Hello fellow students and readers of Turning of the screw. I am here to discuss the matter of the evil children in the book. I personally dislike children very much and for them to betrayed as angels in a somewhat horrific book gives me discomfort. First of all I do believe the children are evil and conspiring with the spirits. Yes it might seem that our dear governess has lost her mind do to all the pish posh that she has experienced, but that doesn’t take away the fact the children can see them (aka ghosts). Miles stands out in the middle of the yard looking up to where the governess had seen the ghost and Flora stands there all creepy like while this goes down. You can’t tell me that you don’t get a total creeper vibe from them. I personally think that the whole house and the children are haunted. The children being perfect, the perfect man, the perfect job…. There just isn’t something right about that. It could possibly all be plan to make the governess seem mad and be some sick and twisted game for the children and the demonic spirits that inhabit their bodies. But then again that is all just a theory. Now sure there could be someone who fights with me about how they aren’t demons because they are nice to the governess and Miles wants more friends’ blah blah blah.
But all I ask of you is to add up the facts before you read any further. Mrs. Grosse knows too much and tells way too little to the poor governess. The children are little creepers even though they have their sweet moments; the young man who hired the governess doesn’t want any contact with them. It is all a evil plan concocted by the children and their master! However this is just a theory of mine, feel free to voice your own.
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I agree with you! They children are much to 'nice' to be complete angels. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be a little more suspicious of Miles, especially because he got kicked out of school. While the children are sweet, they don't seem to have any depth or have 'round' characteristics, like flaws or vices. They are much too flat to be completely harmless and perfect. The governess is much too naive and trusting about the sweet Flora and Miles are, and kind of dumb for deciding that Miles was just too good for his school. To further prove her lack of common sense, why doesn't she tell Mrs. Grose about her first sighting of Peter Quint? It would make sense to tell someone in charge about seeing a strange vision at night (or during the day). I think the children are screwing with the governess on purpose, or are out to get her.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you on the idea of the children being evil or conspiring with the ghosts, for the simple reason that there is no proven interaction between them. The point of Miles standing out on the lawn can be refuted by remembering when he mentions it was his plan to have Flora stand on the window, and it was part of his being "bad", while nothing is said about the ghosts. "'Oh, I had arranged that with Flora.' His answers rang out with a readiness! 'She was to stand up and look out.'(James 350). The other point of this is when the governess mentions the ghost was right in front of Flora (right?). If you think about that logically, (she doesn't scream), wouldn't any "perfect" girl (or any person for that matter)end up scared senseless of a ghost in their face? Maybe what I'm saying is wrong (feel free to correct me), but in my opinion (and based on several book quotes) the children are generally normal and this is most likely a story of a paranoid (crazy) governess that just doesn't get enough sleep (or professional help). Just think about the story in that context: a weird, superstitious (yet caring) lady creeps out her employer and is sent off to keep her out of his life. Well, that's my two cents, does anyone else have something to say to that?
ReplyDeleteI can see both sides. i disagree with will on the fact that if they were "perfect" they would scream at the ghosts, because if they were conspiring with the ghosts as Caitlin said, they would have had nothing to scream about.
ReplyDeleteBut like I said, I can see it both ways, technically there is no proof in the text that says that they for sure see the ghosts. But, there are many examples which would have been huge coincidences that they just happened to be looking at the exact spot where they ghosts are. And the idea that the children are earily perfect probably isnt 100% accurate. Remember this story was first told after the whole thing happened, and it is only from the governess' point of view, which would obviously change everything, including exaggerateing how the children acted.
I agree Caitlin, the children are strangely perfect. I think they are too perfect in fact; it's very likely that they are possessed by the ghosts because of their abnormal faultlessness. It's kind of like trying to lie and saying something that you would totally not do. Like telling your parents you went to a friend’s house to study, when you were obviously not doing homework and just hanging out.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, the children’s abnormal perfection reveals that they are probably possessed by the ghosts.
I have gone back and forth about whether or not the children were conspiring with the ghosts. While I was reading the book I believed that they did. The narrator tells us that she sees Flora communicating with Mrs. Jessel (pg. 346). Also, Mrs. Grose tells our narrator Flora told her of horrors (pg. 388), which I assumed to be the ghosts. I took these two examples to be proof that the children were conspiring with the ghosts. However, I didn't take into account the fact that the narrator was not reliable. We have only her word that Flora was communicating with Mrs. Jessel. Also, she did not specifically say that Flora was speaking of the ghosts. She simply said that she spoke of horrors. Thinking about the situation in this way makes convinces me that the children were not conspiring with the ghosts.
ReplyDeleteMiles is definitely suspicious to me. Maybe I've seen too many movies where there are creepy little children, but I agree with Caitlin that there is definitely something a bit off about them. There are plenty of instances where Miles' actions seem fishy such as when the governess questions about the night before when he was discovered out on the lawn: "When I'm bad, I AM bad!" (350). Also at the ending, Miles admits to taking the letter that the governess had sent to the master. If that doesn't prove something was going on, I don't know what will.
ReplyDeletei agree with you in the fact that mrs. grose knows too much about the ghosts. how does she know about them, even after reading the whole book i still can not figure it out. Did the children tell her, or is mrs. grose just playing along with the governess to make her believe that she knows about the ghosts? On the subject of the children being evil, i think they are not completely evil, but definitely super creepy. I still can not decide whether they see the ghosts or not, because they only mention the ghosts after the governess slips up and reveals to them that she sees them. Miles and Flora could just be basing their "affiliations" with the ghost off of what the governess says.
ReplyDeleteI certaintly agree with you about the children's eerie perfection and the fact that Mrs. Grose knows alot more than she is saying. Mrs. Grose seems all to calm at the thought of ghosts haunting the governess and possibly the children. I personally believe that a previous worker at the house may have gone through the same situation amd that is why Mrs. Grose handles it so calmly. The children on the other hand just creep me out. Although there is no evidence to really support seeing the ghosts, just the way that the children act kind of gives them away. They are always perfect and then will do something that will completely throw you off. For example, Miles watching the tower where Peter Quint was in the middle of the night, and Flora running away to the lake that Ms. Jessel is at. The whole situation just creeps me out and i definetly beileve that the children can see the ghosts.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the children are a bit evil. Im kinda going either way on whether they were working with the ghosts or not. And the question on whether they can see the ghosts or now is still a question to me, the way described in the boo gives a sense that they are able to but i really still do not know. And your right the fact that Mrs. Grose knows way more then what she actually says to anyone about the ghosts. The way that she acts or reacts about them is portrayed as really calm and if she did not now anything about the ghosts she would have been scared or something like anyone else would have.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all i can totally hear you saying this Caitlin! haha. also i think that even though there is overwhelming evidence against their pefectness, i think the children are just that, children.There is however something wrong with them because they do pull weird pranks that don't make very much sense but i belive it is all in joking fun. Not demonic tourture!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you could call Miles and Flora "evil" just because you think all children are that way. There's no real evidence that the children truly do anything wrong, except for the letter from Miles' school. And if Mrs. Grose and the governess say that they are perfect and we have no word on their behavior otherwise, that's a pretty vast assumption. I personally believe that they are in cahoots with the spirits, yes, but if there are any evil intentions I am highly convinced that it's because the spirits are taking over their beings, not because they just simply enjoy acting like brats.
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