The Possibility of Evil

Miss Adela Strangeworth talks to everyone in her town as she passes them . (citation ) The reasons that she talks to everyone is so that she can get information about . Miss Adela wants to know about want everyone in her town is up to because she wants to keep her town pure .When she would talk to the people in her town

The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is often associated with a various number of themes such as racism, social inequality, the importance of family values, and much more. But one of the more hidden messages of the book centers around the idea that there is a coexistence of good and evil. This theme is really brought to life the more the reader is able to understand the book. Through sub themes such as coming of age, perspective, and intense characterization of many important characters the idea of good and evil is really brought to light.

As long as evil existed unchecked in the town, it was Miss Strangeworth's duty to keep her town in check.In the story, “The Possibility of Evil”,by Shirley Jackson,the author addresses the ideas of a lady who writes letters to people telling them their evil in hope of them changing without the person knowing it is her who is writing the letters.Miss Strangeworth’s has a lot of characteristics,there’s only three that I would be able to describe her as organized,clever,and cruel.

In ‘’The Possibility of Evil’’, Miss Adela Strangeworth is depicted as a villain. Miss Strangeworth in fact is similar to a rose, a rose is a simple flower that looks angelic but has thorns that can prick someone and cause harm. Miss Strangeworth gives the illusion of a 71 year-old lady that can cause no harm and has a heart of gold that cares and worries for everyone. But behind the pretty picture, is a villainous woman who is controlling, bullies the other townspeople, and is jealous of others success.

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.

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

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.

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

First of all I think that Miss Strangeworth is the worst character of all the characters Adela, an old lady, finds pleasure in writing letters to remind people evil is everywhere (Appositive phrase). She is the reason for the whole town having problems with each other. This is because she writes letters to the town in private, discussing problems with people and what is wrong with them. This causes a lot of problems within the community and distrust, ”She had been writing her letters sometimes two or three every day for a week, sometimes no more than once a month, for the past year. She never had gotten any answers, of course, because she had never signed her name” (Jackson 194). She interferes with the community by judging people with her letters, and she even knows that this is wrong because the fact that she writes her letters in private and only sends them when it is late at night so no one can see her. That just shows that she may pretend like she does not know what she is doing, but really she does know that sending those letters is hurting the people around her, because she writes them in private, and sends them anonymously. (Jackson 186-198)

In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility of Evil”, Miss Adela Strangeworth lives in this small town on Pleasant Street. She is a nice old lady who everybody loves,but she’s more than nice she’s evil. She seems to be a good person, but she’s not. She walks by the townspeople smiling ,but started writing evil letters about the people and sending the letters ruining the town people’s lives. They don’t know who is sending the letters,but Miss.Strangeworth wrote these letters out of pride which shows how evil she really is. The theme of the story is that there is the possibility of evil in anyone.

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

The beginning of the story portrays Miss Strangeworth as a sweet old lady who cares about her town and everyone in it. As the story progresses, MissStrangeworth begins to demonstrate different characteristics that pull her farther and farther away from the image that she portrays at the start of the story. Miss Strangeworth from “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson is a 71 year old woman who believes that she holds responsibly to rid her town of evil. Miss Strangeworth will do anything to ensure the people in her town and the town itself, are safe. Within the short story, “The Possibility of Evil” Miss Strangeworth demonstrates that she is a proud, cautious and sarcastic individual.

The logical problem of evil is often referred to as the inconsistent triad, this being that the following propositions; God is omnipotent, omnibenevolent and evil exists, are inconsistent. Also known as a reduction ad absurdum argument, whereby all three propositions cannot be true together. Theists, like Swinburne, come to the conclusion that the three propositions are compatible with one another, whereas atheists, like Mackie, believe that they are incompatible and therefore God does not exist. I shall be arguing in line with Swinburne’s view, describing the following defenses, indicating that there is no logical problem of evil.

Ten children are killed every day in the United States by guns; people are murdered senselessly; Columbine High School; Over one-third of middle school children in Cascade County have used illegal drugs and over one-half have tried alcohol; innocent people in foreign countries are being wiped out (Kosovo); The Holocaust; Hiroshima; Vietnam; poverty, starvation and oppression in third world countries; Capitalism; environmental decay and neglect; the media; Oklahoma City; the uni-bomber; earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, airplane crashes; domestic/child abuse; disease, birth defects and mental disorders. Why?Why?Why?… The question never changes and is asked over and over and over and