Similarities Between The Possibility Of Evil And Lamb To The Slaughter

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 author uses the characters in the story as a big climax, to show evil throughout the text. The two stories are very different and are very much the same all at once and they both play big parts with the main points using the characters. Lamb to the slaughter is written by Roald Dahl and The possibility of evil is written by shirley jackson. The characters in the stories play dramatic parts in the story, to make the story interesting.

People’s personalities are not always what they seem. That is the case in Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility of Evil.” The main character is an elderly woman who seems sweet and kind; however, she reveals that she is not sweet and kind. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her.

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 Roald Dahl’s short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” , Mary Maloney murders her husband, a detective, after he declares that he is leaving her. Mary then has to cover her tracks or else she and her unborn child will be killed. Throughout the story, Mary’s character changes from loving wife to cold killer and back again based on her situation.

First and foremost, the two authors have characters in their stories that represent some kind of evil. In “The Possibility of Evil”, Miss Strangeworth writes extremely rude and unconventional letters anonymously to many of the other townspeople. She is attempting to stop what she think could potentially evil. She herself is evil because she does not have to write her letters with a mean tone. She may be the main character, but she is still the antagonist. In “The Veldt”, the children of George and

Looks deceive, will we ever truly be able to identify the genuine from the fraudulent? “Sometimes the man who looks happiest in town, with the biggest smile, is the one carrying the biggest load of sin. There are smiles and smiles; learn to tell the dark variety from the light” (Bradbury 135). Written in 1962, Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes is a fantasy fiction novel which depicts the mysterious experience two teenage boys encounter one October night in Green Town, Illinois. Within Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury utilizes symbolism of the carousel in order to reveal the primary theme:beware of even the most innocent things, for they can be so nefarious.

The narrator in Louise Erdrich’s The Strange People is characterized as a doe, a “lean gray witch” (i, 20) and finally, a “shadowy body.”(i, 25) Her own actions ultimately trigger this transformation, and are further emphasized through three jarring shifts within the poem. Despite portraying the narrator as prey in the beginning, she is not faultless. By placing double meanings on the word “burning,” (i, 6) it allows the self-destructive actions of the narrator to be evident. Also, by juxtaposing the cold and warmth described in the poem, the reasoning behind the doe’s self-destructive actions is explained, and ultimately paints her in a more nuanced light. Even so, her self-destructive actions highlight the consequences resulting from her attempt at self-preservation. She transforms into a “lean gray witch” to save herself, and yet it destroys her self-identity. The poem exposes the bleak yet nuanced consequences of destructive desires and self-preservation, and how even when necessary and justified, leads to the unfortunate loss of one’s identity.

Short stories everywhere all have exceptional ideas, and deep plots. They are able to share plots of murder and irony, or even love and romance. The stories The Gift of the Magi,by O.Henry, and Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, both have great plots, author's craft, and symbolism. One, about two lovers who cannot afford a Christmas gift, and will sacrifice it all for love, and another, about a murder, and its cover up. While both stories are compelling to readers, The Gift of the Magi is the better story when compared to each other because of its symbolism, imagery and is able to identify with readers.

In this essay I will examine how the monster’s looks and actions reflect the predominant cultural feelings that those who look different are bad, evil or incapable of normal feelings. That somehow because one may look different from the rest of us there must be something emotionally as well as physically wrong with them.

The topic of appearance and judgment is greatly exemplified in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as it becomes apparent that

Authors use characterization to develop the actions of the characters. Like Mary’s actions in ‘The Lamb to the Slaughter’ by using different kinds of literature devices. Roald Dahl in "The Lamb to the Slaughter" uses characterization, imagery, and irony to develop the character of Mary so that the reader can understand what has occurred during the murder.

Is someone’s appearance an accurate definition of who they are? Do people’s circumstances affect the way they interact with themselves and others? Are we products of our environments? Arguably, it is human nature to be shaped and formed by our surroundings, to be changed by our environments in ways that we may not expect. The same can be seen in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Psycho, a film directed by the renowned Alfred Hitchcock. The basis of both stories is the duality of the mind, and how society molds the alter personality. Thus, in both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Psycho, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alfred Hitchcock use diction and symbolism to illustrate how society shapes an individual’s mind, leading to the creation of two personalities.

Often, writers depict a story from the perception of a character, or they describe the idea of change in the views of the character. In “Young Goodman Brown” the main character believes that he has seen a satanic conversion and no longer believes in the goodness of the people in his community. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Jane’s obsessive behavior causes her mental degradation. ”Finally, in “The Open Boat” the men are forced to turn to their survival instincts and solely focus on the boat. The distortion in these works all stems from the repetitive occurrence of some symbol as inherently evil. So this distortion becomes the greatest conflict that the main characters must face. Distortion allows for the manifestation of an effect of evil on the character without physical changes; thus, distortion is a mental change of the dynamic characters that are portrayed in each short story.

Beauty and prejudice have become commonplace in today’s society; the tiring cycle of living up to impossible beauty standards and facing the constant criticism of one’s image seems never-ending. However, this incessant obsessiveness over image has been around for thousands of years. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, a prominent struggle between beauty and hideousness occurs throughout the book. Shelley uses the motif of undesirable appearances and the constant praise of beauty throughout Frankenstein to establish the theme of prejudice.