Character Analysis Of Miss Strangeworth In 'Her Town' By Shirley Jackson

Ronald Reagan once stated “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means”. In the passage “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, a story of how a young girl responds to conflict by staying optimistic. In “Dear Miss Breed”, written by Joanne Oppenheim, Japanese children of all ages write letters to Miss Breed that explain the conflicts that the individuals have and how the children overcome and resolve it. Others may say that the most effective way to respond to conflict is to stand up for what a person believes in, however, the best way that people can respond to a conflict is to have a positive outlook because it helps to not focus on the hardships in an individual’s life, alleviates stress, and affects other people 's attitude.

In the novel “An Old Fashioned Girl” by Louisa May Alcott, Polly Milton, a young country girl,

Typically, the "bad guy" is easy to spot. He wears black, sneaks around in the shadows, and intention is to destroy. But maybe evil is hidden where it is least expected. Sometimes the blindfold that people become so accustomed to, must be removed to see the true corruption. In Shirley Jackson's "The Possibility of Evil" and "The Lottery," the author shows that evil is not always lurking in the shadows, but rather, in plain sight with an excellent disguise.

Do you believe women can do things just as easily as men can? In the novel, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Charlotte Doyle becomes part of the crew on the ship, the Seahawk. For starters, Charlotte is very brave, she climbed the Royal Yard just to become part of the crew. She is also tough, her knife throwing skills are incredible! Additionally, Charlotte is a hard worker. She works her full hours and helped the ship survive the hurricane. Charlotte Doyle has the skills needed to become part of the crew.

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.

By all appearances, Miss Strangeworth is a sweet, old lady, living in a perfect, shiny, happy town. But appearances are not everything, especially in the case of Miss Adela Strangeworth of Pleasant Street. Miss Adela Strangeworth, a character in the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, is a 71-year-old spinster living in a small town in the 1940’s. At the beginning, she seems like any normal old lady, but it is quickly realized that this is not the case and that she has a dark side. Of the many traits that Miss Strangeworth possesses, the most prominent are her deceptiveness, perfectionism, and the god complex that has developed.

The author of this short story- Shirley Jackson begins the story by introducing Miss Adela Strangeworth as a sweet old lady “Miss Adela Strangeworth came daintily along Main Street on her way to the grocery.” And she pathetic fallacy to mimic nice mood “The sun was shining, the air was fresh and clear after the night’s heavy rain, and everything in Miss Strangeworth’s little town looked washed and bright. Shirley Jackson clearly wants the reader’s perspective on Miss Strangeworth to be pleasant,

Imagine being told as a female in today’s world you must look or act a ¬¬certain way in order to be accepted. Being what you want to be is not allowed and changes have to be made in order to be included. They say “pain is beauty, and beauty is pain” as they way a woman looks today are completely different from ten or even fifty years ago. In this paper, the reader will understand the mind of a woman in today’s society and the difficulties to be not only accepted but being her own person as well. Not only has the appearance of a woman changed but also role titles and job descriptions as well. Jane Martin’s play “Beauty” shows us two different versions of the problems women are facing current while living in today’s world and taking a walk in

Miss Strangeworth shows no mercy when she anonymously reveals secrets about the family and lives of people in her community. She has the option to politely confront people and gently tell them anything she deems necessary however, she chooses to write cruel, insensitive letters in secret. She demonstrates

Miss Moore shows a high level of confidence towards the children. While they may talk behind her back and make many rude gestures, she still stands up for herself and give the children a the guidance she feels they deserve. The story portrays a town that is full of unfortunate children. The children may not have been shown proper way to do things or the correct social skills in life. Miss Moore makes them work hard and shows them how a respectable adult should behave. Even the community sees her as a studious lady according to saying,

In Karen Russell's short story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, a pack of wolf-girls are sent to a church to transform them into human-girls. As they journey through their transformation there is a guide called, The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock that helps the nuns running St. Lucy’s. The book describes the transformation in stages to help determine the girls’ place as a human. Claudette, the narrator, arrives at St. Lucy’s with her pack to begin their transformation. She struggles through most of the stages, but succeeds in only a couple of them.

Character traits help shape a person into what they are, there are ways to change them and become a better person. In the short story Charles, written by Shirley Jackson, a boy named Charles possessed many different negative character traits in which some include being, obnoxious, dangerous, and disrespectful. Charles displayed immature and unnecessary trouble for all the students and teachers.

“To be human is to be beautifully flawed.”(Eric Wilson). All humans are flawed. That is what makes them human. Flaws sometimes are hurtful, but they make the character interesting. In most stories, all developing characters have flaws. Many problems are caused by a character’s personal flaw. They can also be what draws the reader in, and it can be what connects the reader to the character. A certain fatal flaw is the inability to let go. In the stories, “Helen on Eighty-Sixth Street”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “The Scarlet Ibis” all of the characters are related because of their inability to let go.

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

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