Please write on your own paper!!!!
The Possibility of Evil
Reading Questions
1. Describe the setting of the story.
2. Describe/discuss the character of Miss Adela Strangeworth.
3. How long has Miss Strangeworth lived in her town? Discuss her ties to the town and infer how this
makes her feel about her position there.
4. Examine the portrait of Miss Adela Strageworth. What impression do you have of the woman shown?
Which details help you form this impression?
5. Discuss how the town’s visitors respond to Miss Strangeworth’s roses. Explain how she responds.
6. Explain how the people in town react and respond to Miss Strangeworth. What do you think their
impression of her is?
7. Why does Miss Strangeworth take time to greet so many people?
8. Lines 75-80 What can you infer from the way Mrs. Harper reacts to Miss Strageworth’s comment?
9. Describe Ms. Harper as she reaches for her pocketbook. Explain what Mrs. Strangeworth thinks about
Martha’s behavior.
10. Don and Helen Crane “were really the two most infatuated young parents she had even known.” What
does the word infatuated mean in this context as it refers to Don and Helen Crane as parents?
11. What does Miss Strangeworth believe about the Cranes?
12. Reread lines 125-130 Notice how the author uses modifiers such as red, pink, and white and unbelievably
trim to vividly describe the house and its surroundings. How does visualizing different parts of Miss
Strageworth’s house help use to understand her character?
13. Discuss the relationship between Tommy Lewis and Miss Strangeworth and explain how that
relationship has changed over the years. Infer what might have been the basis of the relationship. Then
explain how and why it changed.
14. There is a revealing statement about how the town views Miss Strangeworth. Explain what that is and
why.
15Explain why Miss Strangeworth uses certain paper to write her letters.
Please write on your own paper!!!!
16. Discuss the purpose of Miss Strangeworth’s letters and explain how she feels about them.
17. Why does Miss Strageworth write letters in childish block?
18. Why do you think Miss Strageworth calls the letters she writes “trash?”
19. Explain what Miss Strangeworth sees as her role in the community.
20. Reread lines 175-180 What is Miss Strageworth suggesting in this letter to Mrs. Harper?
21. After finishing the letters, Miss Strangeworth sets down to tea. Discuss the irony of her thoughts after
writing the letters. Explain Miss Strangeworth’s idea of “living graciously”. Then, prove that she is not.
22. Miss Strangeworth thinks that there is “so much evil in people. Even in a charming little town like this
one”. Explain what the evil is.
23. Describe the climax of the story.
24. Explain how the townspeople discover that Miss Strangeworth is the one sending the letters. How do
they get revenge on Miss Strangeworth?
25. How is the story resolved?