“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.

She is an elderly woman, but she is not a “normal” old woman. "The old people sat on the bench, still as statues. Never mind, there was always the crowd to watch.” This quote shows what Miss Brill thinks about elderly people. By doing this, she is acting like a teenager, sort of immature. She likes to be different from the other elderly people or people who act like old people. In the same way, when she saw old people who were sitting on benches, she said that they were "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!” In this way, she is putting herself away from that “old people”. She describes them in a negative tone and showing that she is much more than one typical frail old

She tries to find satisfaction through what the conversationalists communicate to one another but her selfishness fails for her heart to be fulfilled. The elderly lovers sitting next to her brought her frustration, “They did not speak. This was disappointing, for Miss Brill always looked forward to the conversation… ’Dear me! Miss Brill didn’t know whether to admire that or not!’” (Mansfield 183; 185). Miss Brill focuses solely on her happiness and struggles to find contentment. This causes Miss Brill dissatisfaction in what she encounters. She displays inconsiderate behaviors, “Only two people shared her ‘special’ seat… She’d glanced, sideways, at the old couple, Perhaps they would go soon. Last Sunday, too, hadn’t been as interesting as usual” (Mansfield 183). In Miss Brill’s eyes, she sees herself as the only human who trying to locate comfort and love. She thinks the action at the garden would not be the same without her because she appears a part of the plot. She considers her “special seat” as if she owns it and will only part with whoever brings a fascinating

Another key characteristic of Miss Brill is her critical behavior. Miss Brill is extremely observant of the people and the environment in the park. Mansfield proposes her critical trait is related to her complete mental lack of companionship. Miss Brill observes very detailed things about people that others would not notice at first glance. “Wasn’t the conductor wearing a new coat, too? She was sure it was new” (201). It is obvious to see Miss Brill as a bit delusional about the happenings around her. With a detailed eye, Miss Brill also describes how the band

In the both short stories – “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, and “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, we can find some similarities and differences as well. Even though their settings are different from one another, both stories’ settings really matter to the main motive of the stories. If they would have different settings, the stories’ themes wouldn’t be the same as they are now. The settings dramatically reinforce the isolation and solitude of the protagonists in the both stories.

“[The old couple] did not speak. This was disappointing, for Miss Brill always looked forward to the conversation” (176).

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

“Understanding Miss Brill” Most elder women find joy in everyday activities. In the story, “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield takes us into the life of the main character Miss Brill. Miss Brill is an old lady who finds happiness by going to watch bands and the people around her every Sunday morning. Miss Brill is developed through her actions, choices, and her thoughts and feelings. To begin, Miss Brill’s actions shows that she is an old lady with little to do, she enjoys being surrounded by people because it gives her something to do.

The unchecked reality of a lonely woman, who comes to the park to give her life meaning, has now generated a surreal and misguided notion that she is an instrumental part in this play. Miriam Mandel, a literary critic, states, “The images which bring the scene to life simultaneously reduce it: we see not only what Miss Brill sees, but we see how she sees what she sees” (Mandel). To clarify, Mandel believes that Miss Brill’s character uses the actions of those around her and transforms these very real scenes — filled with real life human beings -- and reduces them to an unrealistic theater piece. Thereby, further causing Miss Brill’s disillusioned reality, hence the minimization of the real world that she still resides in. Ultimately, Miss Brill’s sensibility of the truth comes crumbling down around

Another sign of Miss Brill’s need for companionship is evident in her perception of the music which the band is playing at the Jardins Publiques: “It was like someone playing with

In the short story “Miss Brill” Katherine Mansfield uses vivid characterization to develop the story’s theme. The first person point of view allows the reader to fully understand the thoughts and emotions Miss Brill experiences during her Sunday afternoon concert. During her trip to the Public Gardens Miss Brill eavesdrops on a younger couple and hears their ridicule and torment from afar. This causes Miss Brill to feel an intense isolation from the world around her. The theme of “Miss Brill” is extreme loneliness and solitude.

One of Miss Brill’s main character traits is her sense of loneliness. She tries to cope with this feeling by visiting the park every Sunday to people watch. By listening and watching the people around her, she is able to connect herself to them in an attempt to escape her unappealing, anticlimactic life. Through eavesdropping on other people’s conversations she is “sitting in other people 's lives for just a minute” (219). She wants to imagine herself included, important, and a part of a family. What is interesting is the fact that Miss Brill doesn’t make an effort to engage in conversation with any of the other characters. She solely observes her surroundings and makes judgements. She thinks of the other people as "funny...odd, silent, nearly all old...as though they 'd just come from dark little rooms” (220). Rather than seeing herself as one of them, she creates an

She sits in the park speaking to her coat as if it were a real person. Miss Brill finds her company in her fur coat since she does not feel like part of the world. One day in the park, she is mocked for sitting by two kids with her coat. She is heartbroken and feels that no one in the world will except her existence. She feels that the only way to get away from life troubles is to speak to her fur

Miss Brill is a solitary woman who spends her Sunday in a park, relating in vivid details the happenings around her. She is dressed in a fox fur, though the weather does not call for it, as she believes it to be representative of her high status. She admires the music around her, thinking it to be reflective of her experiences. An old couple is seated on her bench, and she is dissatisfied that they are not talking since she enjoys eavesdropping on their conversation. Her attention switches to others in the park, the children, a beggar, all who she describes as looking strange. She notices a young girl trying desperately to gain a man's attention but fails. Though the girl seems happy and quickly moves on, Miss Brill instead concentrates on

When the characters in the play are silent, Miss Brill imagines what they must be saying. However, their silence makes eavesdropping on their lives quite difficult (Wilson 2: 145). She also has a tendency to judge the characters, seeing them in ways that others in the garden likely view her. For instance, she finds many of the older people in the garden “odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though