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Minor Characters In The Possibility Of Evil By Shirley Jackson

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“The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson is an educational story as it considers the elements with its descriptive writing and a smooth plot. It is a carefully written piece of literature with only the necessary idea. The educational theme grabs the reader’s attention with perfect writing skills. Jackson carefully uses elements such as irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism that creates suspense for the plot. The only weakness with this story is it’s inability to illustrate minor characters. In fact it is hard to recall the names or the characteristics of these minor characters. The story takes place in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else. It revolves around an old woman named Miss. Strangeworth. She has lived in this small town her whole life on Pleasant Street in her ancestral home. In fact, in the story it sounds like Miss Strangeworth’s family may have started the town. Miss Strangeworth loves her little town and believes that her roses and her …show more content…

When she drops one of the letters that she wrote, she doesn’t even realize it. A reader like me can conclude that it is only a matter of time – Miss Strangeworth will be caught. If getting caught, would have shown how self-centered Miss Strangeworth is, we would have never known the wrong she had done with her letters – especially when one letter came back and exposed her. Even if Miss Strangeworth was not self-centered, she would not have sent letters to people, but would have ended up harming them anyways. It seems like being judgmental is makes a person distant from people who care. It’s not something to be proud of – people will just end up being distant. Miss Strangeworth is very opinionated – someone who has a strong opinion on the town as a whole. Being judgmental – means being correct and that there will be no

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She acts in a caring manner to everyone’s face, but when she is alone, she becomes a heartless woman, determined to reveal what she knows. Miss Strangeworth is the one causing the distress in her community, yet she acts oblivious as to what is bothering everyone. She shows her extreme deceitfulness by attempting to ease Helen Crane’s concern about her child by saying “Nonsense… some of them develop… more quickly than others” (Jackson, 1941, p. 167). This is deceitful because she is aware that there is something different about the child and instead of voicing that, she consoles the mother, only to subsequently shatter her in an anonymous letter. Additionally, Miss Strangeworth cleverly utilizes the most common paper and envelops all townspeople use for her letters.

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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

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