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Analysis Of The Possibility Of Evil By Miss Strangeworth

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Recommended: Clues in the possibility of evil by shirley jackson that tell personality of mrs strangeworth

Throughout time, the act of anonymously sending a hateful message, regardless of factuality has always been prevalent. In the past, it could have been through rumors or ink letters, but in modern times they’re most commonly seen in online messages. This act is vile to its purest form, yet it is still a distinguishable part of human society. In the short story “The Possibility of Evil”, this vile act was presented by the protagonist Miss Strangeworth. Throughout the story, she has been seen writing toxic letters to her neighbors, uncaring about the truth and the feelings of those around her. The reason why this act is so prevalent is that it goes hand and hand with human society. As humans, there are some occasions when people admit it or not when they enjoy the misfortunes of others because it makes us feel better about our own situations. Writing poisonous messages anonymously might be a way for people to vent out their own miseries onto others, causing them to take them out on the innocent. In …show more content…

As previously mentioned, the most commonly try to take out their own pain on others and care less about what they are criticizing, which could be why facts are not something they’re interested in. When you take this into consideration in “The Possibility of Evil”, it shows how Miss Strangeworth is someone who could be in the grieving process over a betrayal from a spouse or child, a long one to be exact. Of course on the other end of the spectrum, she could also just be someone who enjoys the pain of others for no other reason than enjoying it. If this was the case, then Miss Strangeworth would most likely be a psychopath. She pretends to be a kind old lady, while in reality, she has a truly hideous personality. Nevertheless, no matter what reasons she has for her vile acts, it doesn’t say anything positive about her

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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.

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The character Miss Strangeworth in the literature “The Possibility of Evil” in inconsiderate and a perfectionist. She is inconsiderate because of her thoughts and actions. For example, Miss Strangeworth thinks this “Miss Strangeworth noticed that Miss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and sighed” (Jackson 112-114). This reveals how inconsiderate she is to others solely picking out their imperfections. Miss Strangeworth is also a perfectionist who disdains imperfection or sloppiness.

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“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.

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Due to their similar attributes, the grandmother and Misfit are not drastically different. Neither the grandmother nor the Misfit are purely good or evil; however, they do represent a general reputation of good and evil, respectively. Upon closer inspection, however, there is one fundamental difference between the two characters’ personalities: admission of wrongdoing. This is such a significant distinction that some critics argue that the Misfit’s character is not as corrupted as the grandmother’s because “the Misfit openly acknowledges his evil,” compared to the grandmother’s façade (Desmond). Due to this, the grandmother is not able to connect with the Misfit because she is hiding behind of a false appearance.

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She had torn apart relationships, families, and the entire town was against itself. With each new day came a fresh accusation about somebody who had been writing the letters. Mrs. Strangeworth caused it all. Mrs. Strangeworth truly was an evil woman, she had not committed any sort of crime, but she caused families to turn against each other and friendships and relationships to deteriorate. This is truly an evil deed as it has the potential to take the value out of somebodies lives.

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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.

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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.

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In the short story, “The Possibility of Evil” you can right away tell by the title that there will be some kind of evil going around. In the story there is a lady called Miss strangeworth who in the end turns out to be a bully. However, Miss Strangeworth is not a physical bully, she is in a way a cyber bully but instead of posting or sending messages she writes multiple letters to people in her town pointing out certain things she’s noticed. Throughout the story no one knows who is sending the letters, this is being anonymous. In the article “The Online Disinhibition Effect” it also gives examples of how one can keep their identity hidden by going as “anonymous” In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” it says that “her letters dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion,” this not only proves that she would send multiple letters.

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Typically, the "bad guy" is easy to spot. He wears black, sneaks around in the shadows, and intention is to destroy. But maybe evil is hidden where it is least expected. Sometimes the blindfold that people become so accustomed to, must be removed to see the true corruption.

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The setting of the movie in a classic suburban community around the 1950’s. The community aims for perfection in a way, that nothing odd is okay. That is why the mansion, where Edward Scissorhands has got residence, is a spot of dirt of the picture of perfection the community is trying to show. The color scheme makes the good versus evil theme very clear in the movie, in the way there is a clear contrast between good and evil. For example, the ‘good’ of the movie is shown, when we see the colors of the characters and the surrounding area.

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The grotesque psychopathic nature of the characters in Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” ironically shows how a good man does not truly exist through the revelation and proclamation of what characteristics a good man possess. In the story The Misfit shows characteristics of a psychopath by escaping prison and killing an innocent family. However, The Misfit isn’t the only character in the short story to show psychopathic tendencies. The grandma also shows some characteristics of a psychopath because she does not care or show remorse for her family who was brutally murdered

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No matter what she does deep down inside she is still evil, and still only cares about

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We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author during the 19th century witnessed the power of sin to wreak havoc not only to an individual but a whole community.

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By all appearances, Miss Strangeworth is a sweet, old lady, living in a perfect, shiny, happy town. But appearances are not everything, especially in the case of Miss Adela Strangeworth of Pleasant Street. Miss Adela Strangeworth, a character in the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, is a 71-year-old spinster living in a small town in the 1940’s. At the beginning, she seems like any normal old lady, but it is quickly realized that this is not the case and that she has a dark side. Of the many traits that Miss Strangeworth possesses, the most prominent are her deceptiveness, perfectionism, and the god complex that has developed.

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They can use any methods which may cause terrible damage for the sufferers’ mind, just to diminish the social status of whom they are bullying. In general, the goal to be achieved is raising and spreading their own power and dishonoring the others. Lastly, the motivation of online bullying is to ease the boredom. It may not surprising that the minority of perpetrators see this cruelty as the source of entertainment and others are too cowed to protest.

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