False Identities in The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant and Miss Brill, by Katherine Mansfield

“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant displays a critical view of the materialistic ways which society forces upon women. During the late 1800’s, wealth and social status defined a person. Mathilde Loisel, a middle-class woman, is not content with her social status. She has dreams of being wealthy and having a plethora of riches. Through the use of irony and tragedy in the life of Mathilde Loisel, Maupassant displays the harsh realities behind materialism.

The tragedy of the story rests in that she does not see herself as this. She describes some of the other people in the park as "... they were nearly always the same, Sunday after Sunday, and - Miss Brill had often noticed - there was something funny about nearly all of them. They were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd come just come from dark little rooms or even - even cupboards!" (Mansfield 259), this is exactly what she is. Not only does this

In the story, she overlooks how good her life is and constantly mopes that she doesn’t have better possessions. Not only does she have a loving husband who would do anything for her, she even has her own maid and cook. Even after all of this, she’s still not happy with her life. Her husband tries to make her happy by getting her an invite to an exclusive party, but it seemingly makes her worse for a moment. To go to the party, she tells her husband she needs a new dress, so he buys her one. The dress is still not enough, however, so she goes to her wealthy friend and borrows one of her necklaces for a while. After the party, she realizes she’s lost the necklace and tries to delay getting it back to her friend until she can find a replacement. Her and her husband buy a replacement that takes 10 years of multiple jobs and major budget cuts to pay off only to find out the necklace she lost was actually a fake necklace worth $500. Sometimes, greed yields more drastic results than this

In “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, the reader is given a sense of the way that Miss Brill perceives the world around her “like white wine splashed over” the Jardins Publiques she visits every Sunday. Miss Brill is optimistic and inquisitive about the lives of the other visitors to the park and from her “special seat” weaves herself into their stories eavesdropping on their conversations to form her own opinion of the quality of their lives (Mansfield 1). We learn the reality as the story progresses, that her perception of others and most importantly herself is skewed and when hit with the harsh reality that her world is not as wonderful as she perceives she feel shame and sadness for her lonely life.

However, the ignorant side of Miss Brill can be seen as she deludes herself by stating that “No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there; she was part of the performance after all” (Mansfield 3). She deceives herself by stating that she is part of something greater: a grand play. She raises herself higher and higher in importance only to fall from grace at the end. This denial of the truth is what emphasizes the fact that she too is part of the old age which is exiled by society. This idea is further supported as Miss Brill views the young couple replace the old couple in her “special seat”. This exchange symbolizes the constant cycle which occurs between youth and old age. As the old become brittle and useless, the youth of the time will replace them. However, Miss Brill has still not realized that she is part of the elderly

For a long time, the aging Miss Brill, an English teacher, sees people as actors and their daily lives as a play. Miss Brill is forced to confront the reality that her imagination has so long prevented her from seeing. In Katherine Mansfield’s 1920 short story “Miss Brill,” Mansfield shows how illusions do not last forever in the face of reality.

She would look at all the action that went on around her, as said in, “How she loved sitting there, watching it all! It was like a play” (641). Miss Brill felt as if she was a character and the people around her are characters as well, said in, “…they were all on stage” (641). Miss Brill is the individual who noticed every detail of her surroundings.

In the story “Miss Brill” written by Kathrine Mansfield demonstrated to me that many women are capable of being independent. There are many women out there that start living on their own and gradually learn life survival. Ms. Brill is a lonely, elderly woman who is caught within her fantasy that the world is a play, but is soon thrusted back into the harsh realm of reality. Ms. Brill has a constant regime that she abides by as she gets up every Sunday morning to go to the park and observe conversations. She is motivated to go to the park since it makes her feel as if she is able to fulfill her fantasy. This whirlwind of a vision leads Ms. Brill to believe that "the world is a stage" and everyone is an actor within it. Before she would leave

