Throughout The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, the theme of ambiguous issues consistently leaves the reader alone. The ambiguity and uncertainty within this text causes readers to come up with their own theories about what the text actually means. The ghost story angle only adds to the maddening vagueness. The title itself tells all the twists and turns of this story and basically foreshadows the confusion the text will cause. In The Turn of the Screw, characters often communicated very indirectly with each other, alluding to certain situations but never fully explaining them. At the beginning of this story, one of the first vague quotes, "he had been left, by the death of his parents in India, guardian of a little nephew and niece" describes that Miles and Flora's parents died in India (James 158). However, the details of their deaths are unknown and mysterious. The next unclear situation occurs when the Housekeeper learns of Miles' expulsion. This is one of the main mysteries of this story. The question: “What does it mean? The child dismissed the school,” is the only question the reader asks during the conversation between the governess and Mrs. Grose (165). Although their conversation informs the reader that the school “absolutely reject[d]” Miles, it does not clarify what exactly he did to get expelled (165). The Governess comments, “That it is a harm to others” and “corrupt” are her opinions on why Miles was expelled (165, 166). However, his comment does not help the reader in any way because the observation in and of itself is not clear. Her first comment suggests that Miles might cause physical harm to other students but her second... middle of paper... completely and utterly crazy, so that same quote may suggest that Miles might call her "a Devil. That would then mean that the Governess accidentally kills Miles through her embrace, squeezing the life out of him due to his own fears of the supposed ghosts. Miles' response is so ambiguous that it leaves the reader with only theories with no way of knowing for sure what really happened in this book leaves it up to the reader to determine whether the Governess is guilty or not, depending on her extremely ambiguous text. The Turn of the Screw is the definition of a mystery book. Although unlike the usual mystery books, the ending reveals no definitive answer to the reader only leaves the audience even more confused with their own theories. For the reader the theme of ambiguous issues is a recurring problem and there is no way to find out what really happened.