Adela Strangeworth Character Analysis

The character Miss Strangeworth in the literature “The Possibility of Evil” in inconsiderate and a perfectionist. She is inconsiderate because of her thoughts and actions. For example, Miss Strangeworth thinks this “Miss Strangeworth noticed that Miss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and sighed” (Jackson 112-114). This reveals how inconsiderate she is to others solely picking out their imperfections. Miss Strangeworth is also a perfectionist who disdains imperfection or sloppiness. This shows clearly in this quote “Martha,” she said, “you don’t look well.” This is when she calls out Mrs. Harper for not seeming well, in public (Jackson 75). This is why Miss Strangeworth is an inconsiderate perfectionistic personality.

This shows that she is envious of the family because they provide each other with company and they love each other, “ most infatuated young parents she had ever known”. Whereas Miss Strangeworth lives all alone. In short, these letters have proved that since she is jealous of her victims she tries to disrupt their way of living so she can feel superior. Also as a person is immersed with jealousy they can be blinded by their actions because they are solely focused on torturing their victims they too can become the victim of their actions. If she had not been jealous and kept to herself, she would still have her roses and the respect of the

When small, happy towns are pictured, most people imagine generous townspeople who act like a community. On the contrary, Pleasant Street in the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, may come across as a delightful town, until more of the truth is revealed. Miss Adela Strangeworth comes off as a sweet, old lady, but as the story continues, readers will encounter that Miss Strangeworth is not the character that was portrayed at the beginning. Adela is a deceptive, obsessive, and oblivious woman who is well known throughout the town.

If I could choose a character as my friend from the book Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters, it would be Zana Badawa. She is a very strong-minded individual who will do anything for her religion. Moreover, I adore the way Zana stands up for her beliefs and won't let anyone tell her otherwise. Furthermore, one might get annoyed by her going though many changes, but I admire that. Her phrases show that she is confused, which makes her more relatable and easier to connect with. Zana appears as an introvert, but when she talks, its always with insight. You don't know what to expect from her, and her ideas are like a breath of fresh air. It's not the everyday, same story type of thing and I commend her for that. Moreover, she has this shroud

Although she doesn’t see that she is being evil. Strangeworth is a wonderful lady that wants to warn every one of the dangers that are happening around people, but what she doesn’t understand is that she is the evil that is all around this wonderful. Miss Strangeworth thins that she runs the town and she needs to be the protector just because her “grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street” (Jackson, 1941, p. 163). Miss Strangeworth had the idea that she was at the top of a hierarchy and that she had to make sure that the town was safe and clean from the evil that was actually coming from her. She had written letters to people whom she thought she was trying to protect but the people that got the letters read them and took them differently and once they had discovered who the anonymous writer was they retaliated. At that moment Miss Adela Strangeworth knew that her reputation had started to

This story centers around Miss Strangeworth, who was raised and currently resides in the town built by her descendants. Miss Strangeworth is immensely prideful in her family's legacy and believes that the town belongs to her. As the last surviving family member, she feels it is her duty to “fix” all that is wrong in town and rid it from all of its evil by saying, “The town has to be kept clean and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded, and needed to be watched; the world was so large and there was only one Strangeworth left in it” (Jackson 178). Miss Strangeworth believes that she is the good amongst evil and it is her job to stop her evil neighbors in her town. Miss Strangeworth’s method of trying to “fix” the problems is by taking daily walks in town and observing the behavior of others. She then writes anonymous letters to the people she feels need assistance and has the letters mailed to their homes. The content of the letters varied; some were insensitive, degrading, or blatant lies. As Miss Strangeworth constructs her handwritten message, she feels pleased because she would not want to do anything else. Consequently, the actions of Miss Strangeworth cause the townspeople to feel anxious as well as animosity amongst each other. The townspeople have no idea who is fabricating the letters, which allow Miss Strangeworth to continue her crusade for a year. Eventually, Miss Strangeworth’s handwritten critiques of the townspeople become public. One evening, a teenage boy observes Miss Strangeworth delivering her notes at the post office. One of the letters fell onto the ground without Miss Strangeworth noticing. Instead of placing the letter into the mailbox, the boy delivers this message to the addressee, informing the recipient it came from Miss Strangeworth. The

The Grandmother is a well-dressed and a proper southern lady. She is also the center of action in the short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find". The grandmother seems very suspicious at first, and thinks her son Bailey will be forever small and has to abide by her rules. In her eyes she is never been wrong but knows it all. When we become up-close and personal with the grandmother we see that she's this bad person, which she appears to be old-fashioned, manipulative, and self-serving as a whole.

