatural forces. The concept of feminism
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Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is written with one clear and true ending where Miles dies and the readers are left to guess the rest for themselves. Or is it? Right from the prologue‚ a reader may assume that Miles and Douglas are indeed the same person‚ but when the reader sees‚ “and his little heart‚ dispossessed‚ had stopped.” P.403 one dismisses that theory as lost‚ but it isn’t. Perhaps one ignore the idea because of many unclear allusions to discrepancies. James’ use of deliberate vagueness
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Neha Gundavarapu 1st Period 11/18/16 Turn of the Screw Literary Analysis (8) In his novella Turn of the Screw‚ Henry James portrays the governess as a delusional woman who conceives the ghost of Peter Quint as a direct manifestation of her own fears and desires about sex. James utilizes the ghost of Quint to represent adulthood and sexual maturity‚ thus epitomizing an older version of the “innocent” child‚ Miles. The governess’ beginning of insanity was prompted by Mrs. Grose describing the previous
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Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is arguably one of the most haunting ghost stories of all time. Still to this day‚ it leaves critics debating and there is not a clear consensus about what is true. It appears that only James himself knows the answer. The writing techniques and ambiguity through the use of characters and their relationships leave the reader questioning everything. Only the small fragments of truths‚ amidst daunting realisations‚ invalid coincidences and veiled madness; where is
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In The Turn of the Screw there were many mysteries‚ but the biggest mystery was how did Miles die in the arms of the Governess after saying the name of the ghost‚ “Peter Quint- You devil”. This mystery illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole because the reader can conclude many ways of how he had died. For example‚ we can say that he had died since the evil spirit of the ghost left the body of MIles‚ the Governess was holding him to hard‚ or that he died in shock and fear. The death of Miles
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The True Villian On the surface‚ Henry James’‚ “Turn of the Screw” has all of the qualities of an innocent old-fashioned ghost story‚ but underneath there is much more. The use of ambiguity appears frequently throughout the novel and the reader is left to decide a lot on their own; Are the ghosts real? Who can actually see the ghosts? Which characters can the reader really rely on? These questions can be answered in a variety of different ways‚ but who is to say which answer is the correct one
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New Historicism is a theory in literary criticism that suggests literature must be studied and interpreted within the context of both the history of the author and the history of the critic. The theory arose in the 1980s‚ with Stephen Greenblatt as its main proponent‚ and became quite popular in the 1990s. Critics using this approach look at a work and consider other writings that may have inspired it or were inspired by it‚ as well as the life of the author and how it relates to the text. There
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