Monday, March 22, 2010
Guest Blogger - Megan S.
We just wrapped up Turn of the Screw, and I have one thing that I am still contemplating. That question is whether the children see the ghosts that the governess does or not. The governess makes it seem like they do, but as we all know, she’s not the most credible person at this point. At the end of the story, Miles and the governess are talking and he starts freaking out. “Is she here?...Miss Jessel, Miss Jessel!” (pg. 402). He then has the same reaction about Peter Quint, and proceeds to die. The story just ends there, and leaves you to contemplate. She seems to have created a lot of things in her mind as some sort of twisted fantasy that included becoming a governess for a man and believing she’d fall in love with him, even though he doesn’t live with or have anything to do with Miles or Flora, so frankly, I am not sure which way to go on this one. Part of me thinks that both Miles and Flora do see the ghosts because Miles runs out onto the lawn in the middle of the night and stares up at the tower, the same tower that the ghost of Quint “happens” to be standing on. He then comes up with a story that he wanted to be “bad” by breaking the rules, but I am not quite buying it. Also, the governess sees Flora staring out a window, one where Miss Jessel just “happens” to be looking in. The other part of me doesn’t because the governess just seems like a crazy lady who just made this all up in her head to create a ghost story to be told. Writing this has made me think a lot more about the issue, and I am starting to learn more towards the children actually do see the ghosts, just because there is a lot more evidence to back that up. What do you think? Turn of the screw has so many things that are left to be interpreted by the reader, some of which include whether or not the children see the ghosts, why the governess jumps to the conclusion that the woman she sees is Miss Jessel even though Mrs. Groves doesn’t say it like she did with the man, how Mrs. Groves knows right away that the man is Quint, if Mrs. Groves really believes the governess, and how Miles actually died.
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I do think that the children could see the ghosts and that the governess is telling the truth. The governess is given so much credibility at the beginning of the story in the prolouge. "She was the most agreeable woman I've ever known in her position; she would have been worthy of any whatever." (James 293). For me, it's hard to doubt her word when she claims to see the ghosts. She seems like she's a fairly logical thinker for the most part. When she sees the ghosts she isn't alarmed and accepts it as an occurence. Instead of acting on her fear of the ghosts, she worries more about protecting the children and keeping them safe rather than keeping herself safe. Such as when she stays home instead of going to church, she wants to make sure the ghosts don't come back to infiltrate the house and hurt the children.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you guys on thinking that the children can see the ghosts, even if there isn't any straightforward proof given to prove this. Throughout the story, the kids just seem too.. perfect, they tell the governess what she wants to hear and do what she wants them to do. Perhaps they are just well-behaved children, but to me it seems as if they are hiding things. The end of the novel also leans towards the view that the children can see the ghosts.
ReplyDeleteI was so determined to have all my proof that I flashed into ice to challenge him. "Whom do you mean by `he'?"
"Peter Quint- you devil"
Miles' response to the governess' question is quite eerie. I could be wrong, but I don't believe Peter Quint's name has ever come up in the book in any situations that involve Miles. So unless Mrs. Grose had a conversation with Miles warning him that he had a crazy governess, it seems as if Miles can see Peter and recognizes him. But with all of the ambiguity throughout the novel, it is really dificult to make your mind up to what has happened.
In my opinion I think that the children do see the ghost and that the narrator/governess is not crazy and in fact a credible source. If she was simply crazy and did not actually see this ghost, how did she correctly describe the previous owner of the house, Peter Quint, to that point that Ms. Jessal could identify him. Also I agree with Karissa’s reason on why to believe the governess. The prologue did make her out to be such a truthful person so that as I was reading the story I was connected to her story and actually believed her and felt bad for her.
ReplyDeleteI am also kindaa confused as to whether or not the children can see the ghosts, but i am leaning more to they can see them. I agree with Karissa and Melissa that in the prolouge the governess is talked about so highly by Douglas that it is hard to doubt her credibility, but I personally do not trust her at the end. Although I do not trust Miles and Flora at all, simpply because they are kind of creepy, i begin to distrust the governess at the end. It seems as if she is going crazy, which i would blame on her inability to ask the children about the ghosts. I believe that the children can see the ghosts and that they interact with them quite frequently, which can be seen through all of the governess' sketchy encounters with the children during the night.
ReplyDeletei agree with quinn. when i started the novel, naturally and instinctively i believed everything that the governess was saying. however, discussions in class led me to the belief that just because we have no reason to NOT believe the governess, doesn't mean that we can trust them about everything. But, i have a hard time finding things to trust/not trust and it's all becoming very confusing... So in the end i choose to believe the governess souly on the basis that there is more evidence that points in her favor.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the children see the ghosts. Despite all the evidence we seem to have that backs up the fact that there are indeed spirits living amongst the children and governess we must also remember that this information has been presented in a biased way from the governess and may not be credible. If we were to read the novel from an entirely different perpective we may choose to believe differently based on the information given by that person. Just because the author does not give the readers reason to doubt her does not mean she is a credible source and i choose to believe that she made the entire situation up in her head and is thereby responsible for Miles's death
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to deside whether or not to believe the governess or not. Yes; there is a lot of evidence in her favor like the comments before mine point out, but whether everything the governess is saying is what everyone else is experiencing is a completely different field. If we go into the world of the governess, then yes, the children see ghost. It points directly towards that. Since we don't have the knowledge of what is happening outside of her world and to everyone else, it is hard to completely trust that view. It really come downs to whos vision and world you want to be apart of.
ReplyDeleteI extremely believe that the children see the ghosts just because (to me) the events that happen - Miles outside staring at the tower, Flora staring out the window - are TOO coincidental.
ReplyDeleteI see how people can say that the governess was just crazy, but I feel like she's on-edge because of the fact that she suspects the children see the ghosts, but she can't really talk to them about it because she thinks they'll lie. Seeing dead people is a bit of a touchy subject, it's not something you can just bring up over story time.
I do think that the the children can see the ghosts. However, the governess' theory that they are conspiring with them seems a like a bit of a stretch.
ReplyDeleteI think that a very telling scene was when the candle went out and it frightened Miles. Miles then said that he was the one that blew it out. Miles was obviously trying to cover for the ghosts here, because if he had blown out the candle it wouldn't have frightened him. However, I don't think that he was conspiring with the ghost, because if his relationship with the ghost was that close, the candle shouldn't have frightened him either.