Comet’s Essay
An innocent old lady, walking down the street, as she smiles at you and waves hello.
Your thinking “Oh what a nice old lady,” BUT what secrets could she be hiding? In the story,
“The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, shows that although someone may look innocent,
you can never be sure what secrets the people around you may have. Mrs. Strangeworth is
complex, manipulative character who hurts the people that live around her by writing letters
secretly to people that tell them things that they didn’t know about the people they live with.
Mrs. Strangeworth is two-faced because in public, she acts as a kind old lady, but when
she is alone, she secretly writes letters to the townspeople that changes the way they see their
surroundings and the people around them by telling them secrets about the people they live with
that they didn't know. Also, when she talks to the townspeople, she notices there appearance and
makes notes to herself, “Miss Strangeworth noticed that Miss Chandler did not fix her hair that
morning, and sighed, Miss Strangeworth hated sloppiness” (P.167).
Mrs.Strangeworth is also a complex person because she is a perfectionist because while
she is writing the letters, she was “fond of doing things right” (P.169) and when she made a
mistake, “she had to take the discarded page to the kitchen stove” (P.169). She also uses the
roses as symbols to justify what she does and it keeps her sane.
In conclusion, Mrs. Strangeworth is a two-faced, complex person because in public, she
acts innocent but when she is by herself, she writes letters to the people around them that
influences how they view the people around them and she is complex because she is a
perfectionist who uses roses to justify what she does.
Vixen’s Essay
When you think about Miss Strangeworth, she is a typical old lady; Kind, loving and
tends for herself and her roses. What you would not expect is that she hides a deep, dark secret
that could potentially rip the town apart. In the story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson,
Miss Strangeworth is a very complex person who likes to make the people living with her
suspicious, sad and depressed.
Miss Strangeworth’s secret is that she sends letters to make the people in the town
suspicious of each other. It’s not like you get a letter everyday saying that your doctor might
purposely kill you and receive his money and a little extra from your nephew (P.170). She writes
each of these letters in big block writing with the common pieces of paper that everyone in her
town uses so that no one can find out who wrote it by looking at the writing or what kind of
paper it is.
A problem that adds to Miss Strangeworth’s evilness is that she is a perfectionist. Being
a perfectionist means that she notices things like Miss Chandler not taking the time to do her hair
in the morning, and Miss Strangeworth despises sloppiness (P.167). Since this was basically
Miss Strangeworth’s town, she wanted it to be perfect, and she did this by trying to rid of the evil
in her townspeople.
One interesting thing that is about her in the book is that she has a symbol, and that
symbol gives her the justification of her actions and keeps her sane. This symbol is the roses that
are planted in front of her house. This is an important symbol for her because her grandmother
planted these roses, and her mother tended them, just as she does (P.163) making the roses a kind
of deed to own the town. Seeing that these roses are now passed to down to her, she thinks that
she has the right to do whatever it takes to make the town just right.
Therefore, Miss Strangeworth is a perfectionist who tries to get rid of the evil inside the
people by sending letters to make them suspicious of each other. The sad thing is that nobody
knew it was her, until she got a little sloppy herself…
Cupid’s Essay
Miss. Strangeworth is a cruel woman who hurts the people of her town with her
insensitive and overly harsh views.
Miss. Strangeworth appears to be more sensitive than anyone else yet she truly has a
stone cool heart. From quirks that everyone has, in her case no one can touch her roses, to bigger
things like her letters such as “didn’t you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just should
have children should they?” Yet she holds herself out of judgement by leaving her letters
anonymous saying “a name honoured in the town… did not belong on such trash” if anyone ever
asked if it was her.
Miss. Strangeworth’s overly judgemental personality is by all means toxic and harmful to
everyone in her community. Although Miss. Strangeworth is trying to do good, “the road to hell
is paved with good intentions” and she is heading down it. Her letters of warning are more the
cause of anger and stress then the relief of it. In the end her hurtful letters drive one or more of
the town’s folk to revenge (“look out at what used to be your roses.”)
It is not the fact that she writes these letters that makes her cruel, but the fact that it
continues and that it’s not fact but “the more negotiable stuff” that makes her cruel. None of the
receivers know what is truth and what is suspicion and most of the events or things she writes are
unavoidable and just make the person scared. The worst of it is that she does not realize that her
repeated letters are what are driving her town toward the evil she tries to prevent.
Mrs Strangeworth is unaware that her ways are far worse then “the wickedness of the
world” because they hurt all who are or where close to her.
