The Turn of the Screw

For those who don't know, "The Turn of The Screw" is a novel by Henry James. It's a rather terrifying tale of ghastly apparitions and daunting demons, all in the setting of a country estate.

The main character is a governess, hired by the uncle of two children to look after them. upon arriving at the estate the governess falls victims to a plethora of hallucinations, whom she later finds out from the head maid of the estate are visions of people who used to work at the estate....but...dare I say... are now DEAD!

This would be a little startling, don't you think? As the story progresses the governess begins suspecting that the children are also aware of the ghosts, but are concealing their knowledge for some reason. So i guess the real question is, did the children know?

The governess' opinion of the children shifts dramatically from the beginning to the end of the tale. At first, she is infatuated with the children and speaks of them only in the highest regards, but near the end she is always convinced that they are hiding something.

The head maid, Mrs. Grose, confirms that both children had interactions with the ghosts the the governess is seeing when said ghosts were alive, but she knows nothing of these interactions as of late. She even says the Miles (the older male child) had rather inappropriate relations with one of the ghosts, but does not elaborate past that.

there are also many incidents of the children doing things when they should be in bed. for instance, miles is found outside one night, and he insists it's to prove to the governess the he can "do bad things". Also, the conclusion of the book rises a huge amount of suspicion. Miles and the governess are chatting late at night about an incident concerning a letter, when the governess sees the ghost of Peter Quint, the ghost who in life had the "relations" with miles. Miles then looks in the ghosts direction, utters the ghost's name, and then promptly dies.

So, I say that the children knew the entire time. One might wonder why they'd conceal their knowledge, but I'd instead ask why they wouldn't. Miles clearly had some sort of incriminating relations with one of the ghosts in life, so whats to say that he didn't fear punishment even after the man died. Also, the end of the book really just give's it away. Sure, he didn't say "hey, theres that dead guy that i still see all the time", but he might as well have.

thesis aside, the book was incredible. Quite an easy read and it keeps you on your toes. I'd suggest it to anyone!

thats all for now,
-Captain Swagger