Miss Strangeworth's Intricate Personality

The Possibility Of Evil Analysis . Everyone knows this one person that is so kind and sweet in front of people but then go talk about those people behind their back . There are a lot of those people in this world but one in particular will be talked about in this essay . Miss Adela Strangeworth talks to everyone that she passes in her town , then she writes letters about them and mails them to the person she wants to address ,

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.

(pg. 57) “...Joan, with the kind attention of the midwife’s apprentice, brought fort a daughter..”(pg. 60) At the end of the long night finally the baby is born. When the midwife comes back to establish her earlier remarks were incorrect, Alyce feels like she accomplished something and lets out a “smile.. facing the midwife’s jealous anger.” (pg. 60)

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

“The Possibility Of Evil” by Shirley Jackson is a short story about a woman referred to as Miss Strangeworth, who throughout the story is either writing letters or tending to her beloved roses. She is kind to others but also leads another secret life.“The Possibility Of Evil” by Shirley Jackson uses symbolism and tone to relate objects to real people.

To begin with, Miss Strangeworth is an old lady that wants to control the town. She believes that since her grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street, she is the matriarch of the town. From her thinking, the town belongs to 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.

Miss Adela Strangeworth is a very peculiar woman. On the outside, she is simply the sweet old lady down the street, but get to know her and she is as cold as ice inside. Miss Strangeworth lives in a small town where everybody knows everybody and nobody knows nobody. The story, “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson does not give much as to where this little town is located but what we do know is it has a post office, a market, and the lovely Strangeworth house with roses out front. The one and only Miss Adela Strangeworth, sweet yet disastrously deceptive, possessive, and harsh.

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

In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, the main character, Miss Strangeworth, is quite the narcissist. An example of this is when she thinks to herself that “the town belonged to her” (1). This illustrates her believing that she is akin to royalty, and more important than any of the town’s other citizens. Another quote to support this is where the narrator says, “The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet” (5). As queen of the town, she feels as though it’s her duty, and only her’s, to keep it perfect. Only a person as impeccable as Miss Strangeworth could be tasked with keeping the town in such high standards. Something else that implies Miss Strangeworth’s narcissism is her stationary. It’s described

People aren’t always who they seem to be. In ‘The Possibility of Evil,” by Shirley Jackson, this idea is explored in story form. One character, Miss Strangeworth, is the literary representation of this idea; She is polite and nice in person, but at the same time, she anonymously writes hurtful letters that spread false rumors to the whole town. Firstly, Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she says and does.

The things Miss Strangeworth did was weird. To demonstrate “Miss Adela Strangeworth stepped daintily along Main Street on her way to the grocery.” Most seventy-one year olds don’t walk, they usually drive or have someone to take them to the store but Miss Strangeworth walks to the grocery. It was a nice day. Additionally “The sun was shining, and the air was fresh and clear after the night’s heavy rain, and everything in Miss Strangeworth’s little town looked washed and bright.”

In Jeh MacDonald’s short story, “The Possibility of Evil”, Jeh indicates that Mrs. Strangeworth is a nit picking perfectionist that seems to show signs of O.C.D. Specifically, when people ask for one of her luscious red roses Mrs. Strangeworth thinks to herself that, “[these] roses belong on pleasant street... [and] to [even] think of people wanting to carry them away” (1,2). It indicates that it’ just too hard for her to even think of something being out of place. Somebody with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder might also experience thoughts and feelings similar to that exact same thought. Not only did she not like things out of place, “Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness” (3). Even if it was just Mrs.Chandler’s ratty messy hair.

In “The Possibility of Evil,” Shirley Jackson gives us a character who seems to be the town's most respected and longest established resident, but who actually has a dark and destructive side. Her pride in the town may be the first foreshadowing clue of what she is truly like. Miss Strangeworth describes how her grandfather built the very first house on pleasant, street, and that she “.... family has lived here for better than a hundred years.”  She even admits to thinking the town …. Belonged to her (Jackson 1). This evidence is important because it shows how Miss Strangeworth feels she is different, perhaps better than other townspeople. From

Many people know Jane Austen to be one of the most well known names in literature’s history. She is known for her classic romance novels. At home, she had much support on the creative front of writing. Her father and mother were supportive of any creative endeavors their children would go through. Jane was born on December sixteenth of 1775 to George Austen who married Cassandra of the Leigh family. Together they had eight children and only two of them were girls. Mr. Austen was a Reverend of Steventon rectory. During Jane’s childhood, her father did many things to help the growing family financially. He did his best to teach the family himself and tried farming as an alternative method to gain money.