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Miss Strangeworth is an old woman who has lived in the same house her entire life. She feels protective of her community and regularly worries about the possibility of evil things happening in it. In particular, she prizes her roses and worries about strangers stealing them. At the start of the story, Miss Strangeworth heads into town to run ...
- The Possibility of Evil Summary & Analysis - LitCharts
Summary. Analysis. Miss Adela Strangeworth takes a trip into...
- The Possibility of Evil Character Analysis - LitCharts
Mrs. Foster. Mrs. Foster is an old woman Miss Strangeworth...
- The Possibility of Evil Summary & Analysis - LitCharts
Summary. Analysis. Miss Adela Strangeworth takes a trip into town to run some errands. She is in good spirits as she breathes in the fresh summer air and reflects on the beauty of the town that she has lived in her entire life. At age 71, she feels a sense of pride and ownership over the town.
Mrs. Foster. Mrs. Foster is an old woman Miss Strangeworth sends one of her letters to. The letter warns Mrs. Foster that her doctor might botch her upcoming operation. Sawyer, Ian. "The Possibility of Evil Characters." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 30 Aug 2022. Web. 21 Oct 2024.
Miss Adela Strangeworth is the main character in "The Possibility of Evil." An elderly lady, Miss Strangeworth has spent her entire life in the town and is proud that her family was the first to ...
- Miss Adela Strangeworth
- Mr. Lewis
- Martha Harper
- Helen Crane
- Miss Chandler
- Linda Stewart and Dave Harris
- Don Crane
Miss Adela Strangeworth is the main character of this short story by ShirleyJackson. She is seventy-one years old, and even in the context of the narrativevoice thinks of herself as “Miss Strangeworth,” a form of address which befitsher status (in her mind) as the woman whose grandfather built the first houseon Pleasant Street. She knows everybody ...
Mr. Lewis owns the grocery store where Miss Strangeworth purchases her dailygoods. Although she addresses him cheerily, Mr. Lewis does not appear happy tosee Miss Strangeworth. Instead, he seems “tired” and “worried,” and he isunable to remember Miss Strangeworth’s usual order as she feels he should. Itis later revealed that Miss Strangeworth has s...
Martha Harper is a woman Miss Strangeworth encounters in the grocery store.Under the pretense of concern, Miss Strangeworth observes to herself thatMartha is no longer as young as she used to be, and thinking that she needs a“tonic” or impetus to take care of herself, Miss Strangeworth writes to Marthato imply that her husband is having an affair.
Helen Crane is the devoted young mother of a new baby. She expresses herworries to Miss Strangeworth that the child is not developing as quickly as shemight have expected. Miss Strangeworth puts Helen’s mind at rest, pretending tobe an interested and concerned neighbor, but Helen will later receive a lettersuggesting that her child is an “idiot” an...
Miss Chandler is the town librarian. The narrative does not make it clearwhat exactly she has been told by Miss Strangeworth, but she is clearly arecipient of Miss Strangeworth’s poison pen letters, and they have beenaffecting her mood and health. She has stopped looking after herself and begunto be “sloppy,” which Miss Strangeworth finds abhorrent...
Linda Stewart has been seen around town crying by Miss Strangeworth,behavior Miss Strangeworth thinks is disreputable. It later becomes clear thatLinda may or may not have been in a relationship with Dave Harris. From thenarrative, it is indicated only that they are friends who often spend timetogether in a group of young people who spend time near...
Don Crane is Helen’s husband and the parent of the baby that Helen believesto be “slow.” The reader infers that, after receiving the cruel letter fromLinda and Dave and being told that it has come from Miss Strangeworth, Don isthe architect of the violence enacted upon Miss Strangeworth’s roses at the endof the story.
The Possibility of Evil. " The Possibility of Evil " is a 1965 short story by Shirley Jackson. Published on December 18, 1965, in the Saturday Evening Post, [1] a few months after her death, it won the 1966 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best mystery short story. [2] It has since been reprinted in the collections Just an Ordinary Day (1996) and Dark ...
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Oct 8, 2024 · Summary: In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Possibility of Evil," Miss Strangeworth is a seemingly kind elderly woman who secretly writes anonymous poison pen letters to her neighbors, exposing ...
