Miss Brill Short Story Analysis

Sometimes the book made me laugh and I cried a bit in the end. You defiantly get caught by the book, by ‘A’ and the fascinating life ‘A’ lives. You want to know what happens with the people you meet through the story. You easily feel like you’re apart of the story.

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.

Short stories are a great way for an author to get a point across to his audience in a short amount of time. It also allows the author to develop their characters and teach the audience lessons through those characters. That is exactly what the authors of “Killings” written by Andre Dubus, “Greasy Lake” written by T. Coraghessan Boyle, and “An Ounce of Cure” written by Alice Munro did in their short stories. They built up their characters to think one way and then towards the end had something happen to those characters. The result of all of the actions that happened to these characters was they each had an epiphany.

how stories are what make this world come to life literally. Which connects directly to short

Short stories can be bland and boring. As you read some of them, you can feel emotion or just read a boring story about how something changed their life, but these three stories are interesting because they develop horror. These short stories use different elements to create horror. “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “A Rose for Emily,”, and “The Lottery” develop horror/gothic elements.

There are many components involved when analyzing a short story such as, main characters, point of view, plot, theme, and setting. Sometimes the answer is in black and white and other times it takes critical thinking to come up with a response. Some short stories have an important real life lesson while others are simply easy to relate to. Symbolism also plays a role in short stories by giving an event, object, or words being said a deeper meaning than the surface that brings importance to the story. “The Fat Girl” by Andre Dubus, “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich, and “An Ounce of Cure” by Alice Munro are stories that contain most of the components of analyzing short stories.

Short stories often have various underlying themes and meanings to them and can often be compared to other stories to find those same meanings. Occasionally, you need to dig deeper to find these hidden meanings. The three short stories, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield, and Everyday Use by Alice Walker all share some similar themes and ideas that require some digging to uncover and bring to the surface.

The short story consists of both short sentences and long sentences. The sentences are short when something dramatic happens and the short sentences make it more dramatic and interesting to read

The most important part of the short story is to have a setting. The setting gives you clues that what the characters are doing to give impact of the scene. For an example “ The room, through the doors and windows were open, was oppressively hot.” lines (17-18) The protagonist of the short story is James Clarence Withencroft. He wakes up on a hot summer morning living by himself. It takes place in

Some short stories have a unique way of grabbing the reader’s attention and have the ability to keep them interested while reading. Short stories come in all different styles and have different ways to approach the theme. Chinua Achebe is an African-American novelist, who has written many novels in his time. Chinua Achebe writes about different themes in his novels, but the recurring theme I see often is tradition. Shirley Jackson is another African-American novelist, who has written many novels as well.

Liminality, or the liminal space, can be an effective literary tool used to represent the disparity between ones perception of themselves and the perceptions of those around them, as well as form one of the truest reflections of an author’s episteme. Defined as “the in-between zone” where a person or object is simultaneously part of two categories as well as neither, liminality is found across a variety of literary texts in one form or another. Katherine Mansfield, of New Zealand and England and described as a “liminar” by Sarah Ailwood (2005), utilises an array of interpretations of liminal space to express the concept through both character and story. Mansfield either directly or indirectly reflects her own experiences as a liminar caught between two worlds in her short stories. ‘Miss Brill,’ and ‘Life of Ma Parker’ both individually and uniquely represent a different interpretation of liminality that reflects the experiences of Mansfield. ‘Miss Brill’ provides a unique and personal take on liminality and internalised emotion and ‘Life of Ma Parker’ represents the experience of identity and perspective, influenced by her opinions of her home country and reception in England. In discussing the preceding texts and providing a detailed comparison of episteme and liminality, it can be shown that the either conscious or subconscious insertion of oneself into a piece of literary fiction through concepts of liminality provides a reflection of the episteme of a given author.

Source: CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Oslo 2008 – ''Access to English literature, VG3''. Anthony, Burgess, Mikkelsen & Sørhus. Chapter 1, page 23-24.

The short story is a concise form of narrative prose that is usually simpler and more direct compared to longer works of fiction such as novels. Therefore, because of their short length, short stories rely on many forms of literary devices to convey the idea of a uniform theme seen throughout the script. This theme is illustrated by using characteristics that are developed throughout the story such as, plot, setting and characters. The three main components are developed throughout the story in order to guide the reader to the underlying theme, which is necessary as a short story lacking a theme also lacks meaning or purpose.

There are so many different things one can learn from reading a story. Stories vary in length but it seems that your appetite for reading will gauge the kind of stories you elect to read. People who enjoy long thought out complex reading will enjoy much longer published works than what a short story has to offer. However there is a large population in the world of people who do not want to spend days on end reading a novel that is several hundred pages long and takes days to convey a simple message. In fact, many people want just the opposite in their reading. Many readers want a story that is short, sweet, and to the point. Something that they don’t need to spend hours or weeks on end reading but instead can get the exact same message or meaning from instead of having to spend a ridiculous amount of time reading a much larger work. Authors often want readers use the Formalist approach when reading these short stories as authors use words to convey the same message or meaning in less text than a much longer published work with hundreds of pages, it does this by using the text itself as a canvas for creativity. The Formalist approach is a great tool when it comes to writing short stories, and its use in Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor is classic example of how the Formalist Approach can be so effective in such a short story. Authors are incredibly

It’s been a long time since I have critiqued a book or written an analytical essay. I really enjoy reading based on obtaining the background of a character and their relation to the overall story.  I like short stories too because they land at the heart of the intended metaphor, moral and overall thesis in a short reading period.  I’m able to read more and learn more by reading short stories.  I have a collection of Christmas short stories on my Nook that I read every holiday season.  I need to get my Nook fixed or buy another gadget so I can read them this year.  The holiday themed stories help me to get into the holiday spirit.  The feeling that a book can bring out in his characters to make you feel positive and uplifted is what I really enjoy from reading.