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Criticism of Shirley Jackson
Criticism of Shirley Jackson
Criticism of Shirley Jackson
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“The Possibility of Evil” is a story about a strange woman named Miss Strangeworth. Her life is about thinking of all the bad in the world and writing anonymous letters to fix it. In “The Possibility of Evil”, by Shirley Jackson, the author uses dialogue, symbolism, and inner thinking to show how Miss Strangeworth thinks of evil in the world. Jackson uses dialogue to illustrate what the townspeople think of Miss Strangeworth, raising the stakes if Miss Strangeworth ever gets found out. The townspeople act very nice when they talk to Miss Strangeworth. This shows that the townspeople may not know what Miss Strangeworth does in her free time. This is important because she to deal with someone knowing she is sending her letters at the end. In the text, the Harris boy says, “She dropped a letter addressed to Don Crane. Might as well take it on over.” This shows that the Harris boy doesn’t know that the letter is a letter that stops evil. This is important because in the morning, Miss Strangeworth realises someone figured she was sending the letters. The author tries to do other things to make the story more interesting. …show more content…
Jackson uses symbolism to show how the roses motivate Miss Strangeworth.
The smell of the roses soothe Miss Strangeworth when she writes her letters. This shows that the roses let her continue working on her letters peacefully. This is important because if she didn’t have the roses, she might've stopped working on her letters and realise how bad they were. Also, at the end, the text states in a letter back to Miss Strangeworth, “LOOK OUT AT WHAT USED TO BE YOUR ROSES”. This shows that Miss Strangeworth has grown too attached to the roses and now she seems to not care about anything but them. This is important because if her motivation is “injured”, then she won’t realise that she has been hurting more people than them hurting her roses. There is one more thing that makes the story
interesting. The author uses inner thinking to show how and why Miss Strangeworth thinks of the world as evil. The text states “Many people seemed disturbed, Miss Strangeworth thought.” This shows that Miss Strangeworth sees the very bad of things all around her. This is important because sadness and worry is caused by the evil Miss Strangeworth is thinking of. Miss Strangeworth’s letters explain the fact that she writes in a different way than she talks. This shows that Miss Strangeworth thinks that every single bit of badness deserves a letter. This is important because the way she writes her letters reflect what is truly in her heart: a jerk. In total, the Miss Strangeworth is the evil, not the normal things that happen everyday that seem to be evil. The author of “The Possibility of Evil”, Shirley Jackson, uses three types of techniques to make her story more interesting. She uses dialogue to show what other people think of Miss Strangeworth. She uses symbolism to illustrate Miss Strangeworth’s motivation. Finally, she uses inner thinking to explain how and why Miss Strangeworth writes her letters. In total, Jackson uses many craft moves to enhance her story.
First, Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does. Miss Strangeworth is a very passionate person. She is very passionate about her grandfather, because he built the house Miss Strangeworth lives in, and also a large percentage of the town. In the story, she says this, “My grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street”, she would
In stories, character complexly is a esential. The Shirley Jackson story “The Possibility of Evil” tells the story of a seventy-one year women named Miss Strangeworth. She’s an unusual character that stems off from status quo. Though it doesn’t mean she completely unique. Regardless, her desires, contrasting traits, consistency, and the ability to change make Mrs.Strangeworth a complex character.
The hidden secret of Miss Strangeworth leaves everyone speechless. Within the short story “The Possibility of Evil” written by Shirley Jackson, the main character, Miss Strangeworth, has a secret that no one would have expected for a seemingly nice elderly lady. In Miss Strangeworth’s down time, she secretly writes cruel and inconsiderate letters to people within her town. These actions would label Miss Strangeworth as a bully. The unbearable letters she writes, the way she goes about them, and her love and dedication for writing them proves that she is very much a bully.
People are like pieces of various, mind-blowing art projects; they come in all shapes and sizes, and some are more detailed than others. Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Possibility of Evil”, provides a specific example in one character. Miss Strangeworth is introduced, and she can be described as arrogant, outgoing, and meddlesome. 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.
