How Does Miss Strangeworth Use Indirect Manipulation In The Possibility Of Evil

The Story, The Possibility of Evil is a truly interesting story that demonstrates the evil of a community that seems almost perfect. This story demonstrates how there is probably no place on Earth that evil has not reached. The story bases itself on a small suburban town and the people that live there. The reader meets Miss Strangeworth who is a sweet little lady that smiles to everyone during the day and starts conversations, but by the time she gets home she starts writing letters revealing secrets and unpleasant facts of her neighbours and fellow townspeople and

In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Miss Strangeworth us constantly critical of the people around her. One way the author shows this is the moment she judges Linda Stewart’s behavior. “Only yesterday the Stewarts’ fifteen-year-old daughter Linda had run crying down her own front walk on the way to school, not caring who saw her” (176). Miss Strangeworth seemingly disapproves of the way Linda Stewart does not care who sees her as she shows so much grief. The way Miss Strangeworth describes the situation makes it seem that Linda should not be showing herself in that light in public. Similarly, Miss Strangeworth is judgmental of the librarian’s lifestyle. “Miss Strangeworth noticed Miss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her

In Jeh MacDonald’s short story, “The Possibility of Evil”, Jeh indicates that Mrs. Strangeworth is a nit picking perfectionist that seems to show signs of O.C.D. Specifically, when people ask for one of her luscious red roses Mrs. Strangeworth thinks to herself that, “[these] roses belong on pleasant street... [and] to [even] think of people wanting to carry them away” (1,2). It indicates that it’ just too hard for her to even think of something being out of place. Somebody with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder might also experience thoughts and feelings similar to that exact same thought. Not only did she not like things out of place, “Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness” (3). Even if it was just Mrs.Chandler’s ratty messy hair.

In the short story “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson used several symbols in the story to explain Ms.Strangeworth. The first symbol would be her name the word strange is in it hinting that she is a strange woman to begin with. Then she gradually shows her strangeness by telling us what she is noticing in people, that no one would ever really notice. Then it was roses that was symbolizing her as person. Roses have soft beautiful petals that distracts people from seeing the thorns that grows with the rose and causes them to put it up to later be stabbed by the thorn. The petals are Miss. Strangeworth’s appearance an old,proper, sweet lady who never think to raise her voice, but her thorns are the letters she writes to everyone anonymously.

Good versus Evil is an important concept. Evil sometimes overcomes our good but never exceeds good. The difference between evil and good is that good is an ability to have empathy and compassion towards other people. Evil is people who are selfish, self-absorbed and don’t have empathy towards others. Literature plays a vital role in developing concepts of good and evil and effectively portrays the morals of its time period. In the novels Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the authors explore the human nature of good and evil in men from different perspectives of Dracula, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll.

Everyone expects an elder to be really kind and sweet. Shirley Jackson’s “The Possibility of Evil” tells a very different story. Miss Strangeworth out in public is kind and sweet, but behind closed doors she is very deceptive. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by what she does or says, what the narrator says, and how others react to her. Miss Strangeworth is a very selfish lady in the story.

The protagonist holds to his immature beliefs that by looking, acting and maintaining a false façade as a “dangerous character” (Boyle,114) it would bestow on him an the badness he desires.

In short stories the author composes a compelling plot, with an ending that in someway either teaches the main character a lesson, or the reader themselves. Jackson acts as a master of literary devices, as she navigates the reader through intense scenes that evoke an emotional response to the experiences of the main character. In the short stories, “The Possibility of Evil” and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, she used the same three literary devices to grasp the reader’s attention from beginning to end. In “The Possibility of Evil” Miss Adela Strangeworth caused a stir by sending anonymous letters to townspeople, filled with things she suspected other people in her town of doing; she claimed that every letter was sent with the intent of

Throughout the semester, we have read many attractive novels and poetries. The adventures and narratives described in the literatures are so vivid and live which always pull audiences into the stories. Almost every literature describes the relationship between different characters, and the power dynamics also revealed in the relationship. This paper aims to study the power dynamics in the relationship, and evaluate the difference between traditional power dynamics showed in “Birdsong” compared to the special power dynamics revealed by Lady Susan.

Morally ambiguous characters are built in a way that questions the evil or good nature of the protagonists. In this essay, the author tries to persuade the reader into believing something different that is normally not seen about bad character in a story. The concept of believing that a killer could be looked at as a non-malevolent person is influenced by the author’s use of warm –hearted diction and syntax throughout the essay to persuade readers into considering that good be found in people who commit horrible things.

In Aravind Adiga’s novel The White Tiger, Balram, the main character, describes a duality of Light and Darkness. India is split into two halves: the “Darkness” and the “Light.” In contrast with popular belief that light is good and darkness is evil, there is no clear picture in the novel of this; the Light is not displayed as morally righteous, nor is the Darkness. Rather, the Light is the rich urban India and the impoverished Darkness is the rural inner India. Inside this larger duality between Light and Darkness, there are many smaller pairs that illustrate the differences between the Light and Darkness.

British literature has had many influences throughout its evolution, none more than the theme of evil. As far British literature traces, there has always been tales good versus bad. Tales of hero’s tragically fighting ungodly creatures, or monstrous humans all have a common theme associated with them, evil. The three theories of evil that coincide with the literature more than any other belong to Friedrich Nietzche, Jean Jaques Rousseau, and C Fred Alford. Perspective, influence, and spreading plague are the three unique philosophies that present themselves as evil throughout British Literature.

Psychological manipulation can affect the lives of many by manipulating their emotions. Finding a way to psychologically manipulate a person's emotions or their thoughts could be a long and tedious process, and can only be mastered by few people. For these people who try to manipulate the behaviors of people will stop at nothing and fight hard to attain their goals. Although these people will stop at nothing to achieve their goal, finding a way to psychologically manipulate someone can be a difficult task. One of the most common ways to manipulate someone by their emotions or behaviors is the act most often known as lying.Yet there are many ways and reasons for what these people do, and why they do them. These acts of psychological manipulation can also be shown in the book 1984 by George Orwell. In the book 1984 the government makes laws and then forces their citizens to follow them so that people will be so focused on following the laws just to prevent harsh penalties if these laws are broken. If one of these laws are broken, the penalties for breaking the law could result in a death sentence too many different forms of psychological torture. In order to know the truth facts of psychological manipulation, a skilled manipulator must know the vulnerabilities of their opponents or victims.

Human communicating is very attention-grabbing and a difficult process full of effective methods employed as persuasion, manipulation and seduction. In the article, From persuasion to manipulation and seduction (a very short history of global communication), Aurel Codoban meaning of human communicating is, “influencing other minds through language” (Codoban, 2006, p. 152). As individuals it’s in our best interest to know and understand how to classify these methods and recognize the differences among them as a result individuals can improve and be more accountable users of human communication. In the article, From persuasion to manipulation and seduction (a very short history of global communication), Codoban makes a very important

Writers of fiction often create characters who behave in contradictory ways. Discuss how writers present contradictory characters in two or three works you have studied.