Miss Brill

Summary

Miss Brill, by Katherine Mansfield is a short story that depicts the character of Miss Brill. It does so through showing Miss Brills thoughts and actions, not by dialogue. The story begins with Miss Brill getting ready to go the park where a band played every Sunday afternoon, and where she also went every Sunday. She finds great enjoyment coming every Sunday and part of the pleasure she recieves comes from the fact that she gets to watch others and listen in on others conversation. She even finds great joy in thinking that the audience is like one big play, a play that even she is a part of. Towards the end of the story, however, her comparison is diminished when she hears a young couple ridiculing her, and her fur that she wore that day. After this she is unable to carry on with her Sunday tradition.

Reaction

My reaction to the piece was that of sadness. Miss Brill's character to me was a sweet old lady. A lady who, like a lot of older people, had no actual realization of the world and how differently it had become since they were young. The innocence is a part of them, and its that way with Miss Brill, everyone has some good in them through her eyes. Through the story we can see how Miss Brill see's others, in one part she calls them, "odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just coe from dark little rooms or even-even cupboards!" I found this funny because this is just the way she is, yet she doesn't see herself this way, its cute. The end of the story almost brought me to tears as it talks about the young man and woman who Miss Brill is secretively eavesdropping on. They speak of her meanly and crush her spirit. This sweet old woman goes home without stopping by the bakers for her usual slice of honeycake. The ending is a sad one, and makes one wonder what happened the following Sunday.