In the short story "The Possibility of Evil",by Shirley Jackson, Miss. Strangeworth appears to be a normal old woman that is highly respected among the town, but we soon realize that she has a dark side. She writes letters to people telling them things that are mere suspicion, but have negative consequences to their lives. These events in the plot show the theme that anyone can have the capacity of being evil.
In the short story “The Possibility of Evil,” Shirley Jackson uses several symbols to tell the story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol she uses consist of the roses that Miss Strangeworth treasures. The roses represent the love and perfection of Miss Strangeworth. As we know, Miss Strangeworth believes that the world is horrible and unclean and that she is the only perfect person. She loves her roses dearly which emphasizes her needs for everything to be perfect just like her. She values her roses so much because only she takes care of them making them a symbol of perfection and becomes one of the items that Miss Strangeworth loves and sees as superior to other roses. Another symbol Jackson uses compose of Pleasant Street, the street that
Another factor that clearly brings out the theme is the fact that she claims that orderliness of family roses is her pride. However she may not necessarily be that orderly as depicted in the development of that story. The author of the story Shirley Jackson uses the author and her ambiguous cha...
Shirley Jackson has a creative way of writing her short stories and uses a surplus of literary devices to make us readers feel how she wishes. For instance in both short stories “The Possibility Of Evil” and “The
One of the ways this is achieved is by using an exterior appearance to deceive ones true morals for an intriguing motive. This is seen through the character of Miss. Strangeworth the main character in "The Possibility of Evil" appearing to be a sweet old lady however, she is not what she seems. Her deceiving exterior is seen when the narrator states "Walking down Main street on a summer morning, Miss. Strangeworth had to stop every minute or so to say good morning to someone or to ask after someone 's health (Jackson 1). This quote illustrates Miss. Strangeworth uses her
She presents two contradictory images of society in most of her fiction: one in which the power and prevalence of evil seem so deeply embedded that only destruction may root it out, and another in which the community or even an aggregate of individuals, though radically flawed, may discover within itself the potential for regeneration. (34)
Throughout the Possibility of Evil the theme is clearly shown as looks can be deceiving. On the other hand, some people might interpret that the theme is that you should treat others as they treat you. However it’s only at the end when the townspeople figure out that she is the one sending the letters which shows that karma only comes into play at the end of the story, while the looks can be deceiving is shown throughout the whole story. By showing Miss Strangeworth as a gentle old lady at first and then slowly showing her true colors, Shirley Jackson illustrates the theme that looks can be deceiving.
While literature often follows some pattern and can be predictable, it is often evolving and can change in an instant depending on the author. In most Gothic literature, a derivative of Romanticism, there is a gothic space in the work – a limited space in which anything can happen in contrast to the normal world in the work. In addition, normally, order is restored at the end of Gothic literature – the good is rewarded and the bad is punished. In his Gothic novella, The Terrible Vengeance (1981), Nicolai Gogol decided to expand the ‘normal’ idea of Gothic literature by, in the work, transforming the traditional Gothic space to encompass anything and everything; in addition to the use of space, through the ending in which there is no reward, Gogol conveyed the idea that evil is prevalent everywhere and in everyone.
The conclusion of “ The Possibility of Evil” is you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Everyone in the town thought Miss Strangeworth was a sweet little old lady, but in the end they find out Miss Strangeworth is evil, because she wrote all those mean letters to
Throughout the life of Emily Grierson, she remains locked up, never experiencing love from anyone but her father. She lives a life of loneliness, left only to dream of the love missing from her life. The rose from the title symbolizes this absent love. It symbolizes the roses and flowers that Emily never received, the lovers that overlooked her.
First, Jackson begins by establishing the setting. She tells the reader what time of day and what time of year the story takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what a typical day it is in this small town. The time of day is set in the morning and the time of year is early summer. She also describes that school has just recently let out for summer break, letting the reader infer that the time of year is early summer. The setting of the town is described by the author as that of any normal rural community. Furthermore, she describes the grass as "richly green" and that "the flowers were blooming profusely" (196). These descriptions of the surroundings give the reader a serene felling about the town. Also, these descriptions make the reader feel comfortable about the surroundings as if there was nothing wrong in this quaint town.