Turn of the Screw Unreliable Narrator

Turn of the Screw Unreliable Narrator Vision or perspective is a key theme that reoccurs in both the film entitled The Innocents by Jack Clayton, and novel Turn of the Screw by Henry James. They both suggest that the governesses vision is not dependable making her an unreliable narrator. Throughout the novel and the film the governess is certain that she sees ghosts and tries to convince Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, to acknowledge their presence as well. The crucial question that is left unanswered in both novel and film is the existence of the ghosts. According to Banard, the governess is a neurotic spinster whose repressed passion for her employer, the childrens bachelor uncle causes her to hallucinate (Banard 199). The governess comes across similar to a boy crazy teenager who sees a man and falls head over heels in love with him. The governess exhibits much behaviour which makes her seem like she has a couple of her screws loose in her head. From the beginning of the novel the governess presents herself in a way that barely qualifies herself for the job as the childrens governess. The initial narrator, Douglas describes the governess as young, untried, nervous (James 121). From the first chapter the governess suggests that she is a somewhat moody person describing her past as a succession of flights and drops (James 123). It makes her seem like taking the job as a governess would be a bad idea because she is quite sensitive and fickle. By making us aware of her changes in mood, it makes her come across as nervous, emotional, and not necessarily reliable. Her instability creates a feeling of uncertainty to the readers which makes us uncertain that we can trust her point of view in the narrative. While the instability makes us, the readers doubt her, the uncle does not pick up on that unstableness at all for all he wants is someone to keep his niece and nephew out of his way so he can continue his life as an eligible bache lor. She even doubts herself, saying she feels she is making a mistake, felt all my doubts bristle again, felt indeed sure I had made a mistake.'(James123). It is the uncle who makes the mistake because he hires her even though she has no experience and does not know much about the job. When she arrives to Bly, she becomes irrational when she discovers that Miles, one of the children she is to care for has been expelled from school. As she constantly inquires about why he was sent away, Miles never answers her questions as to why he was expelled which makes her much more sceptical of him because he is acting like he is hiding something. Instead of writing to the school to investigate the real reason why Miles was expelled she conquers up her own reason rather than finding out the truth. She lets her imagination run wild about a little boy she barely knows concluding that Miles is an evil child which is why he was thrown out of school. The governess is very curious about the reason b ehind Miles expulsion but chooses to complicate the situation rather than just contacting the school. Her scepticism is obvious more in the film for she asks Miles quite frequently and never really responds. Without any proof she labels Miles and spends the rest of the novel and film trying to help him. In the end she discovers the truth finally; Miles was expelled because he said things to other boys at the school. The governess finally gets some answers when interrogating Miles in the last few chapters of the text although they are still vague: No, I didnt steal my handsshook him as if to ask him why, if it was all for nothing, he had he condemned me to months of torment. What then did you do? Well- I said things. Was it to everyone? I asked No- only a few. Those I liked. And did they repeat what you said? Oh yes, he nevertheless replied- they must have repeated them. To those they liked. (James 233-235). Even early on the novel she is proving herself to be unfit for the position she has acquired, in this particular scene she is interrogating Miles to find out answers. Instead of being the comforting caregiver like she was hired to be, the governess cross-examines the children similar to a criminal that is on trial. Even finding out the truth frustrates her because his answer is so vague. The governesses attitude towards the children makes her perspective as a narrator seemed biased and somewhat deceitful, she labels the children early on in the story which prevents us from seeing the childrens perspective as well. The technique James uses in his writing makes the text ambiguous for her chooses to tell the story from the perspective of the governess, an unreliable narrator which characterizes his writing. As Voltteler indicates in his argument, by using this technique the reader often witnesses events through the eyes of the character whose perception may be clouded by personal jealou sly, misunderstanding or self-deception (Votteler 263). In the case of the governess, her vision is clouded by her lust for the uncle. In addition to her desire for the uncle, she often sees Peter Quint or Miss Jessel but nobody else seems to acknowledge their presence when she points them out making it seem like she is the crazy one. In the film, the governess who is named Miss Gibbons goes looking for Flora by the lake and Miss Jessel appears and she tells Flora to look. When Flora indicates in the film that she has no idea what the governess is talking about she interrogates her and tries to force Flora into saying that she sees the ghost of Miss Jessel, someone whom Flora was close to and who died within the past year. When Mrs. Grose admits that she didnt see the ghost either, she is accused of betraying her for Mrs. Grose never did disagree with Miss Gibbons claims in neither the novel nor the film. In the novel, the governess calls Flora you little unhappy thing (James 213) and points Miss Jessel out from across the lake implying that Flora sees her. Flora replies scared and horrified that Miss Jessel was eve n brought up. I dont know what you mean. I see nobody. I see nothing. I never have. I think youre cruel. I dont like you!'