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What Is Miss Strangeworth Symbolize In The Possibility Of Evil

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In the story, “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell her story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol she uses are the roses, they represent Miss Strangeworth’s purity in a world full of evil. they are her children and see them as incorruptible object. Another symbol she uses are the letters which Miss Strangeworth send to the people of her town. They represent Miss Strangeworth’s “beacon of light”into a world consumed in darkness. This is the way in which Miss Strangeworth’s helps in cleansing the evil in her little town. One last symbol is Miss Strangeworth’s name. Her name shows her strange life and how strange it is that she likes sending people those mean letters. Certain symbols have meanings in today’s
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According to Dictionary.com symbolism can be defined as, “the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character.” Nathaniel Hawthorne places many symbols in The Scarlet Letter, such as Pearl. In the novel, Pearl is known as a symbol of treasure for Hester, sin, and unusualness. In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne refers to the book of Matthew when he gives the name Pearl to the character.

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For most people, the words evil and harsh are not the typical traits used to describe an elderly woman. However, in the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, the 71 year old character Miss Adela Strangeworth, has a dark predatory nature hiding behind her highly respectable and sweet exterior. She preys upon her peers by misleading them into thinking everything is fine, only to subsequently tear them down. She accomplishes this by concealing her cruel, deceitful and perfectionist personality by maintaining an honourable reputation within her town. Miss Strangeworth shows no mercy when she anonymously reveals secrets about the family and lives of people in her community.

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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.

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In the short story, “The Possibility of Evil” you can right away tell by the title that there will be some kind of evil going around. In the story there is a lady called Miss strangeworth who in the end turns out to be a bully. However, Miss Strangeworth is not a physical bully, she is in a way a cyber bully but instead of posting or sending messages she writes multiple letters to people in her town pointing out certain things she’s noticed. Throughout the story no one knows who is sending the letters, this is being anonymous. In the article “The Online Disinhibition Effect” it also gives examples of how one can keep their identity hidden by going as “anonymous” In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” it says that “her letters dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion,” this not only proves that she would send multiple letters.

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Have you ever heard of the story the “Drummer Boy of Shiloh?” If you have you know the story. If you haven't then you should read it it's a good story. This story was written by Ray Bradbury .

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The short stories; The Most Dangerous by Richard Connell,The Necklace by Guy something, The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson all deal with characters who are dominated by their evil nature. Mrs.Strangeworth destroys lives by spreading untruthful rumors contaminating her own town with negativity. Madame Loisel is dominated by greed and leads her family into financial ruin. General Zaroff has a lust for blood and kills people for pleasure. Mrs. Strangeworth however, is the most destructive of the three because she takes pleasure in her malevolent actions.

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By all appearances, Miss Strangeworth is a sweet, old lady, living in a perfect, shiny, happy town. But appearances are not everything, especially in the case of Miss Adela Strangeworth of Pleasant Street. Miss Adela Strangeworth, a character in the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, is a 71-year-old spinster living in a small town in the 1940’s. At the beginning, she seems like any normal old lady, but it is quickly realized that this is not the case and that she has a dark side. Of the many traits that Miss Strangeworth possesses, the most prominent are her deceptiveness, perfectionism, and the god complex that has developed.

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