In “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Adela Strangeworth takes a stroll down a scenic Main Street and recounts her family’s role in the shaping of the town. Upon reaching the grocery store, Miss Strangeworth notices that the clerk, Mr. Lewis is unnerved by something, although she cannot tell what. After receiving her items, she leaves the store and runs into Helen Crane with her six month old baby. Miss Strangeworth comforts Helen’s fears that her child is mentally slow and returns home to her beloved rose garden and writes three letters. Each letter is addressed to a local and in one way or another insult the intended reader. When she pushes the Cranes too far by insulting their baby, they obliterate her beloved roses that her …show more content…
This is shown when Jackson writes, “Mr. Lewis looked worried, she thought, and for a minute she hesitated…He looked very tired indeed. He was usually so chipper, Miss Strangeworth thought, and almost commented, but it was far too personal a subject to be introduced to Mr. Lewis” (316). The narrator clearly explains Adela’s thoughts, yet he avoids explaining Mr. Lewis’ thoughts which later can be inferred due to the contents of Adela’s letter to him. This ties into the central idea since the narrator shows how oblivious Adela is to the harshness of her letters which upset Mr. Lewis and leaves it up to the reader to infer later how Adela’s friendly and concerned demeanor is covering her cruel nature. Another way the author strengthens her argument using point of view, is when she says “there was so much evil in people. Even in a charming little town like this one, there was still so much evil in people” (324). By slipping into Adela’s inner dialogue, it clarifies her view of herself in relation to the town which contrasts her actual personality, suggesting that while Adela believes herself to be righteous and good, she is a source of evil within the town, proving her preconceived notions about herself to be
In Don't you dare read this. MRS.Dunphy is a popular book written by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Particularly, you can analyze that this quote contains a strong voice that can be portrayed as descriptive. She uses a handful of adjectives that foreshadow the character’s personalities.
Isobelle Carmody does make use of some traditional fantasy elements in The Gathering but the departure from rigid archetypes is what enables her to achieve a sophisticated exploration of the oft-stereotyped concept of evil. She is able to effectively do this not just by the traditional good vs evil but by the dark side of human nature and mankind. To achieve this she uses Mr Karl the deputy principle at Three North in Cheshunt where this novel is based. However she hasn’t just gone and changed how traditional fantasy operate. She has used a good balance of both traditional and modern ways of getting messages out to the readers.
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen” (“Brainy Quotes” 1). In Edith Wharton’s framed novel, Ethan Frome, the main protagonist encounters “lost opportunity, failed romance, and disappointed dreams” with a regretful ending (Lilburn 1). Ethan Frome lives in the isolated fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts with his irritable spouse, Zenobia Frome. Ever since marriage, Zenobia, also referred to as Zeena, revolves around her illness. Furthermore, she is prone to silence, rage, and querulously shouting. Ethan has dreams of leaving Starkfield and selling his plantation, however he views caring for his wife as a duty and main priority. One day, Zeena’s cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to assist the Frome’s with their daily tasks. Immediately, Mattie’s attractive and youthful energy resuscitates Ethan’s outlook on life. She brings a light to Starkfield and instantaneously steals Ethan’s heart; although, Ethan’s quiet demeanor and lack of expression causing his affection to be surreptitious. As Zeena’s health worsens, she becomes fearful and wishes to seek advice from a doctor in a town called Bettsbridge giving Ethan and Mattie privacy for one night. Unfortunately, the night turns out to be a disastrous and uncomfortable evening. Neither Ethan nor Mattie speaks a word regarding their love for one another. Additionally, during their dinner, the pet cat leaps on the table and sends a pickle dish straight to the floor crashing into pieces. To make matters worse, the pickle dish is a favored wedding gift that is cherished by Zeena. Later, Zeena discovers it is broken and it sends her anger over the edge. Furious, Zeena demands for a more efficient “hired girl” to complete the tasks ar...
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper, the two main characters exhibit behavior that some readers may consider unusual or even totally crazy. These two women are having a difficult time adjusting to the many changes taking place around them. In the midst of these changes, they face the struggles of being women such as post partum depression and love and rejection from men. Such problems become so overbearing that each woman ends up in their own delusional world which in turn, leads to their isolation and insanity. Gender issues, love, hate, insanity and isolation, are thematic connections in both stories and are important components of how each woman functions throughout the story and how each character fares in the end.
Here Douglass thoughts about Mrs. Auld are quickly changed when he sees “that cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage” (176). Mrs. Auld was no longer that kind-hearted, caring person she was when Douglass first met her. She changed due to the fact that she was now effected by the harsh and horrid reality of slavery.
The point of view from the narrators perspective, highlights how self-absorbed and narrow-minded he is. “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together—had sex, sure—and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding” (Carver...
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.
The narrator in the story does not know everything in the story, the narrator cannot understand everything in the story, and can only describe everything that happens in the story through, the narrator’s view, and thoughts, portraying that the story is told in the first person limited point of view. For example, when Sheila was describing how fishing was boring, or uninteresting for her, the narrator tries to think of ways why her dislike of fishing came through, but never really figures it out, “Now I have spent a great deal of time in the years why Sheila Mant should come down so hard on fishing/ Had she tried it once” (Wetherell 3). This shows that the narrator is desperately trying hard to figure out why does, Sheila, someone that the narrator hold in high regard, hates something that, the narrator also holds in high regard. Despite, the previous mentions that the narrator had learned so much about Sheila, the narrator was not knowledgeable on the topics that Sheila was talking about in the canoe ride with the narrator. “It was a few minutes before I was able to catch up with her train of thought/I had no idea whom she meant” (Wetherell 2,3), many instances were showed that the narrator had really nothing in common with Sheila, and could not give much
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.
This quote contributes to the book as a whole, because it shows how one with tons power over others can do so much with it. Sophia Adul taught Frederick Douglass how to read and write. Until Hugh demanded her to stop and to start treating him like a true ‘slave’. Whatever Hugh wanted, he got. No matter what it was. People who have a lot of power can gain control over people very quickly.
Usually, the little old lady who lives down the street is always a sweet old woman who bakes cookies and knits all day, but in the case of Miss Adela Strangeworth she had developed a very evil hobby. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility Of Evil” Miss Strangeworth may seem like a nice old lady but she is really a proud, cruel, and secretive woman, who enjoys making everyone in the town she lived in feel terrible without even knowing she was doing it.
The Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte took a surprising twist when Bertha "Mason" Rochester was introduced. Bertha leaves a traumatizing impression on Jane’s conscious. However, this particular misfortunate event was insidiously accumulating prior to Jane’s arrival at Thornfield. Through Bertha, the potential alternative dark turn of events of Jane’s past are realized, thus bringing Jane closer to finding herself.
Many people use literature as an outlet from their personal life, from the struggles and hardships they face day to day. They enjoy the unknown of mystery and the unrealistic; it gives them something to ponder and offers a way to discover an unknown world of imagination. Many authors take the different avenues in their writing. Some stir hope and optimism while others explore a morbid and daunting way of writing. A common form is that of suspense and mystery. Shirley Jackson takes mystery to a distinctive level. She depicts an era that has not yet been revealed. By looking at the background of this author, analyzing her writing and responding personally you will better enhance your learning experience and connection with this type of dark literature.
The point of view she expressed through out the whole text, was her own. She was able to keep readers insight of the psychoanalytic theory the story has. The actions the protagonist had in the story showed us how it affected her adult self, and how the issue developed a rebel over time. Even after years from when the recurring events took place, her actions as a child had an effect on both mother and daughter. This theory gives readers the idea that things that happen to people during childhood can contribute to the way they later function as