(James 215). In the film, Clayton accentuates this scene by making Flora seem like she is corrupted not by the ghost but by Miss Giddons. In the film Flora seems like an innocent young girl and when Miss. Giddons questions her Flora looks as if she really does not see Miss. Jessel and it makes her quite upset. This scene emphasizes that Flora now sees that her governess is unfit and is corrupted. In forcing Flora to admit that she sees her previous governess, Flora then begins to think that Miss Giddons is wicked and cannot be trusted anymore. According to Wilson, there is never any reason for supposing that anybody but the governess sees the ghosts. She believes that the children see them, but there is never any proof that they do (Wilson 117). Not many questions are answered in the novel and the film; Clayton keeps with the ambiguous tone that is evident in the novel. Even the title of the film, The Innocents gives the viewer the idea that the governess is crazy and the children are merely just being children, a concept which the governess chooses to ignore. So when the children act in way that the governess does not understand she thinks that the children are corrupt and she must save them. In keeping with a similar representation among both the film and novel, it allows the viewer to decide for themselves. Either she is a crazy, hallucinating governess or the ghosts are real and the children are in on the plan to drive her out of Bly. Additionally, in the novel the governess has a fascination with gothic literature therefore she is hallucinating because she is a disturbed because she reads dark stories in her free time. What the governess first does after she sees Quint is compare it to her reading of gothic novels with romantic heroines. Was there a secret at Bly- a mystery of Udolpho or an insane, an unmentionable relative kept in unsuspected confinement?'(James 138). Since she loves reading such dark stories, they are all she has to compare what is happening in Bly to. When she first sees a man walking along the roof of the house all she can describe is what the figure looked like, but on her second sighting she feels that Quint was looking for someone other than her. This is important because as the story progresses her claims about the ghosts get more biased. Even though in the film there is no mention of her fascination with gothic books we still grasp that Miss Giddons mentality is not stable, making her an unfit caretaker. Afterwards the governess claims to know many things that cannot be proven, ridiculous claims based on her senses undermine her trustworthiness as a narrator in the novel. As well, when she sees these ghosts she is not certain that they are the deceased governess and valet until Mrs. Grose tells her that Miss Jessel, the previous governess and Peter Quint, the valet died nearby the house in Bly. The governess has no proof in the novel, whereas in the film an addition point is added, while playing hide and seek with the children, Miss Giddens finds an old photo of a man who Mrs. Grose identifies as Peter Quint. The additional proof added in the film makes the plot more believable because it means that Miss Giddens had some evidence to back up her claims. In the novel, all we are told about Quint is that he is handsome but it is really impossible to know how much the ghost the governess sees resembles Quint. According to Wilson, James knew what he was doing and he int ended the governess to be suffering from delusions. The governess could have learned about Quints appearance from the people in the village who with whom we know she had talked and who had presumably also told her of the manner of Quints death (Wilson 153).There are many ways she could have found out more information about the deaths of these two former employees which could have made her more delusional. Although neither the novel nor the film discuss her speaking to the other people in the town, we must not assume that the mansion is the only home in that part of England. So in conclusion, in both novel and film there is a recurring theme of unreliability of perception. The governess is shown as an unreliable narrator preventing us from seeing more than just her perspective. Her vision is contaminated by her lust for the childrens uncle who she falls head over heels in love with. From the beginning she is described in terms which make her perspective not trustworthy since she is described as moody. Throughout the novel and the film the governess is certain that she sees ghosts and tries to convince Mrs. Grose and the children that the ghost of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are a reality. Lastly, her fascination with gothic literature enables her to see aspects of evil which may not be really there. As she imagines scenes from her book, she believes she is seeing ghosts which are not really there. So on the whole, many incidents contribute to the belief that the governess is just hallucinating the ghosts and corrupting Flora and Miles by frightening them .

