Describe/discuss the character of Miss Adela Strangeworth. Miss Strangeworth is an old lady of seventy-one years who lives in a clean and pleasant town. She feels she owns the town, and that it is
her job to prevent wrong-doings and acts of evil
by sending gossip letters to people’s houses.
Why does Miss Adela Strangeworth send her letters?
Miss Strangeworth claims that
she writes her letters to alert people to possible evil
. In lines 180-193, however, it is also revealed that she likes writing the letters. … As she reads the letter, she begins to “cry silently for the wickedness of the world.”
Why does Miss Strangeworth send nasty letters?
In “The Possibility of Evil,” Miss Strangeworth writes
letters to others to relieve her repressed aggressions and to project her own fears and desires onto others
.
What do Miss Strangeworth’s letters symbolize?
The letters sent by Miss Strangeworth represent
evil in her town
. Instead of doing good, the letters were crass, bitter and unwantedly exposed personal problems. … Never aware of possible evil lurking nearby, if Miss Strangeworth had not sent letters opening their eyes”(4).
What was the motivation behind Miss Strangeworth sending her evil letters?
First, we learn that Miss Strangeworth likes
writing the letters and that she perceives a divide between a town facade that is “clean and sweet” and the underlying (to her) reality that people are really “lustful and evil and degraded
.” It seems that Miss Strangeworth herself has felt forced to keep up too much of …
Is Miss Strangeworth an evil person?
Miss Strangeworth is evil
, too, because her moral values are misplaced. She puts more emphasis on appearances than on compassion. For example, she is inordinately proud of her beautiful roses, and the beauty of her garden makes her feel superior to her neighbors.
Has Miss Strangeworth lost her sanity is she truly evil?
Miss Strangeworth did not actually see any evil
. She didn’t even guess that anybody in the town was doing anything evil. She sensed that there was evil behavior going on in the town, and she saw the possibilities of evil in many human relationships.
Who destroyed Strangeworth’s Roses?
Therefore,
Don Crane
must be the man who destroyed all of her treasured rose bushes and sent her the letter reading: Look out at what used to be your roses.
Why does Miss Strangeworth lie about the goings on in her town?
Why does Miss Strangeworth lie about the goings on in her town?
She sees herself as the owner of the town
. Her grandfather started the lumber mill and built the first house in the town, and she is very proud at that.
Why does Miss Strangeworth think of the town as belonging to her?
Why does Miss Strangeworth think of the town as belonging to her?
Her family has lived there for over a hundred years. Her father had an important longstanding lumber mill. Their house was the first house on Pleasant Street.
What is Miss Strangeworth’s first name?
Miss Strangeworth’s first name is
Adela
and Mrs. Harper’s first name is Martha. Adela Strangeworth has already sent several of her poison-pen letters to this poor woman who appears to be someone she has known for years. That day when Miss Strangeworth gets home she writes another.
What do miss Strangeworth’s roses symbolize?
The roses symbolize
Miss Strangeworth’s sense of privilege and pride
. Because they were planted by her grandmother, they represent a kind of inheritance, in the same way she feels ownership over the town itself, which, she thinks, would not be here were it not for her grandfather.
What do miss Strangeworth’s actions reveal about her character?
Miss Strangeworth mainly reveals
she is evil through the anonymous, poison pen letters she sends to her small town neighbors
. They are filled with cruel statements and false insinuations.
Why does Helen Crane tell Miss Strangeworth her fears about her daughter?
Expert Answers
Helen Crane tells Miss Strangeworth about her fears
because the older woman seems to her like a trustworthy and sympathetic confidant
. When the two women meet outside the grocery store on a bright day, Miss Strangeworth smiles down at the baby in a disarming manner.
How did Don Crane know Miss Strangeworth sent her the letter?
How did Don Crane know that Miss Strangeworth wrote the letter to him?
Don Crane saw Miss Strangeworth put it in the mailbox. Miss Strangeworth accidentally put her name on it. Miss Strangeworth
gave the letter to Don Crane in person.
Why does Miss Strangeworth send nasty letters to people what is she trying to accomplish Does she succeed?
By sending the letters, she
is hoping to stop trouble before it begins, or combat the evil deeds committed in her town
. Since the only true evil apparent to the reader is her own, no, Miss Strangeworth does not succeed in making her town better. She makes a lot of people nervous, frightened and sad.
