Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives related to this topic include : Character Analysis of the Narrator in “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James  •  Class and Satire in “The American” by Henry James and “Huck Finn” by Mark Twain  •  Realism in American Literature  •  American Literature in Historical Context : 1865 to Roosevelt

Indeed, Henry James and his story “The Turn of the Screw” follows the ghost story formula precisely. When the reader meets the characters of the novella, they could hardly be presented in a more positive light, and the same can be said of their setting. The beauty of the scene could not possibly be less charming. The questionable narrator of “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James , the young governess, goes on at length about her initial impressions of the Bly Estate, which caused of all her initial doubts about her new position, its conditions and its location, to dissipate in an instant. After her encounter with the mysterious employer at the beginning of “Turn of the Screw”, who entreated her to “never trouble him…neither appeal nor complain nor write about anything; only meet all questions herself…take the whole thing over and let him alone” (James 151), the governess had expected “something so dreary” (James 152). She is pleasantly surprised, then, to learn that a spacious gilded carriage has delivered her to a manse with a “broad clear front…, open windows and fresh curtains and the pair of maids looking out” (James 152). This welcoming scene is bordered by “bright flowers” and impressive “clustered tree-tops over which the rooks circle and cawed in the golden sky” (James 152).

The governess’s first impression of Bly in “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James is only made more dear to her when a young girl, her charge, greets the governess with “as decent a curtsey as if I had been the mistress or a distinguished visitor” (James 152). Overall, the governess feels charmed and disarmed by the appearances of the place and people at Bly, so much so that it even took “all colour out of story-books and fairy-tales” (p. 155), a hyperbolic expression of admiration that serves as a foreshadowing of the troubles to come. At this point in the narrative of “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James, however, James is faithful to the traditional ghost story conventions, and creates a scene of unrestrained warmth and enthusiasm. There is just enough detail about the characters to make the reader like them and make an emotional investment in them, but not so much detail that it distracts the reader from the inevitable threat that will compromise the serenity and safety of the scene.

The first few chapters of “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James carry on in this way, pleasant, unassuming, and utterly fulfilling, especially for the governess who is narrating the tale. There are, of course, occasional trials and troubles, which in retrospect will serve as valuable hints, but these hardly disturb the governess’s impression that her life is suffused with a “great glow of freshness” (James 161). It is a precious time for the governess, who for the first time in her life comes to know “space and air and freedom” (James 162). She is thoroughly enchanted with her young charges, Flora and Miles, who possess “the bloom of health and happiness,” who are, in fact, so stunning and extraordinary that the governess describes them in one of the important quotes from “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James as “a pair of little grandees, of princes of the blood” (James 163). Her effusive descriptions of these characters, completely lacking in any criticism whatsoever, set both the governess and the reader up for the severe disruption that will steal upon them both “like the spring of a beast” (James 163). For now, the governess and reader are lulled into believing that all is well, and that all will continue to be well.Shortly though, as predicted by M.R. James’s ghost story model, the barriers between safety and danger begin to dissolve.

The first signal of trouble in the plot of “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James seems unobtrusive enough; while disturbing to the governess, her encounter with “an unknown man in a lonely place” (James 164) does not seem particularly threatening, especially to the contemporary reader. It is at this point, however, that the astute reader notices the transition in both the tone and the trajectory of the story. The descriptions of the characters at this point in “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James begin to recede in importance; their traits established, James focuses his narrative attentions on creating a sense of place that is becoming less predictable, controllable, and secure for the people and characters who inhabit it. In many ways, James’s treatment of this shift is wholly conventional. He emphasizes the dichotomies of light and dark. In contrast to the earlier parts of the story, when the narrator of “Turn of the Screw” by Henry James frequently mentions the sun and the light it lends, coloring everything it touches with an almost celestial glow, the first turning point that puts us on the road to becoming haunted emphasizes the darkness that is slowly changing the scene. When the governess reflects upon her return to the estate after her encounter with the strange man, she can “only recall that when I re-entered the house darkness had quite closed in,” and “this mere dawn of alarm was a…human chill” (James 166). The darkness also lends an ominous air to those figures of the landscape that had been infused with so much life and joy before; the trees, for instance, “were empty with a great emptiness,” a telling redundancy, potential harbors of lurking evils.