Character Analysis: Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

             Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill" is a short story told from the point of view of an aging protagonist named Miss Brill. On a Sunday outing at the park, Miss Brill is cruelly forced to see herself in a different light, a view that portrays her as an insignificant character in a "play" she pretends to star in (Mansfield 261). Although Miss Brill attends every Sunday gala at the park alone, she pretends that her presence is important to everyone and that "no doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there" (261). Despite this, the enjoyment she receives from this weekly event comes, not from interaction, but from her close observations of her surroundings. In fact, the only conversations she takes part in are those held by others, her role being an innocent eavesdropper to the mundane thoughts expressed by her neighbors. After all, "she had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn't listen, at sitting in other people's lives just for a minute while they talked around her" (260).
             Miss Brill's constant observing and listening make it apparent that she lives her life thriving on others' experiences. However, she was not interested in "the old people...still as statues" (260). Her disinterest comes from her perception of them "looking as though they'd just come from dark little rooms or even – even cupboards!" (260). Miss Brill's descriptions outline her lack of understanding for the world that she observes so intimately, including her place in that world. Miss Brill's usual habit of listening in on others' conversations, which in the past brought sustenance and enjoyment in her life, abruptly ruins her outing, as well as her sense of self, on that particular Sunday afternoon. This occurs when she overhears a young couple insulting her, the young woman calling her prized fur "fried whiting" and the young man describing her as a "stupid old thing" (262). Their statements make her realize that h...

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Character Analysis: Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:10, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/17688.html