The Possibility of Evil
By: Shirley Jackson
About the Author
![Picture](/uploads/2/2/8/7/22875252/5301821_orig.jpg)
Shirley Hardie Jackson was born December 14th, 1916 in San Francisco and died August 8, 1965 in North Bennington. She was married to Stanley Edgar Hyman and had four children. Shirley was an American writer and attended Syracuse University in 1937. She then graduated in 1940 and moved to New York's Greenwich Village and
Pre-reading Reflection
How do you define "evil"?
Evil is defined as something profoundly immoral or wicked. Evil also means something sinful.
If you suspect that someone is going to do something evil, what responsibility do you have to prevent it?
Why do people sometimes enjoy saying bad things behind other people's backs?
People sometimes enjoy saying bad things behind people's backs because what they are saying might be amusing or entertaining. Sometimes people enjoy saying bad things so that they can make themselves feel or seem cool or to gain more friends.
What's the best way to respond to a person who does this?
The best way to respond to a person who does this is to tell them to stop and that what they are doing is not right and it's not nice. If for some reason they don't stop, then you can tell an adult.
Evil is defined as something profoundly immoral or wicked. Evil also means something sinful.
If you suspect that someone is going to do something evil, what responsibility do you have to prevent it?
Why do people sometimes enjoy saying bad things behind other people's backs?
People sometimes enjoy saying bad things behind people's backs because what they are saying might be amusing or entertaining. Sometimes people enjoy saying bad things so that they can make themselves feel or seem cool or to gain more friends.
What's the best way to respond to a person who does this?
The best way to respond to a person who does this is to tell them to stop and that what they are doing is not right and it's not nice. If for some reason they don't stop, then you can tell an adult.
Vocabulary:
Infatuated: in love; "Don and Helen Crane were really the two most infatuated young parents she had ever known, she thought indulgently, looking at the delicately embroidered baby cap and the lace-edged carriage cover." (pg. 28)
Indulgently: to treat yourself, to enjoy a lot of something; "Don and Helen Crane were really the two most infatuated young parents she had ever known, she thought indulgently, looking at the delicately embroidered baby cap and the lace-edged carriage cover." (pg. 28)
Negotiable: to compromise or make a deal; "Miss Strangeworth never concerned herself with facts; her letters all dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion." (pg. 32)
Degraded: reduced in rank or value; "The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded, and needed to be watched; the world was so large, and there was only one Strangeworth left in it." (pg. 33)
Proverbial: an object of common mention or reference; "After her dishes were done and her kitchen set in order, she took up her hat—Miss Strangeworth's hats were proverbial in the town; people believed that she had inherited the from her mother and her grandmother—and, locking the front for of her house behind her, set off on her evening walk, pocketbook under her arm." (pg. 34)
Unduly: excessively, in an inappropriate or improper manner; "She did not feel that any of them were staring at her unduly or longing to laugh at her; it would have been most reprehensible for their parents to permit their children to mock Miss Strangeworth of Pleasant Street." (pg. 35)
Potential: possible, opposed to actual; "She did not notice it because she was wondering whether a letter to the Harris boy's father might not be of some service in wiping out his potential badness." (pg. 36)
Indulgently: to treat yourself, to enjoy a lot of something; "Don and Helen Crane were really the two most infatuated young parents she had ever known, she thought indulgently, looking at the delicately embroidered baby cap and the lace-edged carriage cover." (pg. 28)
Negotiable: to compromise or make a deal; "Miss Strangeworth never concerned herself with facts; her letters all dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion." (pg. 32)
Degraded: reduced in rank or value; "The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded, and needed to be watched; the world was so large, and there was only one Strangeworth left in it." (pg. 33)
Proverbial: an object of common mention or reference; "After her dishes were done and her kitchen set in order, she took up her hat—Miss Strangeworth's hats were proverbial in the town; people believed that she had inherited the from her mother and her grandmother—and, locking the front for of her house behind her, set off on her evening walk, pocketbook under her arm." (pg. 34)
Unduly: excessively, in an inappropriate or improper manner; "She did not feel that any of them were staring at her unduly or longing to laugh at her; it would have been most reprehensible for their parents to permit their children to mock Miss Strangeworth of Pleasant Street." (pg. 35)
Potential: possible, opposed to actual; "She did not notice it because she was wondering whether a letter to the Harris boy's father might not be of some service in wiping out his potential badness." (pg. 36)
Contrasting Ideas:
Miss Strangeworth Seems Evil• Miss Strangeworth seems evil when she doesn't give her roses away or let anyone touch them
"Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses, although the tourists often asked her. The roses belonged on Pleasant Street, and it bothered Miss Strangeworth to think of people wanting to carry them away, to take them into strange towns and down strange streets." (pg. 26) • Miss Strangeworth seems evil when she talks about Helen Crane's baby in a rude manner and says that Helen basically spoils her "I suppose you've got young Don all upset about the fact that his daughter is already six months old and hasn't yet begun to learn to dance?" "Well, apologize to her right now," Miss Strangeworth said. She is probably worrying about why you keep jumping around all the time." (pg. 29) • Miss Strangeworth wrote a rude letter "After thinking for a minute, although she had been phrasing the letter in the back of her mind all the way home, she wrote on a pink sheet: Didn't you ever see an idiot child before? Some people just shouldn't have children, should they?" (pg. 31) • She wrote another rude letter, this time to Mrs. Harper "After thinking for a minute, she decided that she would like to write another letter, perhaps to go to Mrs. Harper, to follow up the ones she had already mailed. She selected a green sheet this time and wrote quickly: Have you found out yet what they were all laughing about after you left the bridge club on Thursday? Or is the really always the last one to know?" (pg. 32) • Miss Strangeworth never put her name on the letters she wrote; she secretly writes the letters so that no one knows it's her and does not think anything bad of her "Although Miss Strangeworth had never given the matter any particular thought, she had always made a point of mailing her letters very secretly; it would, of course, not have been wise to let anyone see her mail them." (pg. 35) |
Miss Strangeworth Does Not Seem Evil• Miss Strangeworth does not seem evil when she greets people and asks about how their health is
"Walking down Main Street on a summer morning, Moss Strangeworth had to stop every minute or so to say good morning to someone or to ask after someone's health." (pg. 26) • She does not seem evil when she acts polite toward Mr. Lewis "Yes, thank you, Mr. Lewis. Such a lovely day, isn't it?" (pg. 27) • She seems polite when she smiles at the children greeting her "Miss Strangeworth smiled at them and quickly went on." |