Ms. Adela Strangeworth In The Possibility Of Evil By Shirley Jackson
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.
In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Miss Strangeworth has lost her sanity and she is evil in some ways. She tells people everything they do wrong in the town that she believes is hers. She knows everyone in town, “I’ve watched my town grow” Jackson states (Jackson 188). She is old enough to have knowledge about everyone in the town, and she hasn’t left this town in her whole life. She also isn’t very humble.
In the story "The Possibility Of Evil" written by Shirley Jackson there is a peculiar character called Miss Adela Strangeworth. She is an old women in a small town she has watched grow in her entire lifetime but she is less innocent than you'd think, in fact, she is a villainous women and shows how cruel and evil she is in many ways. Miss Adela Strangeworth's actions show that she is oblivious to how her methods effect her town in an evil and despicable way. She is unaware that she is the evil in the town, terrorizing its inhabitants. she writes letters to civilians who Adela thinks are "wicked" and because she is the oldest person in town, she feels obligated to protect it (Jackson 226).
In the article, “Against Antiheroes”, Laura Bennett demonstrates the characterizations of an antihero, while providing information that allows the antihero to be depicted as prevalent. An antihero is defined as a person that does not possess heroic attributes, and may be seen as selfish, corrupt, or sullen. Antiheroes usually tend to acquire the sympathy of another individual, causing them to become relatable, as seen as Bennett writes, “‘Antihero’ implies that a character encourages a conflicted sympathy; Walt forfeited our sympathy long ago” (472). Bennett’s characterization of an antihero demonstrates a sense of an internal struggle on behalf of the audience and the hero. An antihero may appear to be haunted by a tragic past, encounters
Miss strangeworth tried stopping the evil going on in “her town” by giving criticism to things/ people that she didn’t approve of and or didn’t like that she didn’t feel was perfect. Miss
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.
The imaginative story written above is an exploration on the ideas and concepts based on Margaret Atwood’s discursive text ‘Spotty Handed Villainesses’. It explores and addresses the ideas of ‘female bad behavior’ and challenges the idea that there are good and bad women, not both in this world as well as how society has created standards and a status quo around what a good or bad woman looks like. Margaret Atwood uses many techniques throughout her speech, including narrative voice, metaphors, tone, rhetorical questions and more. These language techniques can be seen throughout the many texts we have done in Module C: The Craft of Writing.
This is incredibly ironic because Miss Strangeworth believes that she is ridding the town of evil while in reality she is causing. The people in the town aren’t evil. They just make mistakes that Miss Strangeworth’s
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.
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
Her high self-regard is revealed when she “spares” herself after working in the garden. The fact that she takes it easy on herself is alluding to her belief that she is far more important than the rest of the town, and doesn't need to work as hard. Lastly, her ego and status are made clear again when the narrator expresses that “no one… would dare disturb Miss Strangeworth” (171). This statement reveals that Miss Strangeworth may be feared by her fellow citizens, which shows her higher status in the community, as well as the arrogance she embodies. This pretentious entitlement can cause considerable harm, to society, as well as within the person them
In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Miss. Adela Strangeworth is introduced as a 71 year old woman who is extremely passionate of her rose garden, but she is also passionate about the people in her town. She could not even walk around town without being stopped to talk and ask about how everyone was. Adela Strangeworth seems to know everything about everyone, but this knowledge also exposed her to all of the hidden evils in her small, familiar town. Adela wanted nothing more than to get rid of the evil that was around her.
The move to a free market economic system was a slow process for the Soviet Union. Originally the people of the Soviet Union got angry and protested their government because they were unable to buy the goods and services that they wanted. In response to his people’s anger the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, stated to pass legal bills that would allow people more freedom. Soon the new bills added together and formed a democratic system that turned into a free market for goods and services. After the free market was put into place many ethnic groups broke off of the Soviet Union and formed their own countries.
Miss Strangeworth sometimes “[finds] herself thinking that the town belonged to her” (Jackson,1941,
“Miss Strangeworth is a familiar fixture in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Little do the townsfolk suspect, though, that the dignified old woman leads another, secret life…”. A secret life can be evil or good, in Miss Strangeworth’s case it is suitable, but do others appreciate this secret life. In The Possibility of Evil Shirley Jackson illustrates inner thinking, revealing action, and symbolism to show how Miss Strangeworth tends the people like her roses, but truly state's them evil.
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