One's mind would never think that little old Miss Adela Strangeworth would be the one sending horrible letters to the townspeople. Miss Strangeworth is the main character in the story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson. Adela Strangeworth is the old lady of Pleasant Street who loves her roses. Little did people know she was actually a condescending, mischievous, sneaky woman. At first Miss Strangeworth appears to be a flat character. She seemed to be an innocent lady who loved to keep her roses, just as the book says “Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses...the roses belonged on Pleasant Street”(Jackson, 1941, p.163). As the story goes the truth about Miss Strangeworth unravels. Adela is really a round character. She is condescending in the way that she feels like she is in charge of the town. The roses give her a sense of seniority, along with the house her grandfather built. In the story it states that she doesn’t want anyone else to have her roses, (Jackson) “it bothered Miss Strangeworth to think of people wanting to carry them away” (1941, p.165). In this line it is easy to tell that she does not want her roses to go anywhere that they belong to just her. If others had her roses she wouldn’t have as much seniority in the town. …show more content…
She is quite fond of the letters she writes. A very simple line in this story was “She was pleased with the letter.” (Jackson, 1941, p.169) this line does not seem harsh in anyway at all, but this is what the letter read “Didn’t you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn’t have children should they?”(Jackson, 1941, p.169). Whether or not she knows that this hurts people she is being playful about it, dropping hints to people about things she feels they should