“The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson is written during a time period of a conflicted, stressed world. Miss Strangeworth represents the Victorians, while the rest of the world represents the Modernists. As the world changes into an “evil” place, Miss Strangeworth is trying to keep the world how it used to be before she was born and when she was a child. In Miss Strangeworth’s eyes, the town she lives in belongs to her, and her town is the only pure, traditional town left in the world. The quotes, “Miss Strangeworth’s little town looked washed and bright,” (Lines 3-4) and, “the town belongs to her,” (Line 11) point out how she believes the town is hers. Miss Strangeworth has reasons to believe this. In lines 11-14 Miss Strangeworth says, “My grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street,” and “ My family has lived here for better than a hundred years.” With one hundred years worth of family tradition in the town, Miss Strangeworth feels that it is her job to protect the town from the evil that has contaminated the world, just as the …show more content…
victorians had to protect their own traditions from being contaminated by the Modernist beliefs. Throughout the entire story Miss Strangeworth mentions how evil the world is, and how evil people are becoming.
“but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded.” (Line 157-58) She also says “There was so much evil in people.” (Lines 196-97) Miss Strangeworth knew, just as the Victorians did, that she had to do something to stop the lurking danger from getting to her town. “But as long as evil existed unchecked in the world, it was Miss Strangeworth’s duty to keep her town alert to it.” (Lines 137-138) With that in the mind, she went to work, trying to expose evil in people through handwritten letters. One example is found in lines 146-147 when Miss Strangeworth wrote, “You never know about doctors. Remember they’re only human and need money like the rest of us. Suppose the knife slipped accidentally.” She wrote letters often. “She had been writing her letters - sometimes two or three a day.” (Line
154) “The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual.” (Quote from D. M. Scott Peck) Miss Strangeworth was trying to be that individual. Shirley Jackson was able to show this exceptionally well through the use of Modernist beliefs versus Victorian beliefs in her story “The Possibility of Evil.”
Miss Strangeworth is quite a scornful person. She tends to notice the negative things about a person, and is judgemental. Here are two quotes from the story in which Miss Strangeworth is scornful. “Miss Strangeworth wondered, glancing at her quickly, if she had been taking proper care of herself. Martha Harper wasn’t as young as she used to be, Miss Strangeworth thought. She could probably use a good strong tonic. “Martha”, she said, “you don’t look well.” Miss Strangeworth came into a grocery, and saw an old friend. Though the first thing she notices is how unkept she is. Another time Miss Strangeworth judges someone negatively is when she was walking past the library and saw one of the staff she knew. “Miss Chandler seemed absent minded and very much as though she was thinking about something else. Miss Strangeworth noticed that Miss Chandler has not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and sighed. Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness.” In that quote, there was obvious negativity coming from Miss Strangeworth and Miss Chandler. Clearly, she didn’t take time to assume that she may have had a rough morning; she just stated how she hated sloppiness and walked
Like any good character, Mrs. Strangeworth has understandable desires. The possibility of evil the story entails is from Miss Strangeworth ideology of what she sees is the truth. In turn, she writes deagroitive letter to her townspeople, feeling that a solid plan for stopping the evil in the town she's lives in. For her, writing these letters let herself feel a sense of pride for the town she deeply love. “The sun was shining, the air was fresh and clear after the night’s heavy rain, and everything in Miss Strangeworth’s little town looked washed and bright.” (Shirley 1) If her desire wasn’t to make a better town, she would have never written such letters. Mrs. Strangeworth has desire like any other character with well intentioned, but with ability to take it to the extreme makes stand out from the crowd.
For a seemingly sweet elderly lady, the readers would not have imagined her to be a bully or even a slight bit of rude for that matter. However, little did anyone know that Miss Strangeworth was hiding an unbearable secret. The cruel letters she writes to people in her town, the way she goes about them, and her love for writing them proves that she is very much a bully. Miss Strangeworth is one of the reasons why people should watch out for who they
Miss. Strangeworth is the worst character from the other six short stories read. Throughout the story The Possibility of Evil Miss. Adela Strangeworth would write mean and
Along with being arrogant and outgoing, she is also a very meddlesome person. After Miss Strangeworth ran into Miss Linda at the market, her actions afterwards demonstrate to us how she is meddlesome. To demonstrate, on page 367 it states, “Looking after her, Miss Strangeworth shook her head slightly. Martha definitely did not look well.” She’s meddlesome in the sense of her snooping around where she isn’t needed. It’s not her job to determine whether there was something wrong with Martha. Likewise, on page 366 the text states, “Mr. Lewis looked worried, she thought, and for a minute she hesitated, but then she decided that he surely could not be worried over the strawberries. He looked very tired indeed.” This quote also shows us that Miss Strangeworth continues to involve herself in other people’s business. Mr. Lewis may be worried about something larger than strawberries, but it isn’t necessary for her to find it normal to involve herself. Her character in this sequence of events is basically the definition of being meddlesome.
“Sula,” however, was in Ohio during the first half of the twentieth century, nearly 100 years after “Jane Eyre”. It is the story of a young woman who was raised by her mother and grandmother whom both did not have a good reputation in the town they lived in. Sula later leaves the town for a period of 10 years, has many affairs and lives a wild life. When Sula returns to the town, many people look upon her as evil because of how she lives her life. Sula’s story is contrasted with that of her best friend Nel, who was raised by a family with more social morals and later chose to settle in a life as a wife and mother. “Sula” deals with several different themes like race, family, gender and social conventions.
Strangeworth being evil, deceptive, and not thinking that she is doing evil things. The first example of the theme in the middle of the story happens when Mrs.Strangeworth sends an anonymous letter saying “EVER SEE AN IDIOT CHILD BEFORE? SOME PEOPLE JUST SHOULDN'T HAVE CHILDREN SHOULD THEY”. Mrs. Strangeworth sent this after earlier saying that she thought the child would be normal and healthy. This shows that she doesn’t show her true opinion to people, but she is happy to tell them later in a hateful letter mailed anonymously. Another example of theme in the middle of the story is when Miss.Strangeworth sends a letter to Mrs.Harper saying “HAVE YOU FOUND OUT YET WHAT THEY WERE ALL LAUGHING ABOUT AFTER YOU LEFT THE BRIDGE CLUB ON THURSDAY? OR IS THE WIFE REALLY ALWAYS THE LAST ONE TO KNOW?” After seeing this she might start to question what her friends and her husband are doing when she is not around them. After writing writing this letter she is happy with her good work and doesn’t care about the impact on the people that she writes to. These examples show that she is deceptive by making the people she talks to believe she thinks one thing but then sends them letters with a vastly different opinion. These examples show her being evil by displaying her willingness to tell people that she thinks their friends and family are
This story revolves around a character known as Miss Adela Strangeworth whose ancestral home is Pleasant Street which also happens to be the setup used to develop the story. However she is from the initial stages of the story portrayed as an old lady that is relatively calm and harmless especially with regards to the lives of her neigbours. She is portrayed in the story with the author as a proud lady who believes in the fact that she owns her town perhaps a factor that is evidenced by the way she interacts with the members of her community. Her constant conversations with the members of the community perhaps paint her as a relatively calm, loving and caring lady to the members of the community.
One of the ways this is achieved is by using an exterior appearance to deceive ones true morals for an intriguing motive. This is seen through the character of Miss. Strangeworth the main character in "The Possibility of Evil" appearing to be a sweet old lady however, she is not what she seems. Her deceiving exterior is seen when the narrator states "Walking down Main street on a summer morning, Miss. Strangeworth had to stop every minute or so to say good morning to someone or to ask after someone 's health (Jackson 1). This quote illustrates Miss. Strangeworth uses her
Throughout the Possibility of Evil the theme is clearly shown as looks can be deceiving. On the other hand, some people might interpret that the theme is that you should treat others as they treat you. However it’s only at the end when the townspeople figure out that she is the one sending the letters which shows that karma only comes into play at the end of the story, while the looks can be deceiving is shown throughout the whole story. By showing Miss Strangeworth as a gentle old lady at first and then slowly showing her true colors, Shirley Jackson illustrates the theme that looks can be deceiving.
The conclusion of “ The Possibility of Evil” is you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Everyone in the town thought Miss Strangeworth was a sweet little old lady, but in the end they find out Miss Strangeworth is evil, because she wrote all those mean letters to
The way the narrator talks about Miss Strangeworth is kindly spoken. Specifically, one morning, Miss Strangeworth said, “‘And goodmorning to you too Mr. Lewis,” Miss Strangeworth said, at last.” According to the narrator, her response to Mr. Lewis shows some kindness to Miss Strangeworth and she returns the favor to him. Showing affection to an old friend can sometimes be hard, but it seemed natural to Miss Strangeworth to speak to Mr. Lewis. Also, she was “walking down main street on a summer morning, Miss Strangeworth had to stop or so to say good morning to ask after someone’s health.” It’s very unusual for an elderly lady to ask after others because they are mostly stingy or waiting for others to say something to them. Miss Strangeworth, on the other hand, does the complete opposite; she kindly asks about others and their daily lives. In other words, the narrator is saying that Miss Strangeworth is selfless while showing her acts of kindness to the
Evaluate: On the surface, Miss Strangeworth seems like a reasonable person who is connected with other townspeople; however, she also makes many personal, judgemental observations. How does her attitude seem superior and somewhat mean? Give examples from the text to prove your point: Mrs. Strangeworth thinks of herself as superior because she can send these letters and nobody knows its her. She is this all seeing being meddling in your personal life. For example at the top of page six:
In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility of Evil”, Miss Strangeworth’s mode of life causes her misconception in the world disclosing her traits such as superiority upon others, duplicity of her nature, and a feeling of envy.
Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her. She is a carrying person “my grandmother planted these roses, and my mother tended them just as i do.” She has tended to those roses all her life. She thinks about other things than herself. She goes to the store; then she talks to her high school sweetheart. His name is Mr.lewis. Here is a quote from the story “Mr.lewis looked worried she thought;and for a minute she hesitated, but then she decided that he surely could not be worried over strawberry.” She made sure to think of him and consider how he feels. Miss Strangeworth is a carrying person and she shows it through acts of kindness.