Definitions of Words Relating to Colonial America :: American History Puritans War Essays

Definitions of Words Relating to Colonial America 1.Iroquois Confederacy— confederation of five indigenous North American peoples, or nations, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca; founded c.1570. 2.Powhatan Confederacy— a group of 30 Native American tribes of the Eastern Woodlands. 3.Raleigh, Sir Walter— 1554-1618, English soldier, explorer, courtier, and man of letters. He conceived and organized the colonizing expeditions to America that ended tragically with the lost colony on Roanoke Island, VA with Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman. 4.Roanoke Island— 12 mi (19 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, off the NE coast of North Carolina between Albemarle and Pimlico sounds, site of the earliest English colony in North America. The first colonists, sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh landed in Aug. 1585 but returned to England in 1586. A second group, arriving in 1587, disappeared by the time additional supplies were brought from England in 1591. Artifacts from the lost colony are displayed in Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on the island. 5.Virginia Company— name of two English colonization companies chartered by King James I in 1606. One founded on the Plymouth Colony; the other, latter known as the London Company, founded colonies in the South, notably Jamestown, VA. 6.Jamestown— former village, SE Va., first permanent English settlement in America; est. May 14, 1607, by the London Company on a peninsula (now an island) in the James R.; named for the reigning English king, James I. 7.Royal Colony— In 1691 a new royal charter was granted for the colony of Massachusetts, which incorporated the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket Island, Maine, and Nova Scotia. Under the charter a popular assembly was established to aid the royal governor, and the right to elect representatives to the assembly was based on property qualifications, rather than on church membership. The royal charter ended control of Massachusetts government by Puritan religious leaders. 8.Puritans— ‘Followers' of Puritanism, a movement for reform in the Church of England that had a profound influence on the social, political, ethical, and theological ideas in England and America. In America the early New England settlements were Puritan in origin and theocratic in nature. The spirit of Puritanism long persisted there, and the idea of congregational democratic government was carried into the political life of the state as one source of modern democracy. 9.Plymouth Colony— settled by the Pilgrims in Massachusetts in 1620. The settlers had difficulty surviving early hardships, although a treaty with neighboring tribes assured peace for 50 years.

Gertrude and Ophelia (Hamlet) Essay

In Hamlet, the women act the small roles portraying their historical status at the time. Although Gertrude is the Queen of Denmark and Ophelia is the prince’s lovers, they have no standing in the society and their voices are never heard. Their actions and fates are greatly influenced by the men’s decisions. All their lives Ophelia and Gertrude are led by the men’s power; they together make a weak image of dependent women at Shakespeare’s time. Although Gertrude and Ophelia are not well developed through out the play, their actions, language and influence on the play portray them as the obedient passive type of women. Gertrude is Hamlet’s mother, a queen who betrayed her husband and got seduced by the prince’s uncle Claudius. She remarried with him and thereafter obeyed every order from Claudius. Gertrude is objectified by Claudius, as he said: â€Å"my crown, mine own ambition and my Queen.† To him the queen is one of his possessions and not even listed as the first. This suggested Gertrude is used by Claudius to get to the throne. The hasty marriage only a few weeks after her husband’s death shows her great dependence on men. Hamlet’s proclamation that he will â€Å"speak daggers to her, but use none† illustrate that he perceives her to be inferior, weak enough to fall foul to his words. Overall, Gertrude is the type of women that cannot survive without a man in her life, with suc h a weak soul she betrays her own husband and son. Ophelia is different from Gertrude. She is innocent, and naà ¯ve with no experience in life. She does love Hamlet with her pure heart, but she is also too submissive to her dad Polonius and brother Laertes. As they claim Hamlet is dangerous, that Hamlet’s â€Å"will is not his own† and that she should â€Å"fear† him, she does not try to oppose him, or justify Hamlet’s â€Å"affections† instead she tells Laertes that he â€Å"shall keep the key† of her memory. Polonius insults her and Hamlet’s love, responding to her declaration that Hamlet â€Å"has of late made tenders of his affection† he cries â€Å"Affection? Pooh!†¦Do you believe his tenders as you call them?† to which Ophelia replies â€Å"I do not know, my lord, what I should think†. She gives all the other male influences in her life. Later in the play, after Hamlet killed Polonius and runs away, Laertes is in France, she has no one to turn to. She depends too much on those people, now without any support she turns to  madness and finally commits suicide. All her life Ophelia is led by others and has never decided anything but her death. â€Å"Hamlet† was written in a time when women were not even allowed to play themselves on stage, women were seen as inferior and women were ‘owned’ by men. Ophelia and Gertrude have no real Autonomy, they are at the mercy of Hamlet, Claudius, Rodrigo, and Laertes moods to define their moods, and when the men are in conflict the women suffer, which is death in this case. They are a portrait of what women in Shakespeare’s time were like, dependent on men and never could control their own fate. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Rpt. in Compact Literature Reading Reacting Writing. By Kirszner and Mandell. 6th ed. 2007.

