Traditionalism

One of the primary character traits readers may notice about Miss Strangeworth from early on in the story is her dedication to keeping things exactly the way they are. As early as the second paragraph, readers receive an indication that Miss Strangeworth cares deeply about her family’s history in the town and wishes to preserve it at all costs: “She had never spent more than a day outside this town in all her long life...and she sometimes found herself thinking that the town belonged to her” (1). Her dedication to her town, while seemingly admirable, is also unsettling because it provides her with feelings of possession and control over the community. Her routine lifestyle and desire for traditional values to persist in the town ultimately becomes the weapon she uses to destroy it.

The narrator includes a number of details that suggest Miss Strangeworth is...