“The Possibility of Evil” Study Guide
Directions: Answer the questions fully and in complete sentences to receive full credit. Write
your responses to the questions in the boxes that follow the questions. If a question says you must
cite evidence/examples from the story, you must do so, or you will receive no credit.
1. Does Miss Strangeworth understand the harm she is causing other? Cite evidence/examples from
the text to support your answer.
2. Review your definition of evil that you created in your journal write. Is Miss Strangeworth an evil
person? Are her actions evil? Use examples from the text to support your response.
3. Reread lines 219-238. Explain the irony—the contrast between appearance versus reality—in Miss
Strangeworth’s insistence upon living “graciously.”
4. The narrator offers more than one reason for Miss Strangeworth’s secret activity. What is her main
motivation in sending these letters? Cite evidence and examples from the text to support your
answer.
5. What do you think of the punishment Miss Strangeworth receives at the end of the story? Is it
appropriate or fair? Explain.
6. How do you think Miss Strangeworth’s life in the town will be different after her secret is
discovered? How do you think she will be treated? How do you think she should be treated?
7. What social or political issues do you think the author Shirley Jackson is trying to draw attention to
by writing this story? Cite examples from the text as support for your answer.
PLOT LINE
Climax
Complications
1.
2.
Resolution
3.
4.
Exposition
Theme:
Setting:
Protagonist:
Point of View:
Antagonist:
Basic Situation/Problem:
External Conflicts:
Symbols:
Internal Conflicts: