Kathrine Mansfield's Miss Brill

According to Elizabeth Lowell, “Some of us aren't meant to belong. Some of us have to turn the world upside down and shake the hell out of it until we make our own place in it.” Sometimes what every situation needs is an outsider to flip the script and create a new outlook on everything. In Shirley Jackson’s novel, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” the speaker, Merricat, is an outsider of society on many levels, such as mental health, gender, and that she is an upper class citizen in a poor area. Although Merricat is mentally unstable, her outsider’s perspective criticizes the social standard for women in the 1960s, indicating that social roles, marriage, and the patriarchy are not necessary aspects in life such as it is not necessary to have the same outlook on life as others.

Throughout your entire life you will change immensely. From the child who dreams of being a firefighter or nurse to the adult who retires early from their job, none expected how things turned out. They take many roles in their lives. A woman, as an infant, is the one nurtured and cared for. But when she marries and has her own family she becomes the protector and nurturer. In John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces we can see the many stages of the life of women and the different roles they go through in their lives.

In her story, “Old Woman Magoun” she delivered a feminist message more directly than ever. It’s based in turn-of-the-century New England, patriarchy still defined relationships even though the men themselves had degenerated. The story reflects the realities of Freeman’s own life, as her father’s business failed and her mother became the support of the family. However, Freeman’s life was not unique; rural New England is

Independence is an empowering state where one feels no need to rely on another. In the short story “A New England Nun,” Mary E. Wilkins Freeman demonstrates the internal struggle of a woman accustomed to being solitary that she feels confined by her upcoming marriage. The author presents the characterizations effectively through Louisa’s internal independence, the comfort she has with her household, the relationship she built with her fiancé and the connection she has with her late brother’s dog.

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.

Susan Glaspell’s play is very good at bringing to light the stereotypical roles of women. It also shows how hard women have worked overtime to get equal rights. “Stereotypes about gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment because of a person’s gender. This is called sexism” (Parenthood, 2017). That transition was very hard for women everywhere and even men. Over the years of the Progressive Era, many women were brave for standing against men who didn’t see them as anything but house cleaners and babymakers. The number of ladies that worked in the 1900’s were, “1,740,800 for Domestic Servants, 124,000 teachers, and 68,000 nurses” (Trueman, 2017). As you can see, there are more Domestic

Miss Brill is a single woman, probably in her mid to late fifties. She lives alone in a very small space without even a cat or bird. She has a collection of vintage clothing. Her physical appearance is only alluded to in the 18-paragraph short story by Mansfield, but in reading about a day in her life, one has the impression of an intelligent, sensitive

Men were also in control of women. (Hall 6)They told the women what to do and the women obeyed because they had no other option. From the surface, the narrator seemed to have the perfect life. She was a white middle class woman who was spending the summer in a fancy house rented by her husband, while someone else stayed at home and took care of her baby. But if you look below the

o you remember when women were limited to being just a wife? Being a doctor, lawyer or writer was only in our dreams. Women were stuck against a rock and wall looking for a way to explore all the opportunities in the world. Women were forced to be submerged under silence, lies and broken promises. It feels like women had to hold their tongue and stay insulated in stillness, so the truth would not emerge from within. Due to this recognition of the struggles for women over the years, Novelist, Virginia Woolf, in her argumentative essay “Professions for Women”, demonstrates the uphill battle that women had to face to be successful in their careers. Woolf speaks through her own persona in this essay by relating it back to her own personal life. She adopts an effective essay by incorporating symbolism, parallelism and allusion to sympathize with her audience to be true with who they are in order to be successful.

In the 1950’s through the 1960’s women were not respected in there everyday lives, in the job field or in general. They did not have the rights they deserved, so during this time the “women’s movement” began. Women fought for their rights and fought for the self-respect that they thought they deserved. In the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the character Mama, expresses her feelings of pushing or extracting a new side for a woman. Her role explains that woman can be independent and can live for themselves. Through her behavior in this play she demonstrates that women can support and guide a family. Mama is in charge of the family, which is unusual, since men are traditionally the “head of a family”. Through Mama’s wisdom

Throughout the story we see the protagonist struggle with the gender roles placed upon her by her society; specifically the role she is supposed to play as

“In the history of feminism Universalism has played a crucial role. The revolutionary promise to realize the individual human rights of liberty, equality, and political participation has been the basis for women’s claim for citizenship in Western democracies since the eighteenth century” (Scott). The problem, of course, could be that feminism is often difficult to define, a problem noted by bell hooks and Carmen Vasquez. Vasquez argues that feminism, unfortunately, "has come to mean anything you like […] There are as many definitions of Feminism as there are feminists" (Vasquez qtd. in hooks 17 qtd. in Brunnemer). Women fought long and hard to achieve equal right with men, but in the 1870s that equality was just a dream. Ibsen’s play “A Doll House” shows just how unequal women were compared to men during this period of time. “The play was deemed so daring that, when performed in many countries, the ending was changed so that Nora returns home, finding she cannot leave Torvald or her three children so great is her love and devotion to them” (Brunnemer). There were two roads that could have been taken by women in this era. Road one was being a wife and a stay at home mom. The second road was being a low paid labor worker. Nora and her childhood friend Kristen represent the two choices that women had to choose from.

“Look at us! We’re just like everyone else. We’ve bought into the same ridiculous delusion; this idea that you have to settle down and resign from life.” (April Wheeler, Revolutionary Road). It has become a society norm that women are meant to serve housewives; to cook, clean, garden, and nurture children, even though they are much more capable of other things. The role of women is greatly overseen, as they are not perceived to be of their full potential, rather than as societies idealistic expectation. This is because men and those who are wealthy are unable to look past gender and accept women as of equal significance.

Miss Brill “sits in other people’s lives,” as she watches her life fly away (201). Mansfield suggests that she finds her life empty, and she finds joy in drama of other people’s lives. Her loneliness was like a bare hole in her heart. Miss Brill seeks out excitement to remove her latent thoughts of her lonely existence. By using the other people at the park, Miss Brill finds a temporary filling for her need of companionship. When Miss Brill speaks about the people around her being in a theatrical production, it makes her “role” in life feel important. (202). “Even she had a part and came every Sunday… she was part of the performance after all” (202). Mansfield acknowledges a method to cope with the struggle towards Miss Brill’s realization that she is not important in society anymore. The use of emotional appeal emphasizes the lonely existence faced in the vision of Miss Brill.

Intended for adults, particularly married couples. Encourages women to take a leading roll in society, be brave and do what they want to do with their lives. Shows men dangers & downsides to women living just for their husbands’ happiness, instead of being ambitious, independent, and making decisions for themselves.