RIP XIII: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Someone has mentioned to me that The Turn of the Screw is 'interesting'. Normally a gothic-horror-ghost story is labeled as scary or dark, rarely interesting. But after finishing the book for R.I.P XIII challenge, I agree that this book is, indeed, interesting!

The Turn of the Screw is a novella (my copy contains 96 pages—excluding introduction and preface). And if you are familiar with Henry James' flowery writing style, believe me, other writers would have written it much shorter! However, the discussion that might follow the reading would be very long...

In short, the story is narrated by a man who was telling a story to his friends 'round the fire' on a Christmas Eve. It was a queer story he got from his friend, a young woman who was hired by a gentleman to be a governess. The gentleman is a bachelor who had been left guardian for his orphan niece and nephew in a country home called Bly in Essex. He specifically instructed the governess to never bother him for any trouble whatsoever. Arriving at Bly, our governess found a nice housekeeper, a sweet little girl called Flora, and a letter from the boy's school, announcing that Miles (the boy) was expelled from school; although Mrs. Grose the housekeeper said he is a sweet child who won't trouble anyone. Then series of queer things unrolled one after another that distressed the governess: supernatural apparitions of a man (not a gentleman) and a woman, who Mrs. Grose pointed as the late servant (Peter Quint) and governess (Miss Jessel). Then there were also the two sweet children, whom the governess knew have seen and communicated with the ghosts, but never told her anything.

Things got complicated when Mrs. Grose revealed that Peter Quint and Miss Jessel have made a scandalous love affair. Our heroine also realised that Mrs. Grose could not see the apparitions! The sweet children then started to behave cunningly, and our heroine suspected that it was the dead lovers who brought evil influence to them when they made contact with the poor children. Bad things turned to worse, and the story ended abruptly by a sudden death of someone in the house.

Many believe that the ghosts only existed in the governess' mind (because Mrs. Grose never saw it), and that the whole story was only the product of her hallucination. Is it so? Mrs. Grose did not see the apparition, and has never confirmed the governess' suspicion. One tangible proof is the letter from school. It could have proven that Miles had turned evil and done wicked things to his friends. However, Mrs. Grose could not read, so she could not confirm either.

The only subject she positively agreed with the governess is the bad character of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. But what would it prove? So, all in all, I think James purposely created an intricate condition, of which we could not find single evidence that: a) there were ghosts, and b) the children turned evil from the ghosts’ evil influences. James just wanted this story to be ambiguous, and to make the readers debating forever, perhaps? He succeeded if that’s what he wanted.

Anyway, it is a nice gothic ghost story, and certainly very interesting. However, James' writing style sometimes washed away the spookiness of the story, and left only the interesting bit.

3,5 / 5

The Portrait of A Lady – Final Review

“You wanted to look at life for yourself—but you were not allowed; you were punished for your wish. You were ground in the very mill of the conventional.”

If the story of The Portrait of A Lady must be packed in few sentences, the above quote suits perfectly to express it. The Portrait of A Lady portrayed the rise and fall of Isabel Archer’s life. Isabel was an American young woman who had been confined in her father’s protection for years. She was a smart woman, thirst of knowledge and experience of the outer world, and her dream was to see other countries and to meet people from different cultures. When her father died, Isabel saw the first hint of her fortune; a woman who introduced herself as her aunt would like to take her to England.

Isabel stayed at her aunt’s house—the Touchetts’—with her uncle, old Mr. Touchett and her cousin Ralph Touchett. Ralph was a cheerful and spirited young man; who unfortunately suffered from pulmonary disease that made him pale and weak, and forced him to resign from his job and to stay idly at home. Ralph fell in love with Isabel from the first time, but kept it to himself, realizing he had no future because of his illness. At the same time, his friend—Lord Warburton—was attracted to Isabel; and a young American businessman called Caspar Goodwood completed the group of Isabel’s suitors. Isabel rejected both their approaches, as she was still fascinated to see the world before being bounded in a marriage.

