Innocence In The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James

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Within the ambiguous and quite confusing words of Henry James’ novella, The Turn of the Screw, many themes appear such as: the supernatural, good vs. evil, society and class, gender, etc; however, the underlying theme is “Innocence must be preserved.” Once the governess arrived at her new job at Bly and realized what was happening there, her sole mission was not only to care for the children, but to also protect their innocence. In the book, the governess strives with all she has to protect the children from the corruption of the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, and this is similar to the way parents attempt to prolong the innocence of their children.
Innocence is first introduced in the governess. She is young and inexperienced …show more content…

When Peter Quint and Miss Jessel were alive, they destroyed the innocence of Flora and Miles as well. It is suggested many times throughout the book, that Miss Jessel, the former governess, and Peter Quint, the vallette, were having an affair. Because this novella was written in the Victorian Era, it was not proper to write about subjects such as sex or intimacy period; therefore it is unclear about what really happened. However, it is clear that the children witnessed this affair and corruptness between their governess and vallette because Henry James confirms it through this passage, “What it was most impossible to get rid of was the cruel idea that, whatever I had seen, Miles and Flora had seen more - things terrible and unguessable and that sprang from dreadful passages of intercourse in the past” (James, 76). Although the governess could not fix the innocence that had already been destroyed by the inappropriate affair between Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, she certainly tried her hardest to save what innocence was …show more content…

From the first look into their child’s eyes, parents fall in love with the little life they have now welcomed into the world. Their child is the most pure and innocent creature they have laid eyes on, and from that day forward they strive to preserve it for as long as they can. As children grow, parents become more protective (especially with their first child). They spend countless dollars on safety gadgets to place around the house to ensure their child’s safety, and they tell them lies to make holidays more exciting. Does Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny ring a bell? These lies are meant to cause harm; they are simply told to children to prolong their innocence. As long as they believe in fictional characters such as Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, children will have magic in their world. Parents attempt to make that magic last for as long as possible because they know about all the horrible things that happen in the real world. Although parents know they cannot prolong their children’s innocence and purity forever, they try

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