All our life we grow up thinking the world around us is just peachy keen. Didn’t you? As children we think everyone and everything is good, we would like to hope this is the same case as we mature into adults. As we develop into adults we gain more knowledge, we learn not everything is going to be perfect. Adults gain a more pessimistic viewpoint in life, similarly how Shirley Jackson the author of “The Possibility of Evil” felt. She sometimes wrote seriously pessimistic dark novels, written about characters who did nasty deeds. Other times they were light hearted, usually about her four children she raised. In the story “The Possibility of Evil”, it talks about a character who has lived in her hometown her entire life, in fact her family
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Miss. Strangeworth, who is the main character of the story, lives on Pleasant street. The town she lives in -although isn’t said where exactly the location is, can be described as a dainty neighborhood. Everyone knows everyone, this is what is so special about her home. Miss. Strangeworth has lived in her home ever since she was a child, in truth her mother and grandmother have lived in that house. Each room neatly decorated with the charm and love her mother and grandmother had. Just outside Miss Strangeworth 's house are multitudes of roses, roses that her and mother had kept. The time in which these events occurred is not noted, it is common for authors to give subtlety in their writing. The setting of the story creates a perfect network of what is to come. there is a lot of hidden meaning in the story, and the setting definitely gives leeway to that. Not to mention Shirley Jackson omits pure crux in her novel, the readers are captivated, not knowing what is going to happen …show more content…
She was just a sweet old lady. From what I can see, the town was polluted from the beginning, it shows that things change overtime, and so do people 's approach to life.
A story always has hidden meaning, it’s what makes a story interesting. Figuring out in depth clues, is like being a detective. Motifs are a common literary device, it is any subject or concept that is constantly present in literature. Thinking back to “The Possibility of Evil” the story may not have an apparent motif, but look a little deeper. In the beginning of the story Miss. Strangeworth is deeply attached to her roses, her mother and her grandmother have grown roses since she was little. She is adhered to this tradition her family has kept, and rightfully so. When tourists come to town, they ask to take a couple roses for themselves, but she always denied that request. "Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses [...] 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." We can see that Miss. Strangeworth was involved in keeping her roses on Pleasant street. Jackson didn’t make it obvious that the roses were a symbol or motif, until the end of the story. I think as I reader I could see the possibility of a grim ending, but I was set back a bit at how distressed Mr. Cane made Miss. Strangeworth feel. The author made Mr. Cane a venomous character, who
Miss. Strangeworth, who is the main character of the story, lives on Pleasant street. The town she lives in -although isn’t said where exactly the location is, can be described as a dainty neighborhood. Everyone knows everyone, this is what is so special about her home. Miss. Strangeworth has lived in her home ever since she was a child, in truth her mother and grandmother have lived in that house. Each room neatly decorated with the charm and love her mother and grandmother had. Just outside Miss Strangeworth 's house are multitudes of roses, roses that her and mother had kept. The time in which these events occurred is not noted, it is common for authors to give subtlety in their writing. The setting of the story creates a perfect network of what is to come. there is a lot of hidden meaning in the story, and the setting definitely gives leeway to that. Not to mention Shirley Jackson omits pure crux in her novel, the readers are captivated, not knowing what is going to happen …show more content…
She was just a sweet old lady. From what I can see, the town was polluted from the beginning, it shows that things change overtime, and so do people 's approach to life.
A story always has hidden meaning, it’s what makes a story interesting. Figuring out in depth clues, is like being a detective. Motifs are a common literary device, it is any subject or concept that is constantly present in literature. Thinking back to “The Possibility of Evil” the story may not have an apparent motif, but look a little deeper. In the beginning of the story Miss. Strangeworth is deeply attached to her roses, her mother and her grandmother have grown roses since she was little. She is adhered to this tradition her family has kept, and rightfully so. When tourists come to town, they ask to take a couple roses for themselves, but she always denied that request. "Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses [...] 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." We can see that Miss. Strangeworth was involved in keeping her roses on Pleasant street. Jackson didn’t make it obvious that the roses were a symbol or motif, until the end of the story. I think as I reader I could see the possibility of a grim ending, but I was set back a bit at how distressed Mr. Cane made Miss. Strangeworth feel. The author made Mr. Cane a venomous character, who