Comparing The American And The Turn Of The Screw

The Turn of the Screw and The American by Henry James are both amazing pieces of literature that share the same author yet differ stylistically and rhetorically. Both The American and The Turn of the Screw are written in a style unique to Henry James, but have certain rhetorical devices and style choices that differ from the other. The Turn of the Screw and The American are often considered different on account of their unique content and use of rhetorical devices, yet they still share the same voice of Henry James, the author.
Henry James is known for his distinct writing style seen in The Turn of the Screw and The American. This style includes description, imagery, and attention to details. James makes it a point to include vivid details and descriptions of each character, event, and setting to help the reader comprehend everything. He does this by …show more content…
The Turn of the Screw is written in gothic style, and is told from a first person point of view. The style is enigmatic- it leaves the reader to decide what is truly occurring within the novel. The novel talks of ghosts, and supernatural occurrences in a haunted castle. It is based on the way the reader perceives the novel. The American, however, is an extremely straightforward book. It is stylistically written as a dramatic love story between a French girl and an American and is told from a third person limited standpoint. Another stylistic difference is the amount of characters. In The American, there are multiple characters, settings, and events. In The Turn of the Screw though, there are only a handful of characters and it all takes place as one long narrative in a single home called Bly. Overall, the two pieces of literature differ stylistically, The American being a tragic love story and The Turn of the Screw being a supernatural and horrifying