In the article “Cinderella: Not so Morally Superior,” author Elisabeth Panttaja explains what is going on behind the scenes of Cinderella and how Cinderella found her destiny. Panttaja emphasizes that Cinderella’s mother may be physically absent but intervenes to make sure that Cinderella has a happily ever after. Panttaja reasons that Cinderella’s mother is actually the one who has control over the story in the end. Cinderella’s mother will do whatever it takes to get her daughter on top of the social pyramid. Cinderella’s mother grows into a tree to watch over her daughter and then puts magic birds on her tree to protect Cinderella from harm, such as when the magic birds pluck out the eyes of the stepsisters.…
Based on a character’s actions alone, many could be seen as evil or immoral. However, characters are not as black and white as they seem. Infact, many complex characters fall in between the lines of inherently untainted or inherently reprobate. In Charles Dicken’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge is a character who could, based solely on her actions, be considered evil or immoral. Yet, the full scope of her character leaves the reader feeling more sympathetic.…
Reading about Joy trying so desperately to avoid becoming her mother only to end up replicating her mother’s actions creates an intense frustration for the reader. Meanwhile reading Mrs. Hopewell describe the simplicity of good country people time and time again while remaining the simplest of characters creates a comedic irony. Both strategies are effective in their own regards, and O’connor’s, and many other Southern Gothic Author’s, inventive use of irony may be the quality of Southern Gothic Literature that has been luring readers of all statures to this genre for…
Throughout, “The Possibility of Evil,” Miss Strangeworth says and does things that leads the reader to think a certain way about her character. A word that describes Miss Strangeworth’s character would be meddlesome. For instance, over the course of the pages 370-371, Adela is writing her letters to people about her suspicions. On page 370, her letter states, “ Have you found out yet what they were all laughing about after you left the bridge club on Thursday? Or is the wife really always the last one to know?” In this particular letter, she is interfering in another couples relationship. She is meddling in Mr. and Mrs.…
This shows how Miss Strangeworth’s character can be analyze by considering what she does and says. Miss Strangeworth is a seventy-one old woman who believe the town belong to her and that it her job to fight all evil in it. Miss strangeworth’s is a very sneaky woman. Although Miss Strangeworth's desk held a trimmed quill pen, which had belonged to her…
Both Ms. Strangeworth from “The Possibility of Evil” and Captain Torres from “Lather and Nothing Else” represent the villain archetype; however, Miss Strangeworth better represents it because she enjoys the evil she causes, whereas Captain Torres does not. First of all, the roles of the characters are shown as villains throughout both of the stories. In the case of Miss Strangeworth, it is when she sends her malicious messages to the town without regard for their feelings (Jackson 5). Meanwhile, Captain Torres is revealed as the villain when the barber remembers “...the sight of the mutilated bodies kept me from noticing the man who had directed it all” (Tellez 1) about the captain. The two of them do horrible things to their respective towns; Miss Strangeworth, by sending her…
Ms Adela Strangeworth is the protagonist and is as well as the antagonist from “The Possibility of Evil,” a short story written by Shirley Jackson. She is the kind of person that is secretly all within us. She has all the motives to be good intention but hurts others without meaning to, which is very common now a days. Ms. Strangeworth is a dainty 70 year old women who is often seen wearing a nice neat skirt so who would ever suspect her as “evil?”…
Fictional stories with morals frequently reveal traits of human nature, through a character’s reaction to certain situations, which enable readers to reflect a lesson onto their own lives. In “The Possibility of Evil”, the main character, Miss Strangeworth, reacts to all of the “wicked people in the world…[by] listening carefully”, and writing letters…
In “The Possibility of Evil" by Shirley Jackson, Ms. Strangeworth stops her town from becoming evil by writing anonymous letters. The overall theme of the story is everything is not what it seems. Jackson utilizes the story to show how a person may not seem like the person you thought they were. Ms. Strangeworth appears to be a sweet old lady, but is she really? Throughout the story her true colors begin to reveal. Jackson develops this central idea through the use of irony. Through all three types of irony the theme is expressed.…
In nearly every tale, the story line contains multiple characters whom depict both good and “evil” qualities. In other words, they reveal opposite interpretations. These drastic differences can be drawn due to the lack of specifics in the reading. One interpretation may portray a character as pure and innocent. In another, they may appear at fault. Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, illustrates this notion through an accumulation of characters. Of the many, Ophelia may strike one as the innocent virgin, or rather the selfish and corrupt whore. An overall analysis may be useful in determining which portrayal is more accurate.…
Many people struggle with the idea of what it means to be a “good” person and what it means to be a “bad” person. The human quest to be good drives virtually everything we do but sometimes in the end may not amount to enough. We all want to be good, but it 's not easy. If you ask an evil person and a good person the same question, "Are you a good person?" Who do you think is more likely to say yes, the good person or the evil person? Everyone has their own opinion about certain issues, and they depend on their values, judgment, and beliefs to see them through their difficulties. Flannery O’Connor, an American writer, was quoted as saying "I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and that what I see in the world I see in relation to that" (Contemporary Authors 402). In the short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Flannery O’ Connor illustrates her argument of good and evil through a grandmother who struggles with her own insincere sense of goodness, and the Misfit who represents evil. Only true goodness illuminates when in the face of something bad. In the story a character who views herself as good comes to realize that this goodness that she believes she has cannot protect against the works of evil.…
At the beginning of the story Miss Strangeworth seems like a nice old lady. Walking down Main Street on a summer morning, Miss Strangeworth had to stop every minute or so to say good morning to someone or to ask after someone’s health. When she went into the grocery, half a dozen people turned away from the counters and shelves to wave at her or call out good morning. “And good morning to you, Mr. Lewis.” Miss Strangeworth said at last… “Good morning.” Mr. Lewis said, and added politely, “lovely day.” “It is a very nice day.” Miss Strangeworth said as though she had only just decided that it would do after all. “I would like a chop, please, Mr. Lewis, a small, lean veal chop.”…
She began to cry silently for the wickedness of the world (Jackson, 228).” Mrs. Strangeworth is…
"The Possibility of Evil", by Shirley Jackson, is a twisted story. It starts off with Ms.Strangeworth, the main character, having pride in her family and roses. She goes to the grocery store and has friendly conversations with the town's people, but goes back home to write anonymous, cruel letters to the same people she talked to. She later on gets caught and everyone knows all the letters were from her. By writing the letters, she thought she was stopping the evil in her town, but, the ironic part is, she's was the one causing it. The irony and theme impact the plot of this story, "The Possibility of Evil".…
The text under study is the last tea by Dorothy Parker. She is well-known for her humour and witty satire. The last tea is a story that is addressed to women and deals with 2 main topics: men`s attention and loneliness. This is a bitter story written in a cruel way. The story presents an interesting example of the indirect characterization. The author does not say directly that the girl is lonely but let her act and leaves the reader draw his own conclusion.…