Questions On The Possibility Of Evil

In the short story “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson used several symbols in the story to explain Ms.Strangeworth. The first symbol would be her name the word strange is in it hinting that she is a strange woman to begin with. Then she gradually shows her strangeness by telling us what she is noticing in people, that no one would ever really notice. Then it was roses that was symbolizing her as person. Roses have soft beautiful petals that distracts people from seeing the thorns that grows with the rose and causes them to put it up to later be stabbed by the thorn. The petals are Miss. Strangeworth’s appearance an old,proper, sweet lady who never think to raise her voice, but her thorns are the letters she writes to everyone anonymously.

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.

Although the story begins with Miss Strangeworth as a sweet old lady, the reader learns that Miss Strangeworth has delusions about trying to save her town from evil. At first, we learn about her pride in her town, her family home, and her roses. Miss Strangeworth goes as far as bragging that she has “never spent more than a day outside this town in her long life.” (Jackson,249). Partway through the story, we learn that Miss Strangeworth secretly feels she is on a mission to save her town from evil. She believed that “There were so many wicked people in the world and only one Strangeworth in town.” (Jackson,253). Miss Strangeworth felt is was her duty to keep the town, “clean and sweet”.(Jackson,253).

Another vast similarity between the characters in the stories is that both of the preeminent characters live in small towns where everybody knows them. This specific part of the story provides the information that they clearly knew everyone and in Mrs. Strangeworth's case knew everyone's juiciest secrets. This unambiguous part of the story may seem

I disliked the ending because I don’t think it was right to end the story with the village about to stone Tessie to death. Instead, the story should’ve ended with Tessie being stoned to death, but then the village finally realized the damage and chaos the “lottery” has done and then have decided to stoned Mr. Summers to death for starting this monstrosity. If the story would’ve ended the way I wanted it to, this would’ve been a great example that the world can use when it comes to blindly following traditions without actually thinking if the tradition made sense or not and then realizing the truth of the traditions in the world we have now. I believe this would have made a bigger impact to the story and no more people have to end their lives

Throughout the story, some community members realize Miss Strangeworth is a bitter and insensitive old woman, whose intentions to rid of evil backfire and end up creating more trouble for her. Firstly, Miss Strangeworth writes insensitive and harsh letters to community members, writing letters to her neighbors with her unwanted opinions. Miss Strangeworth writes a letter to the same young couple that asks for her guidance, “DIDN’T YOU EVER SEE AN IDIOT CHILD BEFORE? SOME PEOPLE JUST SHOULDN’T HAVE CHILDREN, SHOULD THEY?”(3). Here, Miss Strangeworth expresses her harsh words to the young couple about their child. She feels like she is giving them the right advice to raise a child and rid evil from her community, but her harsh words are hurting her neighbors and creating more trouble for them. Secondly, Miss Strangeworth feels like she is ridding her town of evil and is the only saviour for the community. Miss Strangeworth thinks it’s her “duty to keep her town alert…there were so many wicked people in the world” (3). Miss Strangeworth thinks of herself as the only one attempting to prevent evil as there is too much evil in the world now days. She feels as if she is doing her job and there is nothing wrong with what she is doing. Lastly, as Miss Strangeworth thinks very highly of her

1.) The ending did not surprise me; I think it may have if we hadn’t discussed it in class. I think I would have been very surprised and confused, if I hadn’t known the ending prior to reading it.

In my opinion, the ending wasn’t satisfying. It wasn’t satisfying because I was expecting a little bit more. For example, when the whole entire band shaved their hair I was surprised. But, I was wondering as to why the girls didn’t do it as well, I was hoping that they’d shave their hair as well. Also, when Jeffery got sick and Steven couldn’t perform, but in the end he received an award for his drums. But, he didn’t even perform and he got the award, I thought that it was unfair for the other people that played the instruments. Also, when Steven went to Sam and she died I was heartbroken. So, I would’ve kept her alive, I would have let her meet her sister. I would let them have a reunion, then later on she would give some more advice to

Shirley Jackson states “I suppose you’ve got Don upset about that his daughter is already six months and hasn’t yet begun to learn to dance.Well apologize to her right now….she is prbley worried why you keep jumping around.”The way this quote supports the topic sentence is this shows the different side of Miss.Strangeworth. In shorter words the quotation means she is starting to get into other peoples buisness showing her different. Shirley Jackson says “STRANGEWORTH HOUSE engraved on the cheap news paper shop paper...it’s almost like a joke and Miss.Strangeworth writes on the letter SOME PEOPLE SHOULDN’T HAVE CHILDREN SHOULD THEY, then she goes to the post office just at sundown when it’s starting to get dark to deliver the letters and in the process she drops a letter and a little kid comes up and says this may be good news i’m going to take it to her.” Then once the town figured out who it was they sent her a letter saying,” LOOK AT WHAT USED TO BE YOUR ROSES.” These last two quotations show the other side of Miss.Strangeworth. The way these last two quotations show the topic sentence is true is that this shows the real Miss.Strangeworth. This paragraph shows the not innocent side of Miss.Strangeworth and what the town did because of

To begin with, Miss Strangeworth expresses her evil when disclosing written letters to various people anonymously. Miss Strangeworth comes upon a woman named Helen Crane who is upset about her baby being slow in the stages of development. In response to the lady being upset, Miss Strangeworth claims, “Nonsense. All babies are different. Some of them develop much more quickly than others” (Jackson 3). Meanwhile, Miss Strangeworth composes a letter addressed to Helen Crane stating, “Didn’t you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn’t have children, should they?” (Jackson 4). This is significant as it reveals her harshness in the letter. She is being hypocritical and discourteous leading to an act of cruelty by being offensive to Helen speaking

In contrast to Miss Strangeworth and Teddy’s power and status in their towns, the respect and value of voice in their own lives are unsimilar. Miss Strangeworth is highly respected in her life, as she is quite old and carries wisdom. Everyone knows who she is and turns to wave while she is on her morning walk to the store. When she comes to the grocery store, “half a dozen people turn away from the shelves and the

The town of Salem which accommodates the characters in The Crucible is made up of individuals with personal flaws; these flaws act as contributing factors to the tragic events which take place in Salem. Many of the characters hold personal flaws such as anger and seek revenge while using the trials to play out their own personal vendettas. Others are selfish and use the trials to gain rewards, improve their reputation, or earn protection. While the inner flaws of such characters contribute to their downfall and lead to their death, there may be many outside forces beyond the control of these characters which play a major role in their defeat. John Proctor can be identified as the tragic hero of The Crucible.

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

Instead, a fluffier fairytale ending is added. Connie is saved from her fated murder and returned to her family. Despite the alterations Joyce Carol Oates commented that she thought, “the film was extremely well done”.

The ending of the book was very disappointing to me. I really enjoyed reading about how his mother was in pure denial and wanted to keep her son near her forever and how his father knew how hard it would be but he also knew that