How Does the Narrative Structure of the Turn of the Screw Contribute to James' Meaning?

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James' intentions for writing 'The Turn of the Screw' were to leave the story ambiguous and force the reader to interpret the events and ponder unanswered questions by themselves, deliberately leaving them frustrated due to the aspects of the narrative structure used by James to enforce his meaning. James utilises the governess' grandiloquent yet unclear style to withhold information from the reader, and since the story is told in a retrospective first person narrative, it further establishes the reader's paranoia at the credibility and accuracy of the governess' memory. James' intentionally vague novella uses three narrators to unravel the plot, the unnamed writer of the story, Douglas and the governess, all of whom contribute to additional layers of ambiguity. By using the narrative structure, James is able to maintain ambiguity throughout the novella by withholding information through the means of the governess' own lack of knowledge and her writing style. The majority of the novella is told from the perspective of the governess, and therefore, the reader only has access to the information held by her, which is evidently not very much, per James' intention to keep the governess, and subsequently the reader, in the dark; we don't even know her name. James also uses Mrs. Grose as a messenger of information, the governess' only source of it, but the reader becomes suspicious of Mrs. Grose in her habit of answering questions with further questions. When the governess asks “Is (Miles) really bad?” Mrs. Grose responds with, “Do the gentlemen say so?” This not only increases the number of unanswered questions held by the reader, but also indirectly withholds information; all we know is that Miles has been expelled from school for reasons not made clear, and the governess' assumption that “he's an injury to the others.” This suppression of information leads the reader

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