Ms. Strangeworth's The Possibility Of Evil

In the story The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson the main character miss Strangeworth shows her true backstabbing nature when writing anonymous letters to all the people in town. The story eventually reviles her dark secret of writing the letters and hiding behind the paper. Similarly cyber bullies hide behind a keyboard and type out horrible messages meant to make the receiver feel meaningless. The common pattern of indirect manipulation and controlling behaviors are observed in both modern cyber bullies and the character Miss Strangeworth in "The Possibility of Evil".

Like Mr. Paul said, ¨Folks sometimes do ugly things, Hiram, but that don't necessarily make them evil. A lot of good folks just make stupid decisions or get themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.¨ (Crowe 221) What a reader can learn from this is that sometimes, people make

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

Miss Adela Strangeworth is a very peculiar woman. On the outside, she is simply the sweet old lady down the street, but get to know her and she is as cold as ice inside. Miss Strangeworth lives in a small town where everybody knows everybody and nobody knows nobody. The story, “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson does not give much as to where this little town is located but what we do know is it has a post office, a market, and the lovely Strangeworth house with roses out front. The one and only Miss Adela Strangeworth, sweet yet disastrously deceptive, possessive, and harsh.

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.

In a small town where everyone is nice that Miss Stangeworth is respected and trying to protect from evil but doesn’t realize that she is the one being evil. That Shirley Jackson is using creativity and being two faced to deceive people. “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson uses two faced and creativity to reveal that Miss Strangeworth uses details and imagery is not the woman that everyone thinks she is. Firstly, “In the Possibility of Evil” Shirley Jackson uses details and two faced for Miss Strangeworth that is getting explained in this paragraph.

Miss Strangeworth and the Possibility of Evil There is never room for rudeness in anyone’s life. Miss Strangeworth from the short story “The Possibility of Evil” written by Shirley Jackson, is particularly rude. Especially when it comes to her town. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does and says, what the author says about her, and how other characters interact with 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.

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. Miss Strangeworth seems to be one thing. However, in the story The Possibility of Evil, by Shirly Jackson, we learn some surprising things about Miss Strangeworth’s character. People aren’t always what they

When an elderly lady is brought up in conversation, most people think of a sweet, kind-hearted and generous woman. A woman that gives anything just to make other people happy, a women that bakes cookies for no prominent reason. Unless that elderly woman is Adela Strangeworth. Miss Strangeworth in the short story, “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, is an extremely unique and surprising character. This is because she is selfish, cruel, and deceiving. None of which is expected from a seventy-one year old.

When Miss Strangeworth’s and the town’s opinions of maliciousness, clash, it becomes apparent that their opinions of what determines evil differ. Miss Strangeworth wrote letters to the town, thereby, destroying their happiness to stop what she perceived as the likelihood of evil. The town’s response to these letters indicates that they view her

When I think of the concept of “evil,” I think of The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. In The Consolation of Philosophy, Lady Philosophy stated:

By definition, evil is an act or feeling that is “profoundly immoral and malevolent”. The problem is that evil is a subjective term. Each person sees evil differently.

Buddha once stated, “it is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” In “The Possibility of Evil,” Miss Strangeworth, a seemingly innocent elderly woman, sends cruel letters in order to rid her town of evil. When other townspeople discover her as the author of the letters, they destroy her prized roses. Shirley Jackson’s “The Possibility of Evil” not only reveals the deceitfulness of people, but also emphasizes the underlying evil of all humans and shows that evil remains insurmountable until fully accepted.

Evil, as mentioned before, is commonly referred to the act or actions that go directly against what is to be considered good. Good, or a set or morals and believes, have differed between the many generation that have existed over time. One must properly understand that what they believe to be pure evil could be seen as doing the right thing in the eyes of others. Evil has a very bias perception to its definition, but is always measured by the same means no matter where what and when it is describes. Evil is the