The Role of Women in 3 Greek Myths essays

The Role of Women in 3 Greek Myths essays One day, Persephone was in the field gathering the crops and Hades, the god of the underworld, was admiring her. He decided that he had to have her as his wife. Hades then shook the ground and caused it to split open and Persephone fell into the realm of the underworld. Persephone was then offered a pomegranate from Hades and she accepted. Little did she know that once she ate the pomegranate she had to stay in the realm of Hades as the wife of Hades. Demeter, Persephones mother, pleaded with Zeus to get Persephone back. He explained to Demeter that once she ate the pomegranate she had to stay there. Demeter is the goddess of the weather and vegetation so her rage cause massive storms, frigid weather, and everything to stop growing, or die A few months later, Zeus made a bargain with Hades to let Persephone go for 9 months of the year and she would be back during the other 3 months. Hades agreed and Demeter was so happy, that the weather turned nice and everything grew back. This is how the seasons came to be. Persephone is thought to be a beautiful women with long brown hair and is nearly always found wandering the fields. She truly is an enchantress, but is also a very gullible women because she was tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds. Persephone is also helpless because she can not do anything to break free. The storyteller wants us to feel bad for both Persephone and Demeter because they are both at a loss. Demeter for losing her daughter and Persephone for being captured. The female characters are portrayed less powerful than the male characters in this myth. There once was a fair maiden who was the daughter of the king named Atalanta. She was desired by many suitors. Atalanta vowed to stay a virgin and would never get married. However, her father pressed her to get married. She came up with a plan, since Atalanta was very athletic, she would ha ...

Free Essays on Isolation in Stone Boy

â€Å"Isolation in Stone Boy† Isolation is a major theme in â€Å"Stone Boy† by Gina Berriault, especially with Arnold emotionally and physically, and his family, and society. After Arnold killed his brother a lot changed for him and his family. Physically and emotionally, Arnold would isolate himself from his family and also society. Also both his family and society would isolate themselves from Arnold. After the death of Eugene isolation came into play with all of the characters in the story. Arnold physically isolated himself from his family and society. For example, Arnold physically isolated himself from his family when he went into the loft. â€Å"Arnold went into the barn, down along the foddering passage past the cows waiting to be milked, and climbed into the loftâ€Å" (Berriault 3). Arnold also physically isolated himself when he got in the back seat, when he, his father, and his uncle were leaving the Sheriff station. â€Å"Arnold went first through the hallway, hearing behind him the heels of his father and Uncle Andy striking the floor boards. He went down the steps ahead of them and climbed into the back seat of the car† (Berriault 6). He also physically isolated himself when he was sitting in the rocking chair with his arms folded and eyes lowered. Arnold isolated himself in the rocking chair because â€Å"if he stayed he thought, as he always stayed and listened when visitors came, they would see that he was only Arnold and not the person t he Sheriff thought he was. He sat with his arms crossed and his hands tucked into his armpits and did not lift his eyes† (Berriault 7). Arnold physically isolated himself at the end of the story when he went to get the calf. He thought â€Å"if he went for the calf he’d be away from the farm all morning† (Berriault 9). Arnold would physically isolate him self by going somewhere to be alone, or doing things physically to try to keep him from his family and society. Arnold emotiona... Free Essays on Isolation in Stone Boy Free Essays on Isolation in Stone Boy â€Å"Isolation in Stone Boy† Isolation is a major theme in â€Å"Stone Boy† by Gina Berriault, especially with Arnold emotionally and physically, and his family, and society. After Arnold killed his brother a lot changed for him and his family. Physically and emotionally, Arnold would isolate himself from his family and also society. Also both his family and society would isolate themselves from Arnold. After the death of Eugene isolation came into play with all of the characters in the story. Arnold physically isolated himself from his family and society. For example, Arnold physically isolated himself from his family when he went into the loft. â€Å"Arnold went into the barn, down along the foddering passage past the cows waiting to be milked, and climbed into the loftâ€Å" (Berriault 3). Arnold also physically isolated himself when he got in the back seat, when he, his father, and his uncle were leaving the Sheriff station. â€Å"Arnold went first through the hallway, hearing behind him the heels of his father and Uncle Andy striking the floor boards. He went down the steps ahead of them and climbed into the back seat of the car† (Berriault 6). He also physically isolated himself when he was sitting in the rocking chair with his arms folded and eyes lowered. Arnold isolated himself in the rocking chair because â€Å"if he stayed he thought, as he always stayed and listened when visitors came, they would see that he was only Arnold and not the person t he Sheriff thought he was. He sat with his arms crossed and his hands tucked into his armpits and did not lift his eyes† (Berriault 7). Arnold physically isolated himself at the end of the story when he went to get the calf. He thought â€Å"if he went for the calf he’d be away from the farm all morning† (Berriault 9). Arnold would physically isolate him self by going somewhere to be alone, or doing things physically to try to keep him from his family and society. Arnold emotiona...

