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American Literature / Unit 11   AML 1032 short lesson, about 20 seconds

*The Turn of the Screw* and the Ambiguity

Captions available

The idea

A governess narrates her conviction that two ghosts are corrupting the children in her care, and the story can be read as a haunting or as her delusion without either reading being ruled out. James builds the ambiguity deliberately, and the argument about it has never closed.

In practice

Ghosts, or a governess who sees them.

Where people slip

The text is built to support both readings.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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