Before old Mr. Touchett died, Ralph secretly persuaded his father to alter his will, and granted big half of his share to Isabel, because he wanted to fulfill Isabel’s dream. Isabel had suddenly become rich; and this attracted Mrs. Touchett’s friend called Madame Merle. Merle introduced Isabel to Gilbert Osmond—a gentlemen without money or merit but has great ambition to be admired by the society. Osmond’s unique personalities attracted Isabel; ignoring her friend’s advises, Isabel decided to marry Osmond after she returned from the around-the-world journey, and lived in Rome. This decision turned out to be a huge mistake—as Isabel later realized—because Osmond had married her only for her money, with Merle as his ‘partner in crime’. The free spirited Isabel must now live unhappily under her husband’s strict dominancy.

This is the first Henry James I have ever read, and I instantly remarked his genius writing. Not only telling a beautiful tale, James also analyzed psychological aspects of society through his heroine and the satellite characters. But I liked this book especially because of Isabel Archer herself. I found from her first appearance that Isabel was so similar to me. We both are free spirited; we love the freedom to do things ourselves and we like to make our own decision. I share the same thirst of knowledge with Isabel, I had even promised myself—when I was in college—that I won’t marry unless I had stepped my feet in France! 

Because of the similarity, I sympathized with Isabel along her journey of life, I understood her feelings and her decisions. For others, it might be stupid, stubborn or anything, but for us it’s what we must do. Although I’m luckier than Isabel that I was not obliged to accept proposal from many suitors (and thank God I did not have to deal with stubborn suitors like Isabel’s, LOL!), I can understand why Isabel had rejected both Lord Warburton and Caspar Goodwood. Both were good men, but they were often too pushy toward Isabel; they kept circling around her, asking again and again what she wanted; offering their wealth, gentle understanding, etc. In short they were eager to marry her. The subject here was always themselves, never Isabel. You’re wrong guys, Isabel is an independent woman, she likes to be active; the harder you force an idea to her, the more she will reject it. It’s just our characters!

So, how could Isabel chose Osmond then? It’s because he appeared humble in front of Isabel—false it was in fact.

“I’m absolutely in love with you…. I’ve too little to offer you. What I have—it’s enough for me; but it’s not for you. I’ve neither fortune, nor fame, nor extrinsic advantages of any kind. So, I offer nothing.”

That’s what he told her, and I guess, that—among other things—had intrigued Isabel to like Osmond. It turned out to be a wrong choice, well….who don’t make mistakes anyway? Isabel was so innocent at that time, that she wasn’t wise enough to see motives behind other’s perfectness.

If I could advise Isabel, I would advise her to choose Ralph. For me, Ralph’s love was the purest, for he loved Isabel from his helplessness; he understood her very well; he never forced her to do or say something; and best of all, he sacrificed his part of inheritance for her happiness, without even telling her. And I believe a woman should marry a man with whom she feels most comfortable with, as if she doesn’t have to hide anything from him, for he should understand anyway. And Isabel could find that credits only in Ralph (Isabel was afraid of Goodwood, and with Warburton, she often felt uneasy).

James did not offer a sentimental and emotional ending as Dickens; James’ ending could not be said beautiful, but still made us reflect and think a lot. The Portrait of A Lady is not a tale, it’s a portrait of real life. We made mistakes and struggle, sometimes we can get out of the sorrows and start a new brighter life; but most of all, we cannot run from our decision and what we can do is to stop crying about it, and to apply a new way of thinking to make the best of it. Isabel Archer had taught me to be brave and always hold my principles. People can control me physically, but no one can control my mind!

Four stars for The Portrait of A Lady. You can find my deeper analysis of this book in my stage reading inquiries post.

Quotes:

“I would die if you could live. But I don’t wish you to live; I would die myself, not to lose you.”

Isabel Archer

“You won’t lose me—you’ll keep me. Keep me in your heart; I shall be nearer to you than I’ve never been. Dear Isabel, life is better; for in life there’s love.”

Ralph Touchett

“If you have been hated you’ve also been loved. Ah but, Isabel—adored!”

Ralph Touchett

~~~~~

*I read 1999 Wordsworth Classics edition paperback*

*This book is counted as*

2^nd book for Turn of The Century Salon

 3^rd book for 2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2^nd book for Bucket List Reading Challenge

1^st book for New Authors Reading Challenge2013

30^th book for The Classics Club Project

50^th book for 1001 Books You Must Read BeforeYou Die