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Critique of The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson
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On pleasant street things are stranger than you think. In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson something odd goes on in Miss Strangeworth’s house. She is an elderly lady who gets along with everyone and is proverbial for her roses. Miss Strangeworth is a bitter, self-centered and deceiving character that shows through what she does, what the narrator says about her and how others communicate with her. On the outside Miss Strangeworth seems like a friendly lady, but underneath it all she is very bitter. Whenever she talks to people Miss Strangeworth is friendly to the other characters however if there is something wrong she will judge them about it. “Miss Strangeworth noticed that Miss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her
There is no doubt that Miss. Strangeworth is not an easy person to deal with, let alone live with, and although her character is fictional, there are many people with the same personality. We can tell quite easily that she is a very meticulous woman, with a lot of perfectionist tendencies, a few of which are to nitpick people’s lives and make sure that even the most minute detail is up to her standards. I know of someone with these attributes and as difficult as they are to deal with, with their list of requirements to be met and their eagle-eye for detail in even the smallest things, they mean the best, and are always trying to help, despite the possible repercussions.
In the short story “The Possibility Of Evil “ by Shirley Jackson was several symbols to tell her story about Miss Strangeworth. One symbol she uses is her name Strangeworth. She was a strange women but everyone thought she was normal and nice, but in reality she was mean and strange, she thought she was better than everyone else. Another symbol she uses is the letter Miss.Strangeworth sent to people. They mean more than just letters because they show how she really is, she is showing her true colors. Finally another symbol was her flowers, the flowers meant that she was better than anyone else. The flowers were fancy, Miss. Strangeworth thought she was elegant and polite . Certain symbols have certain meaning in today's culture because they
The story is center around a small cast. In it Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter Joy, who had her name changed to Hulga, live on a farm with their tenants Mrs. Freeman’s and her two daughters- Glynese and Carramae. Interestingly, Mrs. Hopewell calls the Freeman Girls, Glycerin and Caramel while refusing to call her own daughter anything but Joy. “Good County People”, is told through the interactions of this dysfunctional gaggle of ladies, and their chance encounter with the Bible selling con-artist Manley Pointer. It is a story of a few not so, “Good Country People.”
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.
A common theme of southern gothic writer’s such as William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connell is the disparities of social norms and social stratification; this is apparent in both A Good Man is hard to find and A Rose for Emily. Both portray interplay across generations which manifest itself as resistance of change in previous generations. The grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find and Emily in A Rose for Emily are largely parallel to one another in respect to the themes of the stories. Through subservient motifs as privilege, nostalgia, and irony the overarching theme of death is effectually portrayed in both A Good Man is Hard to Find and A Rose for Emily.
This story revolves around a character known as Miss Adela Strangeworth whose ancestral home is Pleasant Street which also happens to be the setup used to develop the story. However she is from the initial stages of the story portrayed as an old lady that is relatively calm and harmless especially with regards to the lives of her neigbours. She is portrayed in the story with the author as a proud lady who believes in the fact that she owns her town perhaps a factor that is evidenced by the way she interacts with the members of her community. Her constant conversations with the members of the community perhaps paint her as a relatively calm, loving and caring lady to the members of the community.
Beginning with Mrs. Hopewell, the title of the story comes from what she likes to call the poorer and less fortunate people that live off the land and work their whole lives just to hang on to some scrap of a life. This is how she views these people. She believes that they are good country people not a bad seed among them, that they are all eager to help out and bow in humility to the upper class. The gullible nature of Mrs. Hopewell betrays her true vision of a situation. She is one of those people who are all goody-goody to people who they view as less fortunate. She’s a person that commends or speaks for the people she knows nothing about. Altogether this is her true weakness that is taken advantage of by Manley Pointer. One of ...
Jane spends her first 10 years of her life at Gateshead Hall, a lavish mansion. She lived with her Aunt, Mrs Reed, and three cousins, Eliza, Georgina and John. During her time in the mansion she wouldn't dare argue with the mistress, and fulfilled every duty. Jane is deprived of love, joy and acceptance. She is very much unwanted and isolated.
People can be influenced by many different things. Being influenced by something or someone can cause a person to act in a certain way, good or bad. In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson and “A Bolt of White Cloth” by Leon Rooke, the characters demonstrate that a person’s actions are heavily influenced by their surroundings. The characters are influenced by the people around them, the things that are most precious to them and by what they desire.
Roald Dahl’s realistic fictional story, “The Landlady”, takes place in London, England at nighttime. Billy Weaver, a seventeen-year-old boy is looking for a place to stay for the night, when he encounters a bed and breakfast where a strangely kind lady greets him. So he stays there for the night because the lady is so nice. Later on, the story reveals that the lady is only acting this way for a specific reason. By using description and foreshadowing, Dahl develops the theme of not judging people before getting to know them well.
First Miss strangeworth is seen by people as haughty, or that is how I see her. She thinks that the town belongs to her because of her heritage. For example, “Miss strangeworth would frown a little and sound stern, ‘....There wouldn’t have been a town at all if it hadn’t been for my grandfather
Because of Miss Strangeworth’s constant effort put into the garden, the roses became a part of her. “Look at what used to be your roses”(8). When the town’s people found out that Miss Strangeworth was at fault for writing the letters, her roses were destroyed. The roses were passed on for generations similar to inherited wealth. Miss Strangeworth’s family lived on Pleasant Street for hundreds of years and her grandfather planted the first roses. This made the lady believe that the town belonged to her and she earned the right to control it. The roses represented all of the respect she had previously gained; consequently without the roses, she was given a black eye. The letters sent by Miss Strangeworth represent evil in her town. Instead of doing good, the letters were crass, bitter and unwantedly exposed personal problems. “..Never aware of possible evil lurking nearby, if Miss Strangeworth had not sent letters opening their eyes”(4). She believed her letters were astonishing and changed the wicked behaviour. In reality, the letters encouraged other people to do evil as a craving for
“The Landlady” is written by Roald Dahl. The tone of the story is mysterious, and creepy. The mood of the story is creepy, surprising, and scary. The author uses word choice in order to create this.
“A Rose for Emily” is a typical southern story which showcases an old aristocratic woman who is unwilling to change. This is similar to that of the grandmother in “a good man is hard to find”. Both characters believe that their views are correct and moral. In “a Rose for Emily” Miss Emily is discovered to be a hypocrite by breaking all rules a lady of her stature lives by. The Grandmother in “A good man is hard to find” like Emily lives by these values. However once she is threatened by the
The short story, “The Landlady” By Roald Dahl, uses specific diction cleverly which significantly affects the suspenseful tone throughout the story. Roald Dahl writes with a positive flow, but incorporates suspenseful and negative twists to keep that tone.The story flows with an emphasis to details of a negative tone and foreshadows clues which forboded a tragic ending .