Miss Strangeworth
It’s amazing how blind we can be to our own evils. Shirley Jackson’s short story, “ The Possibility of Evil,” is a great way to show that you should always treat others with kindness. Miss Strangeworth is a lay who thinks she owns a town, is sweet in person, but writes “secret” letters that criticize the way people live. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed be considering what she does, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does and says. Miss Strangeworth is very possessive because she doesn’t allow anyone to take even one of her roses out …show more content…
The narrator describes Miss Strangeworth’s thoughts and actions in a way that makes her seem very critical towards anyone who isn’t her. For instance, when Miss Strangeworth is talking to the librarian, the narrator says, “Miss Strangeworth noticed that Niss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and sighed. Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness.” This provides us with an example of how Miss Strangeworth criticizes others. Miss Strangeworth most likely criticizes people because she thinks everyone should be just like her, or up to her standards. In addition, the narrator provides us with another example of this later on in the story. He does this by showing us what Miss Strangeworth writes in her letters; “after thinking for a minute, although she had been phrasing the letter in the back of her mind all the way home, she wrote on a pink sheet: Didn’t you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn’t have children, should they?” When Miss Strangeworth writes this, we can see just how critical she can be. In person, she tells the mother that some kids just take longer to learn. With the father, she practically tells him that he is blind for not noticing that his baby is slow. Finally, this is how the narrator portrays Miss Strangeworth to make her seem very
It’s amazing how blind we can be to our own evils. Shirley Jackson’s short story, “ The Possibility of Evil,” is a great way to show that you should always treat others with kindness. Miss Strangeworth is a lay who thinks she owns a town, is sweet in person, but writes “secret” letters that criticize the way people live. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed be considering what she does, what the narrator says about her, and how other characters interact with her. Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyzed by considering what she does and says. Miss Strangeworth is very possessive because she doesn’t allow anyone to take even one of her roses out …show more content…
The narrator describes Miss Strangeworth’s thoughts and actions in a way that makes her seem very critical towards anyone who isn’t her. For instance, when Miss Strangeworth is talking to the librarian, the narrator says, “Miss Strangeworth noticed that Niss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and sighed. Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness.” This provides us with an example of how Miss Strangeworth criticizes others. Miss Strangeworth most likely criticizes people because she thinks everyone should be just like her, or up to her standards. In addition, the narrator provides us with another example of this later on in the story. He does this by showing us what Miss Strangeworth writes in her letters; “after thinking for a minute, although she had been phrasing the letter in the back of her mind all the way home, she wrote on a pink sheet: Didn’t you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn’t have children, should they?” When Miss Strangeworth writes this, we can see just how critical she can be. In person, she tells the mother that some kids just take longer to learn. With the father, she practically tells him that he is blind for not noticing that his baby is slow. Finally, this is how the narrator portrays Miss Strangeworth to make her seem very