“The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson is an educational story as it considers the elements with its descriptive writing and a smooth plot. It is a carefully written piece of literature with only the necessary idea. The educational theme grabs the reader’s attention with perfect writing skills. Jackson carefully uses elements such as irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism that creates suspense for the plot. The only weakness with this story is it’s inability to illustrate minor characters. In fact it is hard to recall the names or the characteristics of these minor characters. The story takes place in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else. It revolves around an old woman named Miss. Strangeworth. She has lived in this small town her whole life on Pleasant Street in her ancestral home. In fact, in the story it sounds like Miss Strangeworth’s family may have started the town. Miss Strangeworth loves her little town and believes that her roses and her …show more content…
When she drops one of the letters that she wrote, she doesn’t even realize it. A reader like me can conclude that it is only a matter of time – Miss Strangeworth will be caught. If getting caught, would have shown how self-centered Miss Strangeworth is, we would have never known the wrong she had done with her letters – especially when one letter came back and exposed her. Even if Miss Strangeworth was not self-centered, she would not have sent letters to people, but would have ended up harming them anyways. It seems like being judgmental is makes a person distant from people who care. It’s not something to be proud of – people will just end up being distant. Miss Strangeworth is very opinionated – someone who has a strong opinion on the town as a whole. Being judgmental – means being correct and that there will be no
Little Entitlement, Big Blindness In the short story “The Possibility of Evil”, Shirley Jackson enunciates the point that a sense of entitlement ,no matter where it comes from, it gives a false perspective about the world and ourselves and horrible events may come of it. Initially, the audience can be aware of Miss Strangeworth’s sense of entitlement can be generated from even the littlest of things. The point can be proven this by using this quote in the story “ My grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street,” she would say [...] "This house, right here. "My family has lived here for better than a hundred years.
“Miss Strangeworth is a familiar fixture in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. Little do the townsfolk suspect, though, that the dignified old woman leads another, secret life…”. A secret life can be evil or good, in Miss Strangeworth’s case it is suitable, but do others appreciate this secret life. In The Possibility of Evil Shirley Jackson illustrates inner thinking, revealing action, and symbolism to show how Miss Strangeworth tends the people like her roses, but truly state's them evil.
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
Identify the author’s purpose (supported with text evidence). The author’s purpose is to make the statement that deep beneath all of us there is an element of evil. He used innocent schoolboys and by the end of the book three kids were dead and only one kid which was being hunted down ( Chapter 12) was sane by the time they were being rescued. Choose three characters (major or minor) and provide a brief commentary on each.
The story “The flowere” by Alice Walker is about a young girl named Mayop who sudden fall from innocence. Myop is happy and carefree as she skips around her family playing with the animals. She does not look beyond her free comfortable childhood. She decides to explore the woods as she had done many times with her mother in late autumn while gathering nuts. The setting of the story is in natural, outdoor surroundings, where most of the event occur.
The notion that she owns the town, trying to perfect it, and being deceptive while doing it are all traits that will get Miss Strangeworth in trouble. These traits are all things that lead to the downfall of Miss Strangeworth's roses. Trying to perfect other people is generally not taken well by others, they feel judged, as they are. This story shows why a book should never be judged by the cover, because there are often secrets hiding in the
The world she lived in was so ugly and plain and she choose to “create beauty in the midst of [all that] ugliness" (62). This helps to create the theme because even though Miss Lottie had so little she still worked hard to care for the beautiful marigolds. In “Marigolds” the author uses diction, symbolism and point of view, to develop the theme that people can create beauty even in the poorest of situations. Through diction, Collier is able to show the reader the contrast between the beauty of the marigolds compared to the run-down town the story is set in.
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.
Often times, literary works can easily distinguish between a good character or an evil character. Other times, a character can be very complex, which makes it difficult to characterize the character as good or evil. This complex character complex is known as Moral Ambiguity. In other words, readers are discouraged from identifying a character as purely good or evil. One particular character that can be views as morally ambiguous is a woman named Edna Pontellier.
Is Ms. Strangeworth a victim OR villain In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” written by Shirley Jackson, the protagonist Ms. Strangeworth is a villain because she isn’t what everyone’s aspect of her is, she is very deceptive, and the letters she sends are the very cause of the evil she’s trying to stop. Ms. Strangeworth is a seventy-one-year-old lady who lives in a little town, which she thinks is her own. She always feels the need to know everything, about everyone. Even though, no one knows who she really is.
Power, the ability to maintain control, command, or authority over others can often be determined by one’s reputation and his or her persuasiveness. This principle is displayed within The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, in which follows the town of Salem, Massachusetts attempting to navigate through a “Witchcraft” outbreak supposedly lead by the Devil. Within such a theocratic society such as Salem, the Devil is often associated with death, fear, and uncertainty. While his name alone is often believed to be able to influence others in to following through in certain actions. The Devil, as a key figure behind the immense “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” due to his infamous reputation and his ability to control characters’ actions.
Literature 1 Michael Arroyo August 28, 2015 4th Period “As Simple As Snow” by Gregory Galloway “As Simple as Snow” is a mystery novel made in 2005 that may confuse people’s minds with all the art, magic, codes, and love while reading. As a teen age boy who wants to find the secrets his girlfriend who left behind all these mysteries after her odd disappearance. It also tells about the lost gothic girl, Anna Cayne, who meets the young high-school aged narrator. Throughout the postcards, a shortwave radio, various CDs, and many other irregular interest.
She judges other people to make herself feel more superior and normal and to hide her true character. Later on as Miss Brill observes a young couple, “the hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father’s yacht” (p.188), she comes to the realization of who she truthfully is. This wholly destroys Miss Brill, causing her to change her typical plans and go home in grief, “But to-day she passed the baker’s by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room-her room like a cupboard… she unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying” (Mansfield 189). Terry White sums up the story of “Miss Brill” by writing, “Like the insidious illness that seems to be creeping to life inside her, Miss Brill is abruptly forced to confront the reality that her imagination seeks to escape”(White)
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. Being obnoxious means extremely unpleasant and Charles was just that in this short story. Charles possesses the trait obnoxious because all the children in the class were trying to listen to the story while the teacher would be unable to read due to the noise.
It is common knowledge that first impressions often last even after an individual has been acquainted with said person for a long period of time (Austin 2015). Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, portrays a reoccurring sense of preconceived perceptions of various characters throughout the story, resulting in many misunderstandings among relationships between them. The main character, Elizabeth Bennet, mistakenly judges Fitzwilliam Darcy and George Wickham based on her prejudice and inaccurate conceptions. Darcy also misjudges and wrongly perceives one of the key characters, Elizabeth as an inferior rather than an equal, due to his arrogance and vanity. Hence, the fixed notions depicted in the beginning of the novel, mainly by Elizabeth and Darcy, influence the various relationships between characters prompting the progression of the storyline.