Huey Newton once said, “ I think what motivates people is not great hate, but great love for other people.” Shirley Jackson disagreed however. In her short story, The Possibility of Evil, Miss Strangeworth was motivated by her great hate of other people and great love for herself. (transition) Miss Strangeworth was an old woman in a pleasant small town, who wanted everything to be perfect, with no wickedness, and where “people live graciously,” and she thought that was her duty to accomplish. After all, there was too much “wicked people in the world, and only one Miss Strangeworth.” So, she wrote anonymous letters that warned her fellow townsmen of the possibilities of evil lurking around them, based entirely on her suspicions. However, she
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There were no events in the story that anyone in the town was ever wicked to her. In fact, they greeted her politely, asked her for advice, the children stood back respectfully in her presence, and no one disturbed her house and roses for fun. Her desire to have a superior role in the community and feel special above others motivated her to write letters that created gossips and rumours and slanders innocent people. Ultimately, her letters created the evil that she despised the most and her beloved roses got cut and trampled on. Shirley Jackson reveals through the story that such motivations of great hate for other people and great love for yourself only brings failure and uncontentment. Miss Strangeworth ends up with dead roses and evil schemes. Shirley Jackson provided an alternative option and proved that Miss Strangeworth’s way is not the best way. She uses Harris, a teenage boy, who was slandered of doing something dirty, as a contrast. Harris saw the good in people and loves instead of hating on others. His good intentions led him to send Miss Strangeworth’s letter that slipped out of the mail directly to the …show more content…
The article about the small town is strikingly similar to the town described in the short story. Everybody knew everybody else, both have clubs that talk about people and events, both write letters that are anonymous, and most of all both letters and talks are awfully negative and speculative. Miss Strangeworth’s letters were written in colored paper, while the small town in Montana were written on a social media forum in a website called Topix. Both defended their actions as something with a genuine purpose - Miss Strangeworth wants to erase wickedness while Topix wanted to play a “journalistic role… [to provide] a place for whistle-blowing and candid discussion for local politics.” The motivations for such negative forums are clear - great hate for people. It has been called by a community member a “cesspool of character assassination.” Forums create gossips and alleged someone to be a whore, a drug addict and a home wrecker. The consequences are not pretty nor is it mild. A woman who had been a topic in Topix killed herself and her three children and forums have gone gravely out of control that if names had been put out, there would be lots of killings. Both are motivated to be part of the community by exalting themselves and belittling others. However, the results from both texts proved that such motivations are deadly and
There were no events in the story that anyone in the town was ever wicked to her. In fact, they greeted her politely, asked her for advice, the children stood back respectfully in her presence, and no one disturbed her house and roses for fun. Her desire to have a superior role in the community and feel special above others motivated her to write letters that created gossips and rumours and slanders innocent people. Ultimately, her letters created the evil that she despised the most and her beloved roses got cut and trampled on. Shirley Jackson reveals through the story that such motivations of great hate for other people and great love for yourself only brings failure and uncontentment. Miss Strangeworth ends up with dead roses and evil schemes. Shirley Jackson provided an alternative option and proved that Miss Strangeworth’s way is not the best way. She uses Harris, a teenage boy, who was slandered of doing something dirty, as a contrast. Harris saw the good in people and loves instead of hating on others. His good intentions led him to send Miss Strangeworth’s letter that slipped out of the mail directly to the …show more content…
The article about the small town is strikingly similar to the town described in the short story. Everybody knew everybody else, both have clubs that talk about people and events, both write letters that are anonymous, and most of all both letters and talks are awfully negative and speculative. Miss Strangeworth’s letters were written in colored paper, while the small town in Montana were written on a social media forum in a website called Topix. Both defended their actions as something with a genuine purpose - Miss Strangeworth wants to erase wickedness while Topix wanted to play a “journalistic role… [to provide] a place for whistle-blowing and candid discussion for local politics.” The motivations for such negative forums are clear - great hate for people. It has been called by a community member a “cesspool of character assassination.” Forums create gossips and alleged someone to be a whore, a drug addict and a home wrecker. The consequences are not pretty nor is it mild. A woman who had been a topic in Topix killed herself and her three children and forums have gone gravely out of control that if names had been put out, there would be lots of killings. Both are motivated to be part of the community by exalting themselves and belittling others. However, the results from both texts proved that such motivations are deadly and