Rudolf’s Essay
Evil might be one of your best friends. In the story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley
Jackson, a greatly respected and friendly woman, Mrs. Strangeworth, spreads her evil by sending
malevolent letters to her unsuspecting friends which are depressing to both the recipients and
others. Mrs. Strangeworth’s toxic personality actively harms those around her; as she is
judgemental, arrogant, and narrow-minded.
Mrs. Strangeworth’s personality harms those around her as a result of her letters. Her
letters contain messages and comments that despair others, personally inflicting emotion stress.
Some of the harmful comments she has written are: ‘”you ever see an idiot child before? Some
people shouldn't have children”’, ‘”is the wife…always…last one to know?”’. Her letters not
only affects the ones that read from them, but also to others because the words might also hint to
others’ ‘bad’ motives in relation to the reader. As some people have thought “would never have
imagined…his grandson might be lifting petty cash from the store register…one of Miss
Strangeworth’s letters.” (P.170). In one letter, “[To] Linda Steward’s parents…Miss
Strangeworth…sent letters…[in case] if…anything between Linda Stewart and the Harris boy.”
(P.170)This affects Linda Steward’s parents directly, but will also affect the Harris boy as the
parents might try to restrict him; as they were “unaware of possible evil”
She is judgemental, arrogant, and narrow-minded, as the comments and hints she gives
reflect on her true personality. Her comments, ‘”an idiot child”’ (P.169), ‘”some…shouldn’t
have children”’ (P.169), and ‘”last one to know?”’(P.169), directly speaks judgement on others,
overall only thinking in a limited view which focuses on the ‘could-be’ ‘wrongs’ of people. Most
of her comments were just assumptions and guesses because of her arrogant personality. As the
story tells us: “Mrs. Strangeworth [will be] genuinely shocked if there [is] anything between
Linda Steward and the Harris boy.” (P.170), it means that she does not know for sure. She is
narrow-minded as she does not think of the consequences and yet blames it on others: “Many
people [seems] disturbed recently” (P.167), “[She shakes] her head…Martha definitely did not
look well.” (P.166)
Mrs. Strangeworth harms those around her because of her negative personality with a
biased opinion toward humanity. She spreads evil because of her displeasure; but is because of
her evil that she is displeased even more so. It is through the negative aspects of her personality
to exploit the ‘wrongs’ or possible ‘wrongs-to-be’ of others that define her evil.
Prancer’s Essay
People either say the truth to your face or only think it but do not say it because they are
scared. Ms Strangeworth, the main character of “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson
believes she knows her town very well. Ms Strangeworth is a very judgemental lady who says
one thing but thinks the other.
Ms Strangeworth is under the impression that the she knows everything about the little
town she lives in. Ms Strangeworth “[knows] everyone in town, of course”(page 163), she insists
on telling the tourist who are eager with questions. Tourists walk by Ms Strangeworth’s garden
in admiration of her beautiful roses. Ms. Strangeworth brags about the fact that “[her]
grandfather built the first house on Peasant Street”(page 163), stating that it is her town because
she is the last person from her family descent. Ms Strangeworth announces to every stranger that
walks by her how “[her] family has lived here for better than a hundred years” (page 163)
continuing her story by reciting all the stores in town and of the townspeople.
Ms Strangeworth assumes one thing and implies the other. Ms Strangeworth thought to
herself “Martha Harper was not as young as she used to be”(page 166) glancing at Ms Harper.
She thought again wondering, “if [Ms Harper] had been taking proper care of herself”(page 166).
While Ms Harper quickly approached, Ms Strangeworth greeted her by saying “Martha, don’t
you look well”(page 166). People around town find Ms Strangeworth an odd person who is kind
and caring but they do not know one thing about her. She writes little letters to the people in
town, “Ms Strangworth never concerned herself with facts; her letters all dealt with the more
negotiable stuff of suspicion”(page 169). She would write these letters to inform the people of
what they do not know, but when Ms Strangeworth ran into the person, she never mentioned
anything.
Ms Strangeworth loves to believe that she is aware of everything and that not everyone
else is. She feels it is her duty to let the townspeople know. But what happens when truth is
untold.
Blizten’s Essay
What you do to others may eventually come back and happen to you. In “The Possibility
of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, Ms. Adela Strangeworth thinks she’s amazing and perfect but she
hurts people in the end, she was hurt by someone. Ms. Strangeworth who seems like an amazing
and nice old woman is secretly judgemental and mean to other people.
