Adela Strangeworth

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today’s society, there are many crimes. Most of these criminals put their utmost effort to prevent their arrest. No matter how much effort is put in to prevent their own arrest, the actions of these criminals will eventually come back and haunt them. That is exactly what happens in the short story “the possibility of evil” by Shirley Jackson. Originally, Adela Strangeworth creates a beautiful façade hiding all her crimes, but this façade eventually shatters. Adela Strangeworth’s negative traits lead to this outcome. Her egocentric behavior, shown through the text, is a huge a reason why her identity is made apparent to the general populace at the end. There is also clear evidence of cynicism in actions and behavior of Adela Strangeworth. Finally, …show more content…
She always seems to worry about frivolous details as in this quote.” Miss Chandler seemed absentminded and very much as though she thinking about something else. Miss Strangeworth also noticed she hadn’t taken too much trouble with her hair either” (Jackson 214). In this quote, Adela Strangeworth is showing disparaging demeanor right now. She is worried about such small details and reflects on it in a derogatory manner right after. This demeanor leads her to write these letters. Also due to this demeanor, Adela Strangeworth writes her letters very maliciously. Her Disparaging demeanor puts her into a bigger predicament than she was before as well.” Linda Stewart’s parents would have gone unsuspectingly ahead with their lives, never aware of possible evil lurking nearby” (Jackson 216). In this quote, Adela Strangeworth is referring to a letter she sent, most likely about the relationship between Dave Harris and Linda Stewart. Adela Strangeworth probably sent a negative speculation about that relationship, which can be understood because of the behaviour of Linda Stewart’s father. Like all of Adela Strangeworth’s letters before, she does not know fully the situation many of her victims are facing. Due to this, her letters are destructive and not constructive. Her disparaging attitude also directly affect her. After eavesdropping on Dave Harris and Linda Stewart, Adela Strangeworth attempts to put her malicious letters in the mail box but sadly for her, one does not go in and falls out. This all happens and is seen by Dave Harris.” She did not notice it because she was wondering whether a letter to the Harris boy’s father might not be of service in wiping out potential badness” (Jackson 220). It is indubitably shown that Adela Strangeworth’s disparaging demeanor leads to the outcome of the story. Since she decides to meditate on this
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