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The Illusion of Utopia. “The Possibility of Evil” is a critique of mid-20th-century WASP (white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) culture, which outwardly projected an image of perfection while obscuring its unsavory elements. Jackson plays up the utopic lens through which WASPs saw their world to the point of parody.
- The Possibility of Evil Summary & Analysis - LitCharts
Summary. Analysis. Miss Adela Strangeworth takes a trip into...
- The Possibility of Evil Study Guide | Literature ... - LitCharts
Like “The Possibility of Evil,” “The Lottery” is interested...
- 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.
- Appearances Versus Reality
- Isolation and Privilege
- The Ubiquity of Evil
The appearance Miss Adela Strangeworth presents to the world is that of akind, attentive, and friendly old lady of good reputation. Shirley Jacksonemphasizes this in her choice of names: Adela is convinced of her ownstrange worthas the descendant of the man who first established thestreet on which she lives. She lives on Pleasant Street, a place wh...
Why does Miss Strangeworth behave the way that she does? A spinster in herseventies, she seems to lead a lonely life. Although she knows everybody in thetown, she is unable to integrate with them. She thinks of herself as “Miss”Strangeworth, an honorific which imposes a layer of separation between herselfand those she interacts with on a daily basi...
The title of Jackson’s story points towards one of its underlying themes:there is, in every town and every person, “the possibility of evil.” Jacksondeliberately presents the town in her story as an idyllic one, a manifestationof the American dream filled with roses, mom-and-pop grocery stores, andclose-knit communities in which everybody knows eac...
Like “The Possibility of Evil,” “The Lottery” is interested in critiquing a certain class of mid-century Americans who project a pristine image while concealing the darkness within themselves. Meanwhile, “Things Get Dark” is another story by Jackson where letter-writing plays a key role and evil sits just beneath the surface.
The Possibility of Evil Analysis. Shirley Jackson’s “The Possibility of Evil” shares some features with her popular story “The Lottery” and the rest of her work. These include sudden ...
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Summary. Shirley Jackson's "The Possibility of Evil" was published on December 18, 1965, in the Saturday Evening Post, a few months after her death. It won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1966 for ...