She pays attention to the smallest details. "Wasn’t the conductor [of the band in the park] wearing a new coat, too? She was sure it was new. He scraped with his foot and flapped his arms like a rooster about to crow… Now came a little ‘flutey’ bit—very pretty!—a little chain of bright drops. She was sure it would be repeated. It was; she lifted her head and smiled" (98). Even if she’s only an observer, Miss Brill is an involved observer. She draws enjoyment from simply being in the park atmosphere. However, her enjoyment is more than a passing mood. It’s actually an indication of a deeper emotion—a kind of happiness. This becomes clear after Miss Brill has paid close attention to several small exchanges between people at the park. "Oh how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting here, watching it all!" (99). That Miss Brill does not actually participate in anything is clear to the reader, but not to her. Vicarious involvement in other people’s lives seems to be fulfilling for her, even though there is no actual interplay with others. The most telling evidence that Miss Brill is happy (and that her happiness is based on a false impression) is when she comes to the conclusion that she’s somehow needed at the park. "No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there; she was part of the performance after all… Miss Brill nearly laughed out loud" (100). This realization eventually moves Miss Brill to

The details as told, seem to be coming directly from Miss Brill at times. The narrator gets us settled into the park with Miss Brill and tells us that she sees those around her as “odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they’d just come from dark little rooms or even-even cupboards!” This tells me that Miss Brill sees herself differently than she sees others, not odd or funny. She is a part of all this life and activity at the park! An actor in the grand play and “somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there.” She really loved to be out with others and thought that she was very much a part of the world and not apart from it. Don’t we all feel this way? Some people are truly introverted and care little of interacting, but I think the majority of us strive to become part of the world and at times feel like this life is one big drama and we have a big part. Our role might only be important for one scene, but we feel like the leading man or woman at times. The narrator leads us to what appears to be a fitting climax; a crescendo of music and song, with all players involved. Miss Brill’s dreams of this were quickly shattered. The comments by the young people, “Why does she come here at all-who wants her? Why doesn’t she keep her silly mug at home?” leaves Miss Brill with the cold realization that she is in fact like the odd, old people that she watches in the

In Katherine Mansfield’s short story “Miss Brill” we meet an elderly woman named Miss Brill, who on Sundays goes to the Jardins Publiques or the public gardens and listens to the live band and to observe the people there. When we are introduced to Miss Brill we assume that she is very loving and happy, but we soon come to realize that she is the total opposite. Miss Brill is nothing but an old lady who is hypocritical towards others, in denial, and also lonely. Which she is later humbled at the end of the story.

She views herself as an actress in a great play when she goes to the park and sees everyone else there as the other actors and actresses in the play. Miss Brill imagines a conversation she will have with the man she reads to several times a week and sees herself telling the man “I have been an actress for a long time,” showing that she does view the trips to the park as something out of a play and not a way to engage herself in the real world (177). This essentially creates a barrier between Miss Brill and the rest of the people at the park, making it impossible for her to physically interact with others and form lasting

"Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield illustrates the story of a woman who goes out out on a Sunday afternoon and sees the world as a play, with everyone - and herself - acting out their roles. She wears a fur which the author mentions throughout the story, and Miss Brill’s realization of her loneliness is only shown at the end of the story as she takes it off. Mansfield employs the techniques of characterization, imagery, and motifs to express the theme of human alienation in society.

Ms. Brill is a story of a woman enjoys the life she lives. Every Sunday she continues her normal routine of going to the park to hear the band play. Each week she looks forward to going to the park as it can be full of surprises, but this Sunday is the beginning of the new season and fresh faces will arise. In Katherine Mansfield’s “Ms. Brill” the theme that is common thought the story is loneliness and delusion. Ms. Brill is not in touch with the reality of her true self as she is in denial of her age, people watching each Sunday makes her feel as if she is a part of something bigger than herself, when in reality she’s just living in a fantasy of her own that will soon be bringing her to reality.

Guy De Maupassant 's, "The Necklace", is a short story about Mathilde Loisel, a middle-class wife, who is dissatisfied with her life and believes that she was meant to live as an upper-class woman. When invited to her husband 's ball, she manipulates her way into getting a new dress and borrows her friend 's diamond necklace. After the ball, she discovers the necklace is gone. Both Malthilde and her husband delay returning the lost necklace, and secretly buy a replica. They both struggle ten years of hardship to pay off the debt, only to reveal that the lost diamond necklace was not but costume jewelry. The short story contains many literary elements that helped give the story a deeper meaning and complexity.