Encounters with Cruelty in The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson and The Snake by Ervin D Krause

Appearances can be very deceiving. Although someone may appear to be innocent and naive, you never know what they are capable of. This relates to Miss Strangeworth, a character in “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson. Miss Strangeworth is a complicated character because of her conflicting personality. Although her actions are deceptive, her intentions and thoughts are very compassionate.

Cruelty can be a major conflict within a story, whether it destroys the characters physically or mentally. Perpetrators who attempt to diminish a victim’s humanity want to gain the power that would give them a sense of control over certain situations by draining happiness from them. Doing this contributes to the energy source that the perpetrators use in order to live a fulfilling life. These actions reveal that they not only want to cause chaos, but that they believe it will help their victims comprehend where they stand in society. In East of Eden, the theme of good versus evil opens the doors for cruelty, as seen through Cathy’s abandonment and Adam’s favoritism, causing the destruction of family members and unlocking the characters’ path

In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Miss Strangeworth us constantly critical of the people around her. One way the author shows this is the moment she judges Linda Stewart’s behavior. “Only yesterday the Stewarts’ fifteen-year-old daughter Linda had run crying down her own front walk on the way to school, not caring who saw her” (176). Miss Strangeworth seemingly disapproves of the way Linda Stewart does not care who sees her as she shows so much grief. The way Miss Strangeworth describes the situation makes it seem that Linda should not be showing herself in that light in public. Similarly, Miss Strangeworth is judgmental of the librarian’s lifestyle. “Miss Strangeworth noticed Miss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her

Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by what she does. Miss Strangeworth is selfish. She is selfish because she won’t give away a few of her roses. For example, “Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses, although the tourists asked her.” Another way she is selfish is that she believes the town is hers. In addition, “She was seventy-one, Miss Strangeworth told the tourists, with a pretty little dimple showing on her lip, and she sometimes found herself thinking that the town belonged to her.” As a result, Miss strangeworth can be analyzed as selfish.

Conflict is a big issue in the story The Possibility of Evil. The main conflict is person versus society and is between Miss Strangeworth and the whole town. Miss Strangeworth is a two faced character. Miss Strangeworth pretends to be a friend to all her so called friends and fellow town’s people, but secretly sends them disgusting and hurting messages in the mail unsigned. The author of the story really makes the reader want to figure out why a person that has lived in the town her whole life and knew everybody, [“She knew everyone in town, of course; [...] she had not spent more than a day outside this town in her long life [...] She was seventy-one” (249)] would do something terrible to that level to the only people she knows. At first when Miss Strangeworth’s actions are revealed to the reader, one may think that she is crazy, but as one reads on one starts to notice some other reasons. The

Perpetrators of cruelty have warped world-views, which leads the victims to be viewed as weak or inhuman, and the perpetrators to be either raised a hero, or detested as a villain.

This is shown in The Lord of the Flies by watching the boys on the island transform from good boys to killers. Situations like this would rather be kept in the realm of fiction, but the Stanford Prison Experiment shows that good, normal people can become cruel. Throughout the whole book, a beast is mentioned, that turns out to be the evil inside every person. This beast shows the reader that no matter what, evil can never truly be escaped. Sadly, every single person that is living and breathing has an ability to do wrong, and hurt their brothers and sisters, but what is done with that capability determines the kind of person one strives to

In the “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson gives us a character who seems to be the town's respected and longest established resident but who may actually has a dark and destructive side. Her pride in the town may be the first foreshadowing of what she is truly like. Miss strange describes how her grandfather built the very first house on Pleasant Street and her “..family lived here better than hundred years.” She even admits to thinking the town “belonged to her” (Jackson 1). The evidence is important because it shows how Miss.strangeworth feels she is different perhaps, better than others townspeople. From this evidence the reader can infer

To start, the idea of cruelty can be defined as losing one’s humanity by ruthlessly performing

Miss.Strangeworth seems to be an innocent,nice old lady,but seems to be little more than innocent. Shirley Jackson explains in

Above all, in “The Possibility of Evil,” Jackson’s use of symbolism and irony allows her to unveil the dishonesty possessed by many people. Like Miss Strangeworth, her roses serve as a trademark of the town. And, similarly to the roses, although Miss Strangeworth seems pleasant, she possesses hidden thorns. When a dropped letter reveals Miss Strangeworth’s actions, her neighbors destroy her roses. “[Miss Strangeworth] began to cry silently . . . when she read the words: LOOK OUT AT WHAT USED TO BE YOUR ROSES”(Jackson 7). The destroyed roses represent Miss Strangeworth being exposed; there is no longer any pride or joy in the roses or Miss Strangeworth. Jackson’s use of symbolism throughout the story allows her to divulge the insincerity of everyday people. Throughout the story, Jackson also employs irony. Often, Miss Strangeworth engages in small talk with her neighbors while ironically consuming her time with cynical thoughts of the very

Miss Strangeworth is like an onion, you just keep peeling away layers and layers. One of her deep layers is sneaky. In other words very secretive person or two-faced. She would go up to to a character’s face have a nice conversation, then go write and mean rude letter to the same character. For instance, “Although Miss Strangeworth hadn’t given the thought, she had always made a point of mailing letters very secretly; it would, of course, been wise to not let anyone to see her mail them.”

In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, although Miss Strangeworth’s actions were evil, she had good intentions. For example when Miss Strangeworth wrote a letter to Mrs Harper that stated “Have you found out yet about what they were all laughing about after you left the bridge club on Thursday? Or is the wife really the last one to know?” (Jackson). This reveals that she is trying to help rid her town of evil. Miss Strangeworth feels that writing these letter will help the people in her town. Another example is when Miss Strangeworth said that Martha Harper was looking old. Although Miss Strangeworth didn’t say this outloud, it shows that she has very strong opinions, but that doesn’t make someone evil. Miss Strangeworth wants people

In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, cruelty has a lasting effect on all of the characters. Cruelty is mostly predominate in populaces containing a mixture of black and white communities. From the history of slavery, white people used cruelty as a tool to subjugate the black community. The cruelty of white society stems from greed, fear, and hatred. These emotions influence the degree in which cruelty is exhibited.

Throughout history, there have been many human beings whom have been seen as either a hero or a villain. In their childhood, these people must had obstacles that were in their way, causing each individual to either work harder or give up. People, however; must understand that each individual has a potential in achieving their goals, but if one is mistreated or deceived due to jealousy, resentment, hatred, or ambition, it can lead to many catastrophic events. People who have pride and arrogance do not want to have equals, rather they want to see their victims suffer. These people have no difficulty in achieving their goals due to the fact that their victims have too innocent a nature to suspect the nefarious motives of their enemies. In