Possibility of Evil by:
Shirley Jackson
Presentation by: Katlin Banks & Desiree Smith
Shirley Jackson
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1916-1965
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Died of heart failure
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She had four children
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Wrote her first story in 1937
Précis

Shirley Jackson’s “The possibility of evil” was a 6 page short story about an
older woman named Miss Adela Strangeworth. Miss Strangeworth lived on
Pleasant Street in a dainty little town where older traditions still exist. She
begins to nosey around the town picking out “evils” in the townsfolk. When
Miss Strangeworth gets back to her house she decides to write unmarked
letters to certain people, Mrs. Harper and Mr. Crane in particular, with which
she makes it impossible to tell who had in fact written the letter filled with
unnecessarily harsh words. She then walks to the post office to deliver the
letters but one envelope falls to the ground. The Harris boy picks up the
letter and calls after Miss Strangeworth, however, she is older and cannot
hear him. After much deliberation the Harris boy delivers the letter to Don
Crane himself. The next morning when Miss Strangeworth wakes up she sees
the same letter in her mail and a return note was written reading “look at
what used to be your roses.”
Setting

Small town
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Main Street
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Pleasant Street
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Post office
Characters
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Miss Strangeworth- Main Character
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Don Crane: married to Helen Crane, has a newborn child (page2, 4, and 6)
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Helen Crane: speaks to Miss Strangeworth outside of the grocery store (page2)
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Harris boy: often seen with Linda Stewart, object of Miss Strangeworth’s eye
for evil (pages 4, and 6)
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Mrs. Harper: received a harsh letter from Miss Strangeworth (page 4)
Point of View
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3rd person limited
Theme

Evil is everywhere and within every one there is no way to rid evil.
Significant Quote

Page 6- “This was, after all, her town, and these were her people; if one of
them was in trouble, she ought to know it.”

Page 6- “Miss Strangeworth sighed and turned away. There was so much evil in
people. Even in a charming little town like this one, there was still so much
evil in people.”

Page 5– “the world was so large, and there was only one Strangeworth left in
it”
Special Topic

Irony (Class discussion)