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Miss Strangeworth In The Possibility Of Evil By Shirley Jackson

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“The Possibility of Evil” Like all the colors in the rainbow, everyone thinks and acts completely different. Shirley Jackson’s story, “The Possibility of Evil,” is about an older woman who has secrets about her town. Mrs Strangeworth is a critical older lady who has lived on Pleasant street her whole life. 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’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does. To demonstrate, Miss Strangeworth is selfish because in “The possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson , she says, “but it should have been a statue of my grandfather. There wouldn’t have been a town here at all if it hadn't been for my grandfather and the lumber mill.” She believes that her grandfather was the one who created the town, but he wasn’t. It had to have been multiple people other than her grandfather. For …show more content…

Particularly in, “The Possibility of Evil” she judges Mr. Lewis because he looked worried but she says, “Mr. Lewis looked worried, she thought, but then decided that he could be worried over the strawberries.” She did the right thing and not ask what was wrong with him, even though it wasn’t her business. Mr. Lewis was probably worried about something else, most likely not the strawberries. In addition, the most judgmental action she did during this story was when she asked Mrs. Harper if she was okay, even though it wasn’t her business to ask. In the story she says, “ Miss Strangeworth wandered glancing at her quickly , if she had not been taking care of herself.” In other words, It was not Ms. Strangeworth’s place to be wondering if Mrs. Harper had been taking proper care of herself. It was none of her business to be wondering; Ms. Strangeworth is always in someone’s

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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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