Examples Of Liminality In The Turn Of The Screw

The Turn of the Screw incorporates many examples of liminality making it an example of a mediation of binaries. Henry James may have intentionally included these elements because he saw himself as writing from a liminal perspective—living as he did in both Europe and the United States—and because he wanted his novella to be a living work that inspired debate when written and for countless generations thereafter.

Henry James uses increasingly complex examples of liminality in The Turn of the Screw. One, and perhaps the simplest, is the use of changes in light. The majority of the story and nearly all of the “ghost” sightings occur at dusk or dawn. Transitions from darkness to daylight or daylight to darkness are themselves liminal periods that are within the experience of and easily understood by every reader. By setting key events in the novella at these transitional times of the day, Henry James is conveying the liminal nature of the story. Indeed he stresses this transitional quality of the degree of daylight through his use of

The Uncle is in transition from life as a bachelor to becoming the guardian of two young children, Miles and Flora. The Governess is in transition from her simple life in London to the complexities and demanding responsibilities at the large country estate of Bly. Miles and Flora are still adapting to the change from their life with their parents to their new life under the guardianship of their uncle. One would expect that transitions such as single adult to parent, moving from home to take your first job, and losing your parents to be raised by relatives are events that would be understood by a typical reader of The Turn of the Screw. Additionally, as discussed more fully below, Miss Jessel and Quint are in a state of transition from one form of existence to