Possibility of Evil by: Shirley Jackson

1. Possibility of Evil by: Shirley Jackson Presentation by: Katlin Banks & Desiree Smith

2. Shirley Jackson • 1916-1965 • Died of heart failure • She had four children • Wrote her first story in 1937

3. 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.”

4. Setting • Small town • Main Street • Pleasant Street • Post office

5. Characters • Miss Strangeworth- Main Character • Don Crane: married to Helen Crane, has a newborn child (page2, 4, and 6) • Helen Crane: speaks to Miss Strangeworth outside of the grocery store (page2) • Harris boy: often seen with Linda Stewart, object of Miss Strangeworth’s eye for evil (pages 4, and 6) • Mrs. Harper: received a harsh letter from Miss Strangeworth (page 4)

6. Point of View • 3rd person limited

7. Theme • Evil is everywhere and within every one there is no way to rid evil.

8. 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”

9. Special Topic • Irony (Class discussion)