plausible, yet not feasible

[Jared]

I find it extremely hard to bring myself to any other conclusion than the Governess is completely and utterly crazy and schizophrenic. Although the reasoning for my thinking is probably the fact that I've been taught that ghosts aren't real throughout my life, I can't help but think this. Instead of believing that the Governess COULD be correct and COULD be seeing these ghosts through James's stream of consciousness techneque as James wants me to, I find it not feasible. In James's time it was much more accepted by society to believe in the existance of the supernatural than it is now. Over all, it was a complicated and, obviously, psychological read, definitely not for the average reader.

[Possom]

Im not entirely certian the events happened in the first place. I felt throughout there was a lot resentment from the governess towards the figure of the father maybe that relates to either one of two endings. Either the governess killed boy to either punish or to envoke some sort of emotional response from the father, or she built this story up by herself. ALthough if you accept the story to be true, certain you must question her mental stability some of her monologues are so completely irrational, which i feel aids in the suspense of this novella. Personally I really enjoyed it.

[Dark Muse]

Considering this is a work of fiction, it seems a bit silly to be critiziting it on the basis well I do not beleive in ghosts. It is a mute point wheather you think in real life there are or are not ghosts. Lots of things occur in fiction that would not hold true in real life.

Though wheather this story was indeed intended to be a ghost story or a physchological one is left to question.

You cannot completely ignore the fact, that when she first saw the figures and desribed them, they physcialy resembled real people whom she had never seen before.

Though considering her situation, being in this big strange house, with hardly anyone else there, it is not hard to imagine her mind would start playing tricks on her and her imgination began to run wild. I also think that she was being played by the childern, I do not think they were completely innocent in everything that happend.

The end was a little baffaling, I was not inclined to think that she killed the boy though just how his death came about was rather obscure.