Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill

In the short story “Miss Brill” the protagonist, Miss Brill, is a lonely and isolated woman who likes to spend her Sunday afternoon’s in the park observing everyone around her and listening to their conversations without them knowing. We can infer that Miss Brill has created her own fantasy world to escape the harsh reality of her own life. At the end of the story the audience can come to the conclusion that Miss Brill experienced an epiphany that will change her life.

Tone of Miss Brill Reading through the story of Miss Brill you see a glimpse into Miss Brill life, in that short glimpse you learn a lot about Miss Brill as a character. You see how she views the world and see the way she looks at life. The way the author portrayed this character sets the tone to the whole story, if I had to say what that tone is, I would describe it as loneliness. In this essay I will explain more on the details on how I came to this conclusion.

For example, “ALTHOUGH it was so brilliantly fine–the blue sky powdered with gold and great spots of light like white wine splashed over the Jardins Publiques–Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her fur” (Mansfield 1). Miss Brill is introduced as someone who is excited about her weekly walk in the garden, her positive outlook is reflected in the way she views the sky and the atmosphere around her as she gets dressed for her outing. Moments change the way that people think and their actions. In addition, Katherine Mansfield has previously stated, “Just at that moment a boy and girl came and sat down where the old couple had been. They were beautifully dressed; they were in love.

"Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield is a short story surrounding the main character Miss Brill as she goes about her Sunday routine. Through "Miss Brill" Mansfield portrays the theme that one can easily fall into a world of fallacy and blur the lines of fantasy and reality, and she utilizes irony to depict this. Verbal irony is seen in the way Miss Brill describes herself throughout the story. While sitting in the park, people watching, Miss Brill imagines herself as an actress in a grand play. She even states to an old man, "'Yes, I have been an actress for a long time'" (342).

In Katherine Mansfield’s short story, “Miss Brill,” she uses characterization to develop a whimsical tone that sharply shifts to a more despairing tone that reveals the theme of how prejudice towards people can have a profound impact on their self-image. “Miss Brill” is about an older woman who tries to fit into her surroundings by listening to other people around her and has a rude awakening where she becomes self-aware of who she is. Mansfield develops the character of Miss Brill through indirect characterization. One way this is done is developing Miss Brill to show that she is a lonely, older woman who inserts herself into people’s lives by “listening as though she didn’t listen” (Mansfield, Paragraph 3). Through her actions, the audience learns that this is how she tries to fit into her surroundings, saying that she’s an actress (Paragraph 9) which allows her to justify her actions and deem herself important and wanted.

With this information, the reader begins to have a full understanding of the entirety of Miss Brills’ lonely

In “Miss Brill,” Katherine Mansfield utilizes Miss Brill’s thoughts and actions and the surroundings to characterize Miss Brill as a lonely character. Mansfield immediately introduces Miss Brill with a very odd scene that shows her conversation with the fur coat. This quickly and effectively establishes the type of person Miss Brill is. As a result, Mansfield suggests that Miss Brill is a lonely and an “abnormal” person to illustrate to the audience how society treats those who are not considered “normal” through the later actions of a young couple.

With this information, the reader begins to have a full understanding of the entirety of Miss Brills’ lonely

“We sometimes think we want to disappear, but all we really want is to be found.” -Unknown. In the story, “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield expresses the dealt of people’s loneliness by creating hallucinations to avoid reality, she observes people and she wants the glamorous life. Miss Brill is a people watcher, she likes to observe the lives of others and what they go through. When she sat down and observes people, she likes to think about who are these people.

Miss Brill often finds herself personifying this fox fur, giving it gendered pronouns as opposed to objective pronouns. This indicates how the fur seems to be the only companion or friend that she has, and that she projects her loneliness onto this fox fur. The style of Mansfield’s writing shows that Miss Brill deeply cares about this fur, showing some of Miss Brill’s internal monologue as she takes the fox fur out of its box that afternoon. In the park, Miss Brill finds herself listening in to people’s conversations, as she feels like she can be a part of their lives this way even if it was just for a moment. The deep isolation and loneliness that Miss Brill experiences causes her to long for human connection -- though she never figures out how to achieve it. Also, it is interesting to see how Miss Brill describes the other elderly people in the park around her. She observes that they looked as though they had “just come out from dark little rooms or even — even cupboards!” This is significant because she compares them to her fox fur, which is something that she keeps in a cupboard until she is ready to leave her house again. She makes this comparison between the other elderly people at the park, however she does not make this connection to herself. This could show how Miss Brill separates herself from the other elderly people, because she longs for

self technique to express Miss Brill’s thoughts through the internal monologue that she has throughout the story. As recalled in the story, “Dear little thing! It was nice to feel it again”, “What has been happening to me?” (Mansfield 219). She personifies her fur coat as if it was human and was listening to what she was say by the sad little eyes.

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

Birds chirping, the band playing and Miss Brill sitting on her bench, “Miss Brill” is a short story about a lady’s everyday life. “Miss Brill” is by Katherine Mansfield, Mansfield uses the flat characters conversations to build up Miss Brill’s own character. Mansfield uses the conversations and actions to open up Miss Brill’s character. Miss Brill is a lady who has a beloved fur but throughout the story, we get a hint to what state it really is in. Miss Brill follows the same routine every Sunday first she pulls out her fur and “shaken out the moth-powder, given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the eyes.”

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

Mansfield’s use of third-person omniscient point of view is unique in that “while the narrator speaks in third person, detached, and with objectivity, it is still possible to see inside the mind of Miss Brill and learn everything that she is going through” (Ossa). Mansfield also uses third-person dramatic point of view towards the very end of the story to illustrate Miss Brill’s emotions after leaving the park: “...when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying” (865). Mansfield’s use of third-person omniscient and dramatic provides an expansive analysis on the thought and feelings