Ms. Strangeworth is a hypocrite for being so friendly to people in person but insulting
them in letters. She wrote to Don Crane about his “idiot child” (page 169) and how he shouldn't
have had a child but in person, Adela seemed genuinely nice to their family. Also, Ms.
Strangeworth probably frightened Mrs. Foster by giving her more things to worry about her
coming operation instead of being nice and supporting her. Mrs. Strangeworth’s letter to Mrs.
Harper contained information that could make her upset and insecure. Miss Strangeworth has
two personalities and even though one was supposedly secret, she was nice to people’s faces but
mean and evil in letters.
In irony to her image of the community, Ms. Adela Strangeworth is a judgemental
woman. When she went to greet Helen Crane, she was judging her baby and their parenting skills.
Adela was also friends with Tommy Lewis but she stopped calling him Tommy once he quit
high school and started working at the local grocery store. Ms. Strangeworth also judged Mrs.
Harper when she thought she wasn’t looking well and teased her in the letter. Miss Adela isn’t a
very nice person in general.
Throughout the story, Adela thinks that there’s a lot of evil inside people but she doesn't
know that she’s evil too. Evil can be described in many ways and one of Miss Adela’s evil acts is
being very judgemental. Another one of her flaws would be thinking so highly of herself since
her grandfather built the first house on Pleasant Street. She also thinks nobody should have her
roses since they belong on Pleasant Street instead of being in “strange towns and down strange
streets” (page 165). Evil comes in many forms and Miss Adela is one form of evil.
She’s a different type of evil from the townspeople; she’s actually the most evil of them
all. Miss Adela Strangeworth is evil in her own ways and one day if you turn evil, you may end
up more hurt than Ms. Strangeworth. Evil can live on forever…
Dasher’s Essay
Evil comes in many different styles, however, the most bold and unexpected style is the
kind that you can’t see from the outside. From Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility of
Evil”, that is just what Ms. Strangeworth is. One might see a frail and sweet old lady, but
actually in the inside, lives a quiet devil. With her sweet, innocent features, and discourteous
letters, she harms those living around her.
Ms. Strangeworth of Pleasant Street is a hidden and mysterious old lady. Always being
secretive, Ms. Strangeworth “[keeps] her notepaper inside… the desk [,] locked.” (Page169). She
wrote letters to others from the secrecy of her own home, where no one could see what she wrote.
When she makes even the tiniest mistake, she goes “to the kitchen stove and burn[s] [the letter]
at once.” (Page169). However, the most obscure thing about Ms. Strangeworth is the fact that
she “[mails] her letters very secretly” (Page172) and she times her walk to “just as
darkness…dim[s]…people’s faces…” (Page172). From the way she locks her notes away, burns
her mistakes, and mails letters when no one can see her, it can be concluded that Ms.
Strangeworth has a very secretive, as well as strange side of her characteristic.
Everyone that knew Ms. Strangeworth knows her as just a sweet old lady. With her
“pretty little dimple showing by her lip” (Page163), she would “stop every minute or so to say
good morning to someone, or to ask after someone’s health.” (Page165). When she heads into
the grocery, everyone stops what they’re doing just to say hi or good morning to dear Ms.
Strangeworth. The children even “stood respectfully as [she] passed…and some of the older
[ones] greeted her… soberly” (Page172). Sharing greets with one another, the whole town
knows that Ms. Strangeworth is a sweet old woman, who was always so nice and friendly. She
was the kindest old lady of the whole town, at least that’s what the whole town thought.
Finally, Miss Strangeworth writes these horrid letters that kept the “town in order”. She
claims she has the duty “as long as evil existed unchecked in the world… to keep her town alert
[of it].” (Page170).With her hypocritical “job” she anonymously sends heartless letters to people
around town that either would hurt their feeling or just make them really angry. To one mother
who was worried that her child wasn’t as active as she should be, she wrote “Didn’t you ever see
an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn’t have children should they?” (Page169). Now
she didn’t just write one of these types of letters, she wrote three of them in only one day. Ms.
Strangeworth, no matter how old and fragile she looks, is a person who cared so much for her
town, that her letters of “goodwill and helping to fight evil” are very heartless and evil
themselves.
In conclusion, Ms. Strangeworth is a rather strange woman, who is mysterious, looks and
sounds very kind and gentle, but has the overpowering mind to fight evil in the world, with the
hurtful words on her letters. Her hidden evil characteristic is what makes her as a character so
interesting compared to the other characters in the story. How would anyone know if someone’s
evil? Well, perhaps the answer to this lies beneath each one’s heart and soul, but no one should
ever forget that there’s always “The Possibility of Evil”.