The Possibility of Evil

Title: The Possibility of Evil
Author: Shirley Jackson


Biography

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco, in 1916. She attended Rochester University briefly, but eventually ended up receiving her Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. While attending Syracuse, she worked for the school newspaper, The Spectre, and this is where she met her future-husband. They moved to an area near Rochester, and this home is where she based two of her novels, both which tell, in a very humorous way, of the experiences she has had being a mother and a wife. Jackson’s biggest work was and is the story “The Lottery.” Although she received lots of criticism for it, the story was the one that brought her to the attention of many readers and it was a major success. Unfortunately, Jackson did not lead a very healthy lifestyle and died at the age of 49. However, she was still able to inspire other writers such as Richard Matheson, Neil Gaiman, Nigel Kneale, and Stephen King.

Symbol

In this story the main character, Miss Strangeworth, is similar to a dirty mop, her intentions are good but she just makes matters worse.

Response:

1. What is Miss Strangeworth trying to accomplish be sending out her letters? Does she succeed?

Miss Strangeworth is trying to create a world as perfect as her own. Whenever she finds a wrinkle in her life she irons it out immediately, and this is what she is trying to help everyone else do with their lives too. She does not succeed because she does not realize that not everyone operates the same way as she does. Miss Strangeworth likes to know of anything that could possibly go wrong, and thinks everyone else would like to know these things too. She also does not realize that these “possible evils” just worry most other people and cause conflict instead of satisfying them, like it does for her. She fails to recognize that accusation and suspicion stirs more evil than it prevents. She is also not able to compute that people need to be allowed to make mistakes, or else they’d only ever learn from other’s experiences and never their own.

2. How would you describe the story’s atmosphere at the beginning? How does this atmosphere help to emphasize the ending?

The atmosphere at the beginning of the story is positive, jolly, and so flawless it nearly gives a sense of foreboding, that something “evil” must be lurking in the perfectness. Everything is so impeccable, Miss Strangeworth seems to know something we, the readers, don’t, and we see that people are acting strange. This all adds to the omni-present feeling that something is just not right. Also, this feeling is aided be the title and the introduction sentence.

This atmosphere created at the beginning, helps emphasize that Miss Strangeworth likely sees the world in a similar manner as the story is presented to us. She views the world as a nearly perfect place, the only thing holding is back is the evil, which she knows can appear anywhere. As the story progresses, we start to understand her way of viewing the world better, so when the ending come crashing down on her, it also crashes down on us. However, we see both sides of the story, making the ending even more poignant.

5. What do you think this story is saying about crime and criminals? Do you agree? Discuss, giving examples to support your opinion.

I believe this story is saying that society will never rid ourselves of all crime and criminals so we should not concern ourselves with the very small crimes, and should devote our attention to larger issues. I do agree, because small crimes can usually be easily fixed, and the criminals who commit these crimes usually can be punished through simple means and they will learn from their mistakes.

6. Consider both Miss Strangeworth's anxiety about evil and the final crime in the story. Do you think human beings will ever create a society that is crime free? Comment.

Humans will never create a crime-free society. People will always have different opinions on right and wrong and different things that people do will seem perfectly justified in one person’s mind, however appear as a crime in another’s. The people who believe that what has been done is a crime, will want the person who commited the “crime” to be punished. If the person is not, then the people wanting the punishment will then feel they must take it upon their shoulders to stop these crimes. These misunderstandings will lead to more crimes. We can diminish the amount of crimes in our world through education, but humans by nature will always feel some effects of greed, which is the main cause of crime, and therefore crime will always exist among humans.

Critical Thinking

i) Why do you think the author wrote the text?

I think the author wrote the text because she wanted to remind people that every human is capable of doing or creating evil and we need to accept this fact, and we will never be able to prevent all evil. So, to some extent we can try to stop people from doing evil, but to a certain point we are helpless. In “The Possibility of Evil,” we watch Miss Strangeworth try to prevent all evil, however, we watch her fail and end up stirring more evil than she prevented. Also, I believe the author wrote the text to remind people of the dangers of gossip, and although you mean well by telling somebody what you think, they will not always see eye to eye with you and this can cause more “evil” than you were originally trying to prevent.

ii) What does the author want you to think?

The author wants us to think about the fact that nobody is perfect and that as long as people are different and have different opinions, there will be a certain amount of friction between some people and occasionally this friction will lead to the doing of evil. Also, the author wants us to think of how the things we might say may affect people in a much larger way than we expect. For example, Miss Strangeworth does not think of how large an impact her letters might have on people, and as a result people get very upset with Miss Strangeworth and destroy her most prized possession: her rose garden. The author wants us to think of how we can avoid making the same mistake.

iii) Do you belong to any of the groups in the text?

I believe most teenagers, including me, have belonged to the group of people who Miss Strangeworth accused. As a teenager, many adults falsely accuse you of causing trouble, for what seems like no reason at all. They may be like Miss Strangeworth, trying to prevent any trouble from happening, but in actuality; this just causes even more trouble. Most teenagers if told to go away take it more personally than they should and will try and retaliate in some way to the person who accused them of causing trouble. Although, the accuser was trying to prevent evil, he or she ends up causing it.

iv) Does the story remind you of a real-life event (your own or others)?

The story does not remind me of any single real-life event, but of an event which occurs very commonly in our age of computers, mobile phones, and the internet. The media constantly carries stories of where, usually teenagers, have sent anonymous texts, phone calls, or emails to people they either don’t like or they want to say something to but feel they can’t say it face to face. These messages end up either insulting the receiver, or there is a misunderstanding in the receiving or sending of the message and the end product is usually unnecessary conflict. These types of stories are similar to the one in “The Possibility of Evil,” because the Miss Strangeworth didn’t want to say her message face to face with the people concerned, she was too afraid of tainting her reputation in the town, and her anonymous message got taken more seriously than expected, and also ended with conflict which could have been avoided if Miss Strangelove had talked to the people who could have been affected in person, and then raised her concerns.

v) Does the story remind you of another book or movie on a similar topic?

This story reminds me of the movie "The Aviator." Mrs. Strangeworth and the main character of "The Aviator," are similar in that they both are paranoid of something evil happening around them. The protagonist of "The Aviator" is paranoid to a more specific event, but I still find the stories similar because the two characters both appear bordering psychosis because of their paranoid natures.

vi) How does the story help you think about social issues and social justice?

This story helps me think about the social issue of responsibility. A very common saying is “with great power comes great responsibility.” I believe this quote applies directly to this book because, since Miss Strangelove is a senior citizen and has lived in the same town for her whole life, she has acquired quite a lot of social power within the town. Because of this power, people respect her and trust her and will allow her to find out their problems, feeling their information is safe with such a recognized member of the community. However, Miss Strangeworth abuses this privilege. She does not use her power very responsibly and she is punished for it. This is a lesson we all can take from, privileged information is power, in a way, and with that information comes responsibility.

vii) What action might you take from what you have learned?

If I have a concern I will try to raise it directly with the person involved, and talk to them about it. When information is passed either through people or through any other way of communication other than face-to-face talking, things can often be misunderstood and this can lead to unnecessary conflict.

viii) What big question has this text left you with?

When are the right moments to raise one’s concern with somebody else and when are the right moments to say nothing at all?