Imagine yourself at a young and impressionable age. The new and primary caretaker in your life begins to rant and rave about ghosts of people that have since deceased. These "spirits" she speaks of used to perform the same task of tending to your needs in your earlier years. If you were suddenly confronted with the accusation that you were somehow involved with these ghosts would you be afraid? This is what the children from Henry James's The Turn of the Screw are dealing with. Throughout the book, the governess is the only character that claims to see these ghosts even though she tries to expose them to the other characters, including the children towards the end of the book. The reader ultimately questions the governess's sanity and thereby questions the ghosts' existence.
             The reader first notices that the governess is not used to having such a large responsibility and that she still daydreams and maybe she confuses reality with the imaginary. When first settling in, the governess would go for afternoon walks, during which, she would often think of her dashing employer. "One of the thoughts that, as I don't in the least shrink now from nothing, used to be with me in these wanderings was that it would be as charming as a charming story suddenly to meet someone."(James, 15) The governess almost expects her employer to come out of nowhere and give her a nod of approval for being able to handle this huge responsibility. She in fact does see someone, but not the person she was expecting! It should not be startling to not see her employer especially when his letters specifically request her not to bother him, yet she still anticipates him around every turn of a path. The governess also described the figure as being "...high up, beyond the lawn and at the very top of the tower."(James, 15) The reader can confidently say that the governess, at best, can make out a silho...