Main topic is Markets Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Main topic is Markets - Term Paper Example This abrupt actualization of counterparty accident has artlessly arctic the markets beyond the western countries. With no bank adventuresome abundant to accommodate to other banks, deleveraging has larboard its blister on the market: affairs of assets in wish of capital leads to abatement in prices to even lower levels, which agency added and added charge for beginning capital. This has acutely added anchored lending to absolute economy-producers and consumers-which agency abatement in investments by businesses and bead in demand. This has added slowed down the advance of the economy. As advance drops, businesses are abiding to aim at cost-cutting exercises, which agency layoffs. The confused consumers will further abate their spending. That is how the financial crisis is feared to advance itself to the Wall Street-the absolute economy (Brown P, p. 105, 2005, Journal of Financial Economics). In the light of these, this paper deals with one topic entitled ‘new expectations in th e U.S. Market’ in detail and three other related topics as subtopics. The morphing of the financial hailstorm, which started about 18 months aback as the US subprime crisis, into bread-and-butter arrest is all but over: consumers are arise beneath the burden of non-availability of acclaim on the one hand, and abrupt abatement in application on the other (R.T. Baillie et al, p. 23, 1996, Journal of Applied Econometrics). To arrest the further spread of economic crisis and its intensity, the central banks and governments on either ancillary of the Atlantic accept redoubled their efforts, with bolstering from banks, by pumping in added capital, accouterment greater budgetary bang to jump-start the economy, and cut absorption ante added down. Of course, action moves are accepted to crop after-effects alone afterwards a time lag. In the US, capital injection conceivably adored the banking system, but its non-banking area

Juwan howard case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Juwan howard case study - Essay Example community and had a large number of fans. Because of Howard’s qualifications, when he became a free agent in July 1996, several teams became interested in recruiting him including Pat Riley of the Miami Heat. Howard was represented by David Falk of the Falk Associates Management Enterprises (FAME) and his partner lawyer Curtis Polk. The Bullets through its General Manager, Wes Unseld made an offer for seven-years for $78.4 million which amounted to $136,000 per game during the 2002-2003 season (Brubaker & Asher, 2007). Although Howard wanted to remain a Bullet, he was not happy with the offer because he knew that he was worth more than $78.4 million; thus, together with Falk they sought offers from the other NBA teams. The Miami Heat’s opening bid through Riley was $84 million over seven years which later increased to $91 million plus $3.5 million in bonuses and other perks. The Bullets then increased their bid to $84 million which was still unacceptable to Howard. At t his point, Howard admitted that his top choice was the Heat but he wanted to up their offer so he still was not accepting any deal. His move was successful because the final deal was closed at $100.8 million in cash plus perks. This contract however was voided by the NBA citing that the Heat exceeded its salary cap. The NBA also claimed that the Heat had signed an agreement with Alonzo Mourning before the contract with Howard and that the bonuses of two other players were excluded from the cap which should not have been the case. So on August 5, 1996 after several heated negotiations, Howard was back with the Bullets after signing a seven-year contract worth $105 million. There are several benefits, both tangible and intangible, among the players in the negotiation contract of Howard. For Howard, the intangible benefit of the negotiation of his contract was that it was a measure of his true worth as an NBA star player. He gained a sense of fulfillment and pride from just knowing tha t there are several teams interested in his services. A $205 million total contract offer from two top teams in the NBA was a real boost to his ego. Also, another intangible benefit for Howard was the fame he got from the negotiations. He was adored by numerous fans so the Bullets came up with an advertisement in the Washington Post which promised the fans that they will do everything to keep Howard in Washington. The tangible benefits that he gained from the negotiations are the financial rewards and other bonuses and perks that were offered to him including hotel suites and limousine service. If Unseld is successful at having Howard accept the Bullets’ offer, the team will benefit from the outstanding performance of Howard. Their fans will continue to support them, meaning more revenues for them. Howard can motivate again his other team members and hopefully lead them into winning more games that will bring them closer to the championship. On the other hand, the benefit for Riley if his offer is accepted by Howard is that the Heat will have another star player in the team which will make them the team to beat in the NBA. Riley will gain much publicity and will earn him the respect among basketball enthusiasts, being the coach of