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Miss Strangeworth In 'The Possibility Of Evil'

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In the story “The Possibility of Evil” Miss Adele Strangeworth is a 71 year old resident of meager town her family founded. Pleasant Street is street she lives on which is where her deceased family once lived. Her name hints that she may be quite posh. In the beginning Miss Strangeworth seems to be a normal, common elderly lady who kept herself and her belongings extremely proper and prim. In addition she feels that she is obliged to know everything that goes on in the town and to try and keep the evil away. To the people in town Miss Strangeworth appears to be pleasant normal lady who does not have a care in the world. Furthermore she is the last surviving member of the Strangeworth’s family and feels responsible for watching over the people in town.
Later it becomes clear that Miss Strangeworth is not what she seems and she has an …show more content…

Therefore, she timed her walk so she would reach the post office just as it was getting dark out. More importantly Miss Strangeworth does not write these letters because she is insane; she writes them being she is afraid of what will become of her town if she does not. Being that she views herself as the backbone of the town; she feels it would not run without her. Her grandparents and parents all lived in the town and that is why she thinks that it is up to her to watch after the town.
Consequently in the end Miss Strangeworth drops one of the letters and a boy picks it up and takes it to Don Crane. That being the case Don destroys her precious rose bushes after he accidentally finds out that she is the author of the horrible letters he and his wife have received about the possible arrested mental development of their baby daughter. The "possibility of evil" that Miss Strangeworth sees all around her in the town is just a projection of the hatefulness inside

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This shows clearly in this quote “Martha,” she said, “you don’t look well.” This is when she calls out Mrs. Harper for not seeming well, in public (Jackson 75). This is why Miss Strangeworth is an inconsiderate perfectionistic personality.

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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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The notion that she owns the town, trying to perfect it, and being deceptive while doing it are all traits that will get Miss Strangeworth in trouble. These traits are all things that lead to the downfall of Miss Strangeworth's roses. Trying to perfect other people is generally not taken well by others, they feel judged, as they are. This story shows why a book should never be judged by the cover, because there are often secrets hiding in the

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