This essay is to explain why of all the characters of the short stories we read that Miss. Strangeworth is the worst character and why. These characters come from the short stories And of Clay We are Created, To Build a Fire, The Possibility of Evil, The Interlopers, Two Friends and How Much Land Does a Man Need? The characters in these stories are unique in the ways that they could be evil, such as having the ability to change something for the better but instead not doing anything at all. Miss strangeworth is the worst of all because she is two-faced, selfish, and very judgemental. First of all I think that Miss Strangeworth is the worst character of all the characters Adela, an old lady, finds pleasure in writing letters to remind people evil is everywhere (Appositive phrase). She is the reason for the whole town having problems with each other. This is because she writes letters to the town in private, discussing problems with people and what is wrong with them. This causes a lot of problems within the community and distrust, ”She had been writing her letters sometimes two or three every day for a week, sometimes no more than once a month, for the past year. She never had gotten any answers, of course, because she had never signed her name” (Jackson 194). She interferes with the community by judging people with her letters, and she even knows that this is wrong because the fact that she writes her letters in private and only sends them when it is late at night so no one can see her. That just shows that she may pretend like she does not know what she is doing, but really she does know that sending those letters is hurting the people around her, because she writes them in private, and sends them anonymously. (Jackson 186-198) Then, in To Build A Fire the unnamed character does not listen to the men in the Yukon that he should not go outside because it is too cold for him. This is not a real example of evil because the only problem he causes was endangering his life and his dog. Compared to other stories where someone is much more evil and does much worse things, he merely thought that he was smarter than the other men so he did not have to listen to them, which was wrong but it didn't
Conflict is a big issue in the story The Possibility of Evil. The main conflict is person versus society and is between Miss Strangeworth and the whole town. Miss Strangeworth is a two faced character. Miss Strangeworth pretends to be a friend to all her so called friends and fellow town’s people, but secretly sends them disgusting and hurting messages in the mail unsigned. The author of the story really makes the reader want to figure out why a person that has lived in the town her whole life and knew everybody, [“She knew everyone in town, of course; [...] she had not spent more than a day outside this town in her long life [...] She was seventy-one” (249)] would do something terrible to that level to the only people she knows. At first when Miss Strangeworth’s actions are revealed to the reader, one may think that she is crazy, but as one reads on one starts to notice some other reasons. The
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
Examining the short stories, “St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised by Wolves” written by Karen Russell, “I’m Not Martin” by R.L. Stine, and “The Veldt” created by Ray Bradbury, readers are able to find a similar pattern in characters such as Jeanette (St. Lucy’s Home For Girls), Martin (I’m Not Martin), and Peter (The Veldt), and question how the authors develop these characters. The way these authors develop Jeanette, Martin, and Peter is by making them all give the impression as if they were good people, but be truly very evil and they also develop them by creating the characters as extremely self-centered.
I believe everything happens for a reason. Children go to school to learn and people go to work to make a living. Just like these things, I think Vera and Mrs. Strangeworth ultimately had one motive for the actions that took place in each of their stories. They had one motive, but being cowards and their actions not having an effect on them also played a part in their motivations.
"I've done nothing wrong - and you know it!" Mrs Birling exclaims, refusing to take responsibility for her actions, which is just one of the reasons why the audience may not see Mrs Birling as a very likable character. This essay is going to explore how J.B. Priestley creates such a disagreeable character and why the audience feels this way about her.
In the short story a “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, she has several symbols to tell her story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol was by naming the main character Miss Strangeworth. This was foreshadowing that something was off about the lady that lived on pleasant street. Another symbol was realizing that Miss Strangeworth only pretended to care about the citizens because she wanted to send them mean letters anonymously and this is clearly depicted by the way that she locked her letters to keep anyone from seeing them. This is showing her evil despite how other people think she is a good lady.
1979. Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might—on the basis of the character’s actions alone—be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we might otherwise think. Avoid plot summary.
The definition of evil is being sinful, wrong and mostly being immoral. Miss Strangeworth is an evil human being. I believe this because she doesn’t talk to Linda Stewart when she was crying, she wrote a letter to someone that was about to have surgery and talked bad about the doctors and lastly, she wrote a secret letter to Mrs. Harper talking about how people talk about her and don’t tell her the news around town. The first reason of why Miss Strangeworth is evil because she is supposed to be the nice; good women in town, but once she saw a little girl crying, she didn’t stop help her or nothing. She just joked around about it in her head.
Judging by reality and fiction, there is not a single person to exist that has been purely evil or purely good. Yet it is in human nature to judge others as good or evil. Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice was quick to judge Fitzwilliam Darcy, the second central character of the novel, harshly based on her false assumptions of the arrogance of the wealthy. His initial egocentrism, due to his belief in a structured social hierarchy, caused her to form a prejudiced opinion of him. Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam Darcy is shown to exhibit both good and evil qualities, although not always apparent to the narrator, Elizabeth. Jane Austen’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the significance of class in English society during the late seventeenth century.
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
One significant person that was the result of evil was Adolf Hitler during WWII. He used fear in order to control his followers and get them to do what he wanted, just like Jack did in the story Lord of the Flies. Hitler’s evilness and lack of sympathy for Jews resulted in the Holocaust and the Jews’ loss of life. They were put into concentration camps and stripped of their possessions as a result of Hitler’s commands. This can be compared to Jack because he made everyone in the group follow him and do what he wanted. Both Hitler and Jack used fear in order to manipulate people and get what they want accomplished. Although, they both weren’t born with the desire to become powerful leaders. Jack wanted everyone on the island to follow him because
Yesterday early morning, Miss Strangeworth’s roses were cut down as a revenge plan by the Crane family. Miss Strangeworth who was known and loved by all was devastated as these roses had been passed down her family for a very long time. She wrote letters to people addressing what she thought was right to her. She woke up to her roses cut down and many said she deserved it because the letters she wrote to people were ruthless and characterless.
In the beginning of “Miss Awful,” each child who was in Miss Wilson’s third grade class at St. Geoffrey's acted frivolous and silly. But towards the end, the substitute teacher, Miss Orville -or to the main character, Roger, it was Miss Awful- changed the children dramatically from rambunctious to sluggish and uptight. The reader could tell that Miss Orville was very strict for a third grade class. This essay will show the change of behavior in the students from the beginning of the story, to the end.
Harriet is being awakened to a female's role in society and how she can begin to enjoy her own life more through her experiences at Lord Strange's house. She is realizing that she has lacked passions in life because she was more concerned with her husband and that she subconsciously put his life, death, and happiness over her own. Harriet is breaking free from that and discovering her own passions such as that for fencing and that for Lord Strange. After speaking with Strange, she remarks "Benjamin was such a passionate man that she had faded into his shadow during their years of marriage. It was only when she wore men's breeches that she was able to parry and fence with a person like Strange. Normally someone so beautiful would make her tongue-tied"
Evil is almost always a factor that every hero must endure if the story is a hero’s journey. Other stories deal with troublesome characters who are simply annoying or untrustworthy.