possibility+of+evil

“The Possibility of Evil” (Shirley Jackson) Response Package


 * 1) Describe the setting. The setting is in a tidy clean town. The mood at the beginning seems light and happy. Once you get further into the story the mood gets darker. It is set in the late 1950s because it talks about soda shops.

2. Describe/discuss the character of Miss Adela Strangeworth. Miss Adela Strangeworth is a older women. She believes that everyone should act a certain proper way and tells them through anonymous letters.

3. How long has Miss Strangeworth lived in her town? Discuss her ties to the town and infer how this makes her feel about her position there. Her grandfather built the first house on PLeasant Street. Her family had lived there for over 100 years. She feels like she almost owns the town.

4. Discuss how the town’s visitors respond to Miss Strangeworth’s roses. Explain how she responds. The tourist stop to admire her roses and she was fond of telling them that she had never spent a more then a day not outside this town in her whole life. There is a legend that a tourist once thought that her house was a local museum and walked all through it without figuring it out.

5. Explain how the people in town react and respond to Miss Strangeworth. What do you think their impression of her is? The people in the town and polite and respect Miss Strangeworth. I think their impression of her is that she is a wise, kind, older women that

6. Discuss the relationship between Tommy Lewis and Miss Strangeworth and explain how that relationship has changed over the years. Infer what might have been the basis of the relationship. Then explain how and why it changed.

7. Describe Ms. Harper as she reaches for her pocketbook. Explain what Mrs. Strangeworth thinks about Martha’s behavior.

8. Mrs. Strangeworth meets Helen Crane, the mother of a six month old infant, and Miss Chandler, the librarian. Discuss her interactions with them and her observations about them. Mrs.Strangeworth tells Helen Crane that her child is fine and that all babies are different and develop at their own pace. Miss. Strangeworth then writes the mother a letter saying "Didn't you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn't have children should they?" She then talks to Miss. Chandler

9. There is a revealing statement (p. 215) about how the town views Miss Strangeworth. Explain what that is and why. "But the town was proud of Miss. Strangeworth and her roses and her house." Because she has lived there so long and has been a big part of the community she is highly respected and cared for in her town.

10. Explain the difference between the papers Miss Strangeworth uses to write letters. discuss the other ways in which these letters differ. The paper that she wrote ordinary letters was plain cream colored and had "STRANGEWORTH HOUSE" engraved at the top. The paper which she used to write her anonymous letters telling people what she thought about them the used plain colored paper.

11. Discuss the purpose of Miss Strangeworth’s letters. It was her way of trying to shape the town into her ideal town, where no one acted improper.

12. Why does Miss Strangeworth lie about the goings on in her town? She lies about the on goings in her town because she doesn't always know what the right answer is all the time and isn't afraid to suggest things that aren't always true.

13. Explain what Miss Strangeworth sees as her role in the community. Miss. Strangeworth sees herself and kind of the mother and owner of the town and is responsible of making it a presentable and wanted place to live.

14. After finishing the letters, Miss Strangeworth sets down to tea. discuss the irony of her thoughts after writing the letters. Explain Miss Strangeworth’s idea of “liv(ing) graciously” (218). Then, prove that she is not. She states that she thinks everyone should live graciously but then turns around and rights her latter then are in no way gracious.

15. Explain why Miss Strangeworth never suspects the children of laughing or mocking. What does this prove about her opinion of herself. She never suspects the children of laughing or mocking becasuse when she walks past them the move become quite and move aside some saying a polite good after noon. She also thinks that none of them would have been brought up thinking that it was ok to laugh and mock an older women. This shows the Miss Strangeworth thinks very highly of herself.

16. Miss Strangeworth overhears a conversation between Dave Harris and Linda Stewart. Discuss the content of the conversation and explain Miss Strangeworth’s role in it. The content was about what Linda's father had told her about Dave. The conversation didn't specifically say what her father had said but it told the reader that whatever it was was nasty and only a sick person would ever say or want to do such things. Miss. Strangeworth's role in this was that early she had written a letter to Linda's father stating what Dave wanted to do.

17. Miss Strangeworth thinks that there is “so much evil in people. Even in a charming little town like this one” (220). Explain what the evil is. Miss. Strangeworth thinks that everyone should be perfect so anything that anyone does that doesn't stand up to Miss. Strangeworth's expectations she thinks is evil.

18. Explain how the townspeople discover Miss Strangeworth’s role in the letters being sent to citizens. How do they get Miss Strangeworth back? Miss Strangeworth dropped one of her letter when going to the post office. She didn't notice and one of the local boys saw and picked it up and decided to drop it off for her. The town got back at her by destroying her prized roses.

19. Examine the last __sentence__ of the story. How does Miss Strangeworth view her punishment? How does she view what she has done? Explain the irony of this. She views her punishment as ruining her world, because thats what her flowers were to her. She is sad that she has been found out but doesn't think she has done anything wrong.

20. Draw a detailed map, from an overhead perspective, of the town illustrated in the story.

Include:

The name of the town. Main Street The Grocery Pleasant St. Miss Strangeworth’s House Shanties on the low road Park Post Office Church Lumber Mill High School Library Soda Shop Newspaper Shop The Stewart House City Hall The Police Station The Fire Hall

The map needs to make sense according to the description given in the story. The map should be neat with all the landmarks clearly labeled. The map should be visually interesting.

**Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: The Possibility of Evil**

Point of View: Third Person. Protagonist: Miss Adela Strangeworth What type of character is the Protagonist? Dinamic and Round.

Antagonist: Miss Adela Strangeworth

Describe the setting: Small town. Very clean, Main street. Appears to be a perfect town.

Type of Conflict: Man vs Society, Man vs Himself.

Describe the main conflict: Miss Strangeworth wrote letters about people in the town. On her letters she told the people she was sending them to their faults and issues. She thought this would prevent evil activities, however this caused even more conflict.

Describe the Climax of the Story: Miss Strangeworth approached the mail slot at the post office to mail her letter. She mailed all of her letters, but she dropped one. The Harris boy picked up the letter and was determined to deliver it to the rightful owner. In the morning Miss Strangeworth received a letter similar to her letters that she sent out. She opens it and starts crying, because the letter said "Look out at what used to be your roses".

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? She changes from being a lovely little old lady and then as the story unravels that she is two-faced and mean.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The title suggests that there is a "Possibility of Evil" in the town. Miss Strangeworth realizes that some people have issues in the town, therefore she sends letters out to try to help people before evil happens. Her letters are so mean and nasty that her letters actually cause the evil in the town.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? Miss strangeworth wrote nasty letters to people discussing their faults and problems. She thought this was helping the people to stop evil from happening, however it caused more distress and conflict in the small town. This helps illustrate the theme because she is a two-faced lady.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? When the letter was opened everyone found out that miss Strangeworth is not as nice as everyone thought she was. Therefor her roses got destroyed in revenge for the nasty letters.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: "like a princess"

Metaphor:"the perfume of her roses meant home"

Personification:

Symbol:

Foreshadowing (give both elements): When the Harris boy picks up the dropped letter, it foreshadows that people will see the letter.

Irony: Her roses got destroyed because she thought she was doing good deeds by sending these letters out to people. These letters were causing major distress in the town.

Imagery:

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The relationship with the story and humanity are that she wasnt being nice and writing inhuman letters to everyone in the town.