Old, lonely ladies like Adela Strangeworth could suffer from boredom. One would also think that she would probably like to work in her yard. And one could even think of her living in a small town, where she would probably also know all of the people. If one visualizes all these clichés when an old lady was mentioned, one now has a pretty good picture of Miss Adela Strangeworth, the protagonist of the short story, “The Possibility of Evil’’ by Shirley Jackson. Miss Strangeworth is 71 years old and lives in a small town.
In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Miss Strangeworth has lost her sanity and she is evil in some ways. She tells people everything they do wrong in the town that she believes is hers. She knows everyone in town, “I’ve watched my town grow” Jackson states (Jackson 188). She is old enough to have knowledge about everyone in the town, and she hasn’t left this town in her whole life. She also isn’t very humble.
In the article, “Against Antiheroes”, Laura Bennett demonstrates the characterizations of an antihero, while providing information that allows the antihero to be depicted as prevalent. An antihero is defined as a person that does not possess heroic attributes, and may be seen as selfish, corrupt, or sullen. Antiheroes usually tend to acquire the sympathy of another individual, causing them to become relatable, as seen as Bennett writes, “‘Antihero’ implies that a character encourages a conflicted sympathy; Walt forfeited our sympathy long ago” (472). Bennett’s characterization of an antihero demonstrates a sense of an internal struggle on behalf of the audience and the hero. An antihero may appear to be haunted by a tragic past, encounters
“But those with an evil heart, seem to have a talent for destroying anything beautiful which is about to bloom.” This quote relates to the text because Miss Strangeworth has an evil heart without knowing it and she destroyed good peoples feelings and in the end when her roses were destroyed, something beautiful of hers was destroyed. (Roses) The possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson explains that there is an evil everywhere, we can not stop it at all. Miss Strangeworth’s thought, actions and the setting plus the rising action and exposition demonstrate it.
For most people, the words evil and harsh are not the typical traits used to describe an elderly woman. However, in the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, the 71 year old character Miss Adela Strangeworth, has a dark predatory nature hiding behind her highly respectable and sweet exterior. She preys upon her peers by misleading them into thinking everything is fine, only to subsequently tear them down. She accomplishes this by concealing her cruel, deceitful and perfectionist personality by maintaining an honourable reputation within her town. Miss Strangeworth shows no mercy when she anonymously reveals secrets about the family and lives of people in her community.
In “The Possibility of Evil”, Shirley Jackson utilizes irony and point of view to support a theme of negative outcomes in spite of good intent. Repeatedly Miss Strangeworth is trying to correct peoples ways of life but actually is causing them pain and sorrow. One demonstration of this is where it says “She was pleased with her letter. She was fond of doing things exactly right”, (Jackson 4). Miss Strangeworth writes to families to correct them and let them know exactly what her opinion is on the matter and it brings them hurt.
Is Ms. Strangeworth a victim OR villain In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” written by Shirley Jackson, the protagonist Ms. Strangeworth is a villain because she isn’t what everyone’s aspect of her is, she is very deceptive, and the letters she sends are the very cause of the evil she’s trying to stop. Ms. Strangeworth is a seventy-one-year-old lady who lives in a little town, which she thinks is her own. She always feels the need to know everything, about everyone. Even though, no one knows who she really is.
This quote also gives you an idea of how Miss Strangeworth enjoyed gossip or talking about someone behind their back. Miss Strangeworth was writing letters to “The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet” it's ironic how she could say this when in reality she was doing all the evil of the town. The way Miss
Entitlement is a significant threat to society. When a person has predetermined that they possess the right to a certain privilege or special treatment, it can cause major chaos. Miss Strangeworth believes she naturally inherits the privilege of pointing out others flaws, in an attempt to perfect her town that she believes her ancestors created. “There wouldn’t have been a town… if it hadn’t been for my grandfather.” (163) This self-assigned duty of anonymously revealing the flaws of the population only reveals the true identity of Miss Strangeworth.
In the ‘’The Possibility of Evil’’ Mrs Strangeworth is spreading rumours about the people in the community. By Mrs Strangeworth sending those letters to people saying things to try and keep the community at peace when all it was really do was causing problems within the community the author of the short story used that conflict to show man 's inhumanity to man. When the boy finds the letters and figures out who has been writing them he tells Miss Strangeworth that the community now knows who has been writing the letters and spreading things that are not true. Miss Strangeworth thinks that informing the community of things that are happening around them that she sees and thinks that is going on she thinks she is helping them out but she 's really just causing problems with the community and making the people
In Shirley Jackson, “The Possibility of Evil”, Ms. Adela Strangeworth actions and dialogue reveal that she is an intrusive person. Her intrusiveness is reflected in the answer she gave to Martha’s response “I’m perfectly alright” when asked about her wellbeing. Despite Martha assuring her she was alright, Ms.Strangeworth continues to believe Martha is unwell thus revealing her curiosity and nosy behaviour. Ms.Strangeworth believes that people in her town “were evil and needed to be watched” which suggests an invasive and unwelcoming behaviour. She feels obligated to have the right to know about what goes in other’s life and feels she is fulfilling her duty of protecting her neighbourhood by doing this.
The post-modern era that we are living in right now is different than the modern era discussed in class. Postmodernism is the most fast pace and growing eras due to the communication and technology created. With the transformation from modern era communication to postmodern era being so extended the younger generations are not realizing how it has changed. In the chart forced by Professor Soha, he explains how in the postmodern era generations are alienated from others. Due to such drastic adjustments the gap between generations are so large.
She has several prominent routines, such as buying her tea on Tuesdays and always going for afternoon and evening walks. These routines lead one to believe that she may even have obsessive compulsive traits, in the story the author mentions that “[s]he was fond of doing things exactly right”(Jackson,1941, p.169). Immediately after every meal “...her plate and cup and saucer [are] washed and dried and put back where they [belong], and her silverware [is] put back in the mahogany silver chest…”(Jackson,1941, p.171) because “Miss Strangeworth never delayed when things had to be done”(Jackson,1941, p.169). Her perfectionism leads her to burn her letters immediately when she makes a mistake or “when the letters [are] not spaced nicely on the page” (Jackson,1941, p.169). These tendencies could be one of the reasons for her horrible letters.
In 1937 Eastern Africa, in the country of Uganda, was the first time that West Nile Virus was identified. The disease then quickly spread to the United States, first reaching New York in 1999. Since then, West Nile Virus has spread throughout the world, including most of North America. Today, many cases are reported primarily in the tropics of North America, South America and Asia. (Con.
“Miss Strangeworth is a familiar fixture in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Little do the townsfolk suspect, though, that the dignified old woman leads another, secret life…”. A secret life can be evil or good, in Miss Strangeworth’s case it is suitable, but do others appreciate this secret life. In The Possibility of Evil Shirley Jackson illustrates inner thinking, revealing action, and symbolism to show how Miss Strangeworth tends the people like her roses, but truly state's them evil.