In the story, The Possibility of Evil, gives us the character Miss. Strangeworth, the eloquent woman as she is not afraid to say what she thinks but often holds back as she knows too much. Her thoughts wrap around to the thought of evil when someone does something she doesn’t approve of. On page 2, “Don and Helen Crane, were really the two most infatuated young parents she had ever known, she thought indulgently, looking at the delicately embroidered baby cap and the lace edged carriage cover. ‘That little girl is going to grow up expecting luxury all her life,’ she said to Helen Crane. Helen laughed. ‘That’s the way we want her to feel,’ she said. ‘Like a princess.’ ‘A princess can see a lot of trouble sometimes,’ Miss. Strangeworth said dryly.” That quote proves my idea that Miss. Strangeworth doesn’t care if what she says results in undermining someone else’s self-esteem or their pride. She has her own opinion and has no intention to change it. On page 6, it reads “‘Not anymore Dave, not anymore. You’re not to come near my house again; my father said so. He said he’d horsewhip you. That’s all I can tell you: You’re not to come near our house anymore.’ ‘But I didn’t do anything.’ ‘Just the same, my father said…’ Miss Strangeworth sighed and turned away. There was so much evil in people. Even in a charming little town like this one, there was still so much evil in people.” Miss. Strangeworth disagreed with the way the Harris boy and Linda Stewart, two kids in the town, and her thoughts ran to claiming evil in the world, and she believes her letters are healing the town and cleansing it of its unrighteousness. Miss. Strangeworth has opinions and a patent point of view and embellished in the fact she is respected by all and believes her work, the letters, are what is right for her

Albert Einstein once said “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.” Miss Strangeworth makes unethical decisions that supplemented to hurt feelings amongst the people in her town. Miss Strangeworth’s intentions are to shield the town’s people from evil while her external actions create her own form of evil. Miss Strangeworth corrupts the relationships of the other people in town toward one another and towards her. Truly, Miss Strangeworth assumed that the town people were corrupt and evil, but in reality Miss Strangeworth.

She acts in a caring manner to everyone’s face, but when she is alone, she becomes a heartless woman, determined to reveal what she knows. Miss Strangeworth is the one causing the distress in her community, yet she acts oblivious as to what is bothering everyone. She shows her extreme deceitfulness by attempting to ease Helen Crane’s concern about her child by saying “Nonsense… some of them develop… more quickly than others” (Jackson, 1941, p. 167). This is deceitful because she is aware that there is something different about the child and instead of voicing that, she consoles the mother, only to subsequently shatter her in an anonymous letter. Additionally, Miss Strangeworth cleverly utilizes the most common paper and envelops all townspeople use for her letters. This, and the fact that she mails them late in the evening is her devious way of avoiding being caught. She has plenty of cunning ways of avoiding suspicion, making deceitful the perfect word to describe

In the story "The Possibility Of Evil" written by Shirley Jackson there is a peculiar character called Miss Adela Strangeworth. She is an old women in a small town she has watched grow in her entire lifetime but she is less innocent than you'd think, in fact, she is a villainous women and shows how cruel and evil she is in many ways.

Strangeworth is no saint. She is an evil, nasty person. When she walks around town she plays nice to everyone. She asks about their day and makes pleasant small talk. Then she might see something she does not like or does not agree with entirely and that just sets her off. Yet she goes out of her way to interfere with other people’s business “[t]hat little girl is going to grow up expecting luxury all her

Like snakes some people go behind your back and bite you. Shirley Jackson’s story “The possibibility of Evil’ is a very weird but good story. The story’s about an older women who’s leaved in the town basically all her life but she is very judgemental person that writes mean letters to people. Miss Strangeworth characted can be analayzed by considering what she does,what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her.

In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” it says that “her letters dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion,” this not only proves that she would send multiple letters. This quote also gives you an idea of how Miss Strangeworth enjoyed gossip or talking about someone behind their back. Miss Strangeworth was writing letters to “The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet” it's ironic how she could say this when in reality she was doing all the evil of the town. The way Miss

The movie Pleasantville and the short story Possibility of Evil have both similarities and differences. Both works show how everyone, in every situation, is flawed in some shape or form. However they begin to show differences later on in their plots. The type of flaw that is portrayed is different for each story; one is uncontrollable while one is a choice. The two stories also have a different outcome; it rather ends with acceptance or with revenge. It is only by understanding both stories that one can decided which one is an example of differences or dysfunctions.