Please complete all blog posts pertaining to Turn of the Screw in the comments section of this thread. Blog posts are assigned weekly for the duration of the Lit Circle, and are due by 10pm on Thursday nights.
Students posting in this thread will be: Alison, Claire, Code & Erica.
Happy Reading!
10 comments:
The questions that have been present in the back of my mind during our reading so far (chapters 1-6) have been: Why does the ghost of Peter Quint want Miles? Why not Flora, Mrs. Grose, or the governess? Why has Miles been kicked out of boarding school? Theres something sketchy about Miles that has yet to be seen, what do you guys think it is?
I'd like to bring up something that has been...puzzling me, I guess, since the beginning of the book. It's not really a theme in the novel but a thought-provoking comment made in the prologue. The comment was about our main character (her name I still don't know...I hope it hasn't been mentioned yet) made by Douglas. He said, "[...] but that's just the beauty of her passion." What is beautiful about passion? Is it the obsessive nature of the characteristic, or is it something else?
As I've been reading the novel, I've been wondering how much of James' life has really been put into this novel. James wrote in his 1908 prologue that he had a ghostly experience and his father and brother were very active in a society that held regular seances. James' sister was also insane and I was reading a lit crit that suggested that maybe the governess was loosely based on his sister.
How much of James' life has been twisted into the story we're reading today? Did something happen to James that led to the dark nature of the novel?
Okay. So. After reading chapters seven through twelve, the governess is looking legitimately crazy. My first instinct was to immediately think that she was insane, but there is something that keeps me from believing that 100%. The fact that the children keep engaging in strange behaviors compels me to think the governess isn't all that mad, and that maybe there are ghosts. No normal little boy stands out on the lawn in the middle of the night as his little sister watches from the window after extinguishing all the lights, that's just straight creepy. Something must be behind their strange behavior, but is it ghosts?
I think that the governess is crazy.
I know the children are seeing this "ghost" and are engaging in strange behaviors, but I think that they're stringing the governess along. Even though the governess thinks that the children are made of sweetness and light, she has mentioned a few times how she wasn't sure if she could believe them and has wondered if they were truly good kids. I think that since they are children, they are playing a joke. It's a cruel joke, but a joke nonetheless.
Despite the children's strange behaviors, I think that may have something to do with the lack of contact with their father and abuse that the boy may have suffered.
However, it's going to take a little more research and reading for me to figure this one out.
I'm kind of at a crossroad with the governess' mental status. Yes, she has shown many times that she has essentially lost it, but if she was completely insane would Mrs Grose play along like she is? I mean, when someone is actually crazy you just kind of nod and smile hoping that they'll leave you alone, but Mrs Grose actually goes into in-depth conversations with the governess about past events at the manor and Miles and Flora's two-faced personalities. I also feel the kids are kind of demonic...I don't know why but they just kind of remind me of those horror movies where the kids act all sweet and innocent, then in the end they kill everybody.
My mind is still not made up but I will say this, it takes an extremely good author to make it so hard to decided if the main character is insane or not.
I posted a comment earlier, but it didn't show up. So here goes round two, sorry if two comments show up. :)
After reading chapters thirteen through eighteen, I’ve officially decided to agree with Alison that the governess is mental. She thinks the children are constantly communicating with ghosts, and that she just can’t see it. She acts completely irrationally and irresponsibly, possibly endangering Miles in the last chapter. She seems to make up stories that don’t flow together; she is just simply acting insane. As of now, I believe she is crazy, but the rest of the book will prove me right or wrong!
So, my new theory to go along with my "Crazy-Governess" theory is that Mrs. Grose is a figment of the governess' imagination.
I'm thinking this because the children never address or reference her AND she serves as someone that convinces/reaffirms the governess of HER sanity. In my opinion, it's kind of a Sixth Sense thing. Just switch out Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osmet for the governess and Mrs. Grose and change the "I see dead people" thing for "I don't think you're crazy".
I'm hoping that is is going to be confirmed later in the novel and that James won't leave us hanging!
I agree with both Claire and Alison on this theory of insane governess gone completely mental with her little imaginary friend Mrs. Grose. I really do hope that we get more background on the governess as the book continues, I want to know more about why she's so mentally unstable. (I don't blame Miles for wanting to go back to school either)
DONT READ THIS COMMENT UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE LAST SECTION! :)
WOW. So after reading the last section of the book, I was in shock for a moment. I had already read the last page and knew the ending (I ruin books for myself.. I can't wait that long..) but I didn't know WHY it happened the way it had. Why did Miles' heart stop? I don't understand that part exactly, and even read critiques online and still don't understand! I hope we can figure it out in our lit circle thursday. :)
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