miss brill thesis statement

A Summary and Analysis of Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Miss Brill’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Miss Brill’ is a short story by the New-Zealand-born modernist writer Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923). The story was first published in the Athenaeum in 1920 and then included in Mansfield’s 1922 collection The Garden Party and Other Stories : a book which, along with T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land , James Joyce’s Ulysses , and Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room , helped to cement the year 1922 as the annus mirabilis of modernist literature.

‘Miss Brill’: plot summary

Every Sunday, a lady named Miss Brill goes to the local public gardens to hear the band play and to sit in the gardens and people-watch. It’s part of the weekly ritual to look at others, and, in turn, to be seen by others.

The setting for the story is an unnamed town or city somewhere in France, as the French name of the gardens, ‘ Jardins Publiques ’, and the French spoken by the beau sitting with his young lover near the end of the story. In the course of the story, we learn that Miss Brill is a schoolteacher, and we infer that she is unmarried.

On the particular Sunday that is the focus of the story, Miss Brill puts her fur stole around her neck before she sets off for the gardens. While she is there and watching the people around her, she comes to realise that she, and all of the other people gathered in the gardens, appear to be in a sort of play: life, in other words, is one big performance, and she and everyone else are playing their part:

Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting here, watching it all! It was like a play. It was exactly like a play. Who could believe the sky at the back wasn’t painted? But it wasn’t till a little brown dog trotted on solemn and then slowly trotted off, like a little ‘theatre’ dog, a little dog that had been drugged, that Miss Brill discovered what it was that made it so exciting. They were all on the stage. They weren’t only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a part and came every Sunday.

Miss Brill’s realisation or epiphany (of which more below) might be regarded as a variation on the sentiment expressed by Jaques in Shakespeare’s As You Like It : ‘ All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players ’.

As the band start playing again, Miss Brill imagines that everyone present will begin singing together, and her eyes fill with tears at the thought. She believes that everyone is sharing a communal experience and that everyone understands.

But the end of the story brings a shock: everyone does not share her experience. A young couple come and sit on the same bench as Miss Brill, and she overhears their conversation, casting them as the hero and the heroine in life’s play. But she hears the man refer to her as a ‘stupid old thing’ before he asks, ‘who wants her?’ The girl responds by making a disparaging remark about Miss Brill’s fur stole around her neck, which she likens to ‘fried whiting’ fish.

Miss Brill walks home, but forgoes her usual treat of stopping off at the baker’s shop to buy a honey-cake. When she arrives home, and packs away her fur, and it is implied that she is crying as she does so.

‘Miss Brill’: analysis

‘Miss Brill’ is an example of modernist fiction, and this means that much of the story’s effect is achieved through suggestion rather than explicit description. Take that final paragraph, in which it is not openly stated that it is Miss Brill crying (the wording used by Mansfield makes it sound as though it is the fur itself shedding a tear): if Mansfield had written that she began crying because of what she had overheard in the gardens, the story would lose all of its delicate subtlety.

Instead, Mansfield’s final sentence – ‘But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying’ – distances Miss Brill from her own loneliness and sadness in a way that is entirely in keeping with her character.

The implication, of course, is that she doesn’t fully realise at first that she is crying, because the feeling of her life’s emptiness has sneaked up on her out of nowhere. The moment contrasts poignantly with Miss Brill’s earlier moment in the gardens, before she overheard the young man describing her as a ‘stupid old thing’, when she openly cried and acknowledged her own tears, as the band played.

Another key element of ‘Miss Brill’, and one often found in modernist fiction, is the idea of the epiphany: a realisation or revelation experienced by a central character in the story. This epiphany often provides a similar function to a plot twist or denouement in a more traditional (i.e., plot-driven) story: at the end of a detective story the mystery is solved and the criminal unmasked, for instance.

So in ‘Miss Brill’, we might say that the title character’s realisation that everyone seems to be in a play, and that the weekly ritual of walking and sitting in the public gardens is like a performance in which everyone plays their part, is an epiphany. She has realised something about the way this public space functions and that everyone is putting on an act: everyone is both part of the audience (watching everyone else) and performer (aware that everyone else is watching them).

But epiphanies in modernist fiction are often ambiguously poised between capturing genuine enlightenment (the protagonist has a life-changing realisation) and temporary change of mood (the protagonist thinks they have undergone a life-changing experience, but they are deluded about this). And there are several hints that Miss Brill’s epiphany is flawed or even misguided.

For instance, we are told, ‘No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there; she was part of the performance after all. How strange she’d never thought of it like that before!’ But the dismissive exchange between the two young lovers on the bench suggests that, if anyone did notice she wasn’t there, they wouldn’t be bothered: indeed, they’d be relieved she wasn’t there.

In Mansfield’s stories there actually tend to be several epiphanies, or miniature moments which suggest some kind of new awareness in the mind of the story’s protagonist. And another moment, related to Miss Brill’s realisation that everyone is playing a part, comes shortly after this when she imagines everyone in the garden singing along as the band play:

And Miss Brill’s eyes filled with tears and she looked smiling at all the other members of the company. Yes, we understand, we understand, she thought though what they understood she didn’t know.

This last sentence is revealing because it hints at something which we, as readers, may pick up on but which the story’s protagonist appears to be oblivious to: namely that if the other people in the gardens ‘understand’, but what they understand Miss Brill doesn’t know, then she clearly doesn’t understand them, nor they her.

In other words, the words are subtly ironic in that they show that Miss Brill does realise the truth of the matter, but doesn’t realise that she realises it: that is to say, she inadvertently acknowledges that she doesn’t understand the people around her (as the exchange between the young couple demonstrates), while deluding herself that she does.

After all, what does it mean to say ‘they understand what I mean’ if you then acknowledge that you don’t know what it is they understand? How can this be ‘understanding’ in the usual sense of the word?

‘Miss Brill’ is told in the third-person narrative mode, rather than the first-person. This is another key part of the story’s effects: if Miss Brill had been narrating her own experiences, it would have been more difficult for Mansfield to reveal to us the gulf between Miss Brill’s understanding of the people around her and the reality.

Part of the quiet tragedy of the story is that Miss Brill doesn’t fully realise, or confront, her own loneliness, the extent to which she was wounded by the young couple’s remarks not just because she is no longer young (as they are) or because she is not in love (as they are), but because her ideas about how she is perceived by others have just been exposed as false.

The fact that there is a generosity about her perception of others – that she is not some solipsistic attention-grabber who believes she, and only she is on the stage, but that everyone is performing, just as she is – only makes the crumbling of her weekly Sunday afternoon ritual, and the meaning she has invested in it, all the more piquant.

Writing the story from the third-person narrative viewpoint also allows Mansfield to make the most of a common modernist technique: free indirect speech , whereby a third-person narrator adopts the ‘voice’ (including the voice of their thoughts) of one of the story’s characters. This means that we are drawn into Miss Brill’s thoughts (and what we might call her stream of consciousness ) even though she is never speaking directly to us:

Miss Brill put up her hand and touched her fur. Dear little thing! It was nice to feel it again. She had taken it out of its box that afternoon, shaken out the moth-powder, given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes.

The words ‘Dear little thing!’ are too colloquial and personal to belong to the impersonal omniscient narrator: this exclamation is clearly what Miss Brill is thinking , even though the words aren’t explicitly credited to her by the narrator.

But because we move between more conventional third-person statements from the narrator (‘Miss Brill was glad’; ‘Miss Brill had often noticed’) and personal interjections from Miss Brill herself (‘Dear little thing!’; ‘Dear me!’), we have the curious experience of seeing everything through Miss Brill’s eyes but also, through the little hints that Mansfield provides us, gaining a view of the woman herself.

She is both spectator and performer: the narrative style of the story enacts the very dynamic that Miss Brill detects among the public gardens, where everyone is both seeing and seen, observer and observed. But Miss Brill learns that she is, like another lonely modernist figure, T. S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock , ‘not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be’.

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3 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Miss Brill’”

I have read this a few times and always read more and more into Miss Brill’s predicament. I love how she enjoys people watching and observing the world and to pass her own judgement on peoples’ apparent moods.She tends to notice how the music from the band changes as if they know the ‘actors’ on her stage.””But even the band seemed to know what she (The ermine toque was alone), was feeling and played more softly…and the drum beat –the brute–.

I wonder if she too had been stood up her in the park in her younger courting days!

Yes Miss Brill, the school teacher, was in my view sad and lonely, perhaps grieving for her lost past or a person who had given her the fur–- something gentle seemed to move in her bosom–perhaps a lost love.

The words from the young couple at the end were cruel or was this just a memory acting out in her mind. The realisation that she is alone and an old spinster strikes a bitter note. What did the fur represent? A gift, a token of a promise or even a child substitute. I understood the fur to be a wrap, a fox fur shawl rather than a coat.

The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying.

I enjoyed your analysis very much.

Thanks, James – much appreciated! And yes I agree about the possibility that she merely externalised her own suspicions about herself (and how she feels others view her) at the end with the young couple. Good point about the fur, too – I will add that in and mention you suggested this.

Yes, the fur is a stole. Truly ghastly. (Try search term “fur stole with head and feet” on Google Images for a picture, for those too young to have seen one.) The animal had been alive, but is now dead. Even in death it is defective: its nose, the organ of its most powerful sense, lacks firmness. A blob of wax, heated to melting, then cooled of course till solid and inert. Just the thing!

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Katherine Mansfield

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Miss Brill's Fragile Fantasy

A Critical Essay of Katherine Mansfield's Short Story

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• Writing Essays
• Writing Research Papers
• English Grammar
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

After you have finished reading Miss Brill , by Katherine Mansfield, compare your response to the short story with the analysis offered in this sample critical essay . Next, compare "Miss Brill's Fragile Fantasy" with another paper on the same topic, "Poor, Pitiful Miss Brill."

Sharing Her Perceptions

In "Miss Brill," Katherine Mansfield introduces readers to an uncommunicative and apparently simple-minded woman who eavesdrops on strangers, who imagines herself to be an actress in an absurd musical, and whose dearest friend in life appears to be a shabby fur stole. And yet we are encouraged neither to laugh at Miss Brill nor to dismiss her as a grotesque madwoman. Through Mansfield's skillful handling of point of view, characterization, and plot development , Miss Brill comes across as a convincing character who evokes our sympathy.

By telling the story from the third-person limited omniscient point of view , Mansfield allows us both to share Miss Brill's perceptions and to recognize that those perceptions are highly romanticized. This dramatic irony is essential to our understanding of her character. Miss Brill's view of the world on this Sunday afternoon in early autumn is a delightful one, and we are invited to share in her pleasure: the day "so brilliantly fine," the children "swooping and laughing," the band sounding "louder and gayer" than on previous Sundays. And yet, because the point of view is the third person (that is, told from the outside), we're encouraged to look at Miss Brill herself as well as share her perceptions. What we see is a lonely woman sitting on a park bench. This dual perspective encourages us to view Miss Brill as someone who has resorted to fantasy (i.e., her romanticized perceptions) rather than self-pity (our view of her as a lonely person).

Other "Performers" in the Story

Miss Brill reveals herself to us through her perceptions of the other people in the park--the other players in the "company." Since she doesn't really know anyone, she characterizes these people by the clothes they wear (for example, "a fine old man in a velvet coat," an Englishman "wearing a dreadful Panama hat," "little boys with big white silk bows under their chins"), observing these costumes with the careful eye of a wardrobe mistress. They are performing for her benefit, she thinks, even though to us it appears that they (like the band which "didn't care how it played if there weren't any strangers present") are oblivious to her existence. Some of these characters are not very appealing: the silent couple beside her on the bench, the vain woman who chatters about the spectacles she should be wearing, the "beautiful" woman who throws away a bunch of violets "as if they'd been poisoned," and the four girls who nearly knock over an old man (this last incident foreshadowing her own encounter with careless youths at the end of the story). Miss Brill is annoyed by some of these people, sympathetic toward others, but she reacts to them all as if they were characters on stage. Miss Brill appears to be too innocent and isolated from life to even comprehend human nastiness. But is she really so childlike, or is she, in fact, a kind of actress?

An Unconcious Link

There is one character whom Miss Brill appears to identify with--the woman wearing "the ermine toque she'd bought when her hair was yellow." The description of the "shabby ermine" and the woman's hand as a "tiny yellowish paw" suggests that Miss Brill is making an unconscious link with herself. (Miss Brill would never use the word "shabby" to describe her own fur, though we know that it is.) The "gentleman in gray" is very rude to the woman: he blows smoke into her face and abandons her. Now, like Miss Brill herself, the "ermine toque" is alone. But to Miss Brill, this is all just a stage performance (with the band playing music that suits the scene), and the true nature of this curious encounter is never made clear to the reader. Could the woman be a prostitute? Possibly, but Miss Brill would never consider this. She has identified with the woman (perhaps because she herself knows what it's like to be snubbed) in the same way that playgoers identify with certain stage characters. Could the woman herself be playing a game? "The ermine toque turned, raised her hand as though she'd seen someone else, much nicer, just over there, and pattered away." The woman's humiliation in this episode anticipates Miss Brill's humiliation at the end of the story, but here the scene ends happily. We see that Miss Brill is living vicariously, not so much through the lives of others, but through their performances as Miss Brill interprets them.

Ironically, it is with her own kind, the old people on the benches, that Miss Brill refuses to identify:

"They were odd, silent, 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!"

But later in the story, as Miss Brill's enthusiasm builds, we're offered an important insight into her character:

"And then she too, she too, and the others on the benches--they would come in with a kind of accompaniment--something low, that scarcely rose or fell, something so beautiful--moving."

Almost despite herself, it seems, she does identify with these marginal figures--these minor characters.

A More Complex Character

We suspect that Miss Brill may not be as simple-minded as she first appears. There are hints in the story that self-awareness (not to mention self-pity) is something Miss Brill avoids, not something of which she is incapable. In the first paragraph, she describes a feeling as "light and sad"; then she corrects this: "no, not sad exactly--something gentle seemed to move in her bosom." And later in the afternoon, she again calls up this feeling of sadness, only to deny it, as she describes the music played by the band: "And what they played warm, sunny, yet there was just a faint chill--a something, what was it--not sadness--no, not sadness--a something that made you want to sing." Mansfield suggests that sadness is just below the surface, something Miss Brill has suppressed. Similarly, Miss Brill's "queer, shy feeling" when she tells her pupils how she spends her Sunday afternoons suggests a partial awareness, at least, that this is an admission of loneliness.

Miss Brill appears to resist sadness by giving life to what she sees and hears the brilliant colors noted throughout the story (contrasted to the "little dark room" she returns to at the end), her sensitive reactions to the music, her delight in small details. By refusing to accept the role of a lonely woman, she  is  an actress. More importantly, she is a dramatist, actively countering sadness and self-pity, and this evokes our sympathy, even our admiration. A chief reason that we feel such pity for Miss Brill at the end of the story is the sharp contrast with the liveliness and beauty  she  gave to that ordinary scene in the park. Are the other characters without illusions? Are they in any way better than Miss Brill?

Sympathizing With Miss Brill

Finally, it's the artful construction of the  plot  that leaves us feeling sympathetic toward Miss Brill. We are made to share her increasing excitement as she imagines that she is not only an observer but also a participant. No, we don't believe that the whole company will