Miss Strangeworth's Roses In The Possibility Of Evil By Shirley Jackson

In the short story, Adela’s house is described to be kept like a museum. At Miss Strangeworth’s house “every window sparkled, every curtain hung stiff and straight, and even the stones of the front walk were swept and clear” (Jackson, 1941, p.168). Not only did Adela keep her house tidy, she also tended to her roses outside. Miss Strangeworth’s grandmother had planted the roses, and Adela continues to look after them. Adela keeps many roses throughout the house as well. Miss Strangeworth is pleased with the way her house and belongings are kept tidy and “[Adela] [is] fond of doing things exactly right” (Jackson, 1941, p.169). Miss Strangeworth has a compulsive personality, and becomes obsessive about everything being in the right

Pleasant Street seemed to be Miss Strangeworth’s play house because she thought she owned the place, at least Strangeworth thought so. Meanwhile on the inside she is evil and thinks she is at the top of the town’s hierarchy. In fact she has a god complex. Miss Adela Strangeworth, a character in the short story “A Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, is a 71 year old who is thought by the townsfolk as a sweet puny lady but she is nothing but that. Because of the way Miss Strangeworth is, all horrible actions must have a consequence and she finds out the truth of that statement when her vintage old self turns into the evil lady that no one has seen before, and she realizes that she wants more control than she has, basically a god complex.

In the short story, “ The Possibility of Evil” author Shirley Jackson uses several symbols in her story. The symbols were used to tell her story about an old lady named Ms. Strangeworth. Three main symbols used through the story where her roses, the letters, and Ms. Strangeworth herself. In the beginning of the story the author tells us about how important the roses were to Ms. Strangeworth. The roses were passed down from generation to generation, she inherited them. When you think of roses you think of romance, but Ms. Strangeworth was single and didn’t think of romance. The roses were her children she cared for them like a mother would do a child. They represented something bigger to her, we understand family inheritance is special but the

In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” written by Shirley Jackson the main protagonist, Miss Adela Strangeworth demonstrates multiple traits of her complex personality through her actions, thoughts and the way she communicates. A couple of these traits that are significant to her character are insensitivity and masquerading.

The Mower Against Gardens is one of four "mower" poems from author Andrew Marvell. The poem describes the capacity of mankind to destroy and manipulate nature. Marvell 's poem is deceiving, to first glace the poem appears to be non-stanzaic but is has hidden stanzas from lines 1-18 and 19-36. The division of the poem in such a way is strategic, the stanzas have a specific build, making the poem more structured and effective. Throughout the poem there are many poetic devices used, such as iambic pentameter and tetrameter, repetition and rhyming, as well as imagery. The author composed the poem in such a way that it is dulcet to read. The message within the poem is evident because of the Metaphors of nature and the destruction of mankind. Andrew

“Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between.” (Lee 278). When it comes to the topic of flowers, most of us will readily agree that they represent development, growth, beauty and happiness. For instance, Roses are known for signifying love and deep passion while Lotus flowers are known for purity of the heart. Nonetheless, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee utilizes flowers to symbolize the strength and character that women of Maycomb possess.

She uses symbolism to express how Miss Strangeworth compares the people like her roses but treats them differently in a cruel way. For example, on page 1,“Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses, although the tourists often asked her. The roses belonged on Pleasant Street, and it bothered Miss Strangeworth to think of people wanting to carry them away, to take them into strange towns and down strange streets.” In other words The roses are the symbol that represents the story. Miss Strangeworth loves them and tends them as much as her citizens in the town. When letters get around, the street isn’t so pleasant anymore. On page 7, “She began to cry silently for the wickedness of the world when she read the words: LOOK OUT AT WHAT USED TO BE YOUR ROSES.”

A literary analysis on who is the narrator: The Narrator in A Rose for Emily is First Person Plural

In William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, Emily Grierson, a prominent member of her small town, dies alone in her home. Upon her death, curious townsfolk entered her home trying to learn her secrets. It was thought she was crazy. Emily Grierson was not crazy; she was isolated by her father, which led to her odd social tendencies and unique interactions with others. A Rose for Emily is a short story based in a small town. The narrator focuses a lot on Emily Grierson after her death. The narrator said multiple times they believed she wasn’t crazy. However, their actions proved to show the opposite.

In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner portrays the main character as a mysterious icon of the small town of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the story states, Emily’s father is an admirable figure in the city of Jefferson. After his passing, the townspeople show the same respect for Emily, as well. In many situations, the people within the town notice Miss Emily’s odd behavior, but they choose to maintain peace with her instead of helping her when she clearly needs it the most. However, this need to preserve the respectful image of Miss Emily ultimately leads to her emotional breakdown of isolation and

In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell her story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol Shirley uses in the short story is Miss Strangeworth’s roses. She devotes herself to the roses more than anything and will take care of them, letting no one take any and keeping them beautiful. They endure more meaning than just plain flowers, they consist of memories, they hold a place ever since Miss Strangeworth’s grandfather built the house she currently lives in. The roses persisted of the care by Miss Strangeworth’s grandmother, mother, and now by her. The roses continues for generations, very similar to a family possession. Another symbol she uses is the street name in which Miss Strangeworth lives

In the short story The “Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell how these specific things represents Ms. Strangeworth’s character. For instance, Ms. Strangeworth contains a garden full of roses, these roses mean the absolute world to her. Ms. Strangeworth treats her roses as if they were her children. She tends to them daily and make sure that they never enter harm's way. Another symbol Jackson used for Ms. Strangeworth, the letters she wrote to the citizens of Pleasant Street. When Ms. Strangeworth writes these letters she claims that she is trying to keep Pleasant Street clean. In a way Ms. strangeworth sees herself as God, she thinks she should control everything. Jackson used Ms. Strangeworth house to represent

An example to how people would treat Miss Strangeworth’s evil side, can be shown through Don Crane’s actions at the end of the short story. “Her hand did not shake as she opened the envelope… she read the words: Look out at what used to be your roses (6)”. This implies that Don Crane destroys Miss Strangeworth’s most prized possession which reveals to readers that almost anyone in the town that would find out about Miss Strangeworth’s secret letters would go to the extreme to have revenge. However when compared to how people treat her nice side, “When she came into the grocery, half a dozen people turned away from the shelves and counters to wave to her or call out good morning (2)” The townspeople's actions are now completely different towards her than before. Readers are able to see a direct comparison between the other characters actions towards Miss Strangeworth’s two different personalities. The interaction between Miss Strangeworth and a character that shows her good intentions would be, “as long as evil existed unchecked in the world, it was Miss Strangeworth's duty to keep her town alert to it.” This shows that by sending her anonymous letters to everyone in town Miss Strangeworth believes that she is helping them stay alert to all of the evil that is in the world. In reality though the other characters in the story truly don’t agree with Miss Strangeworth’s

Miss Strangeworth is not the kind of little old lady you would expect. In the short story “The Possibility of Evil” by, Shirley Jackson, Miss Strangeworth’s family has lived in one town for all their lives and have passed on their house with the special roses on generation to generation. Living alone now, she feels as though she is the only one to keep the evil out of her town . Adela Strangeworth is a deceptively friendly, controlling, and obsessively perfect 71 year old spinster.

In the William Faulkner novel" A Rose for Emily," we can see evidence of Southern Gothic. Southern Gothic shows the tale of a crumbling landscape, racial tension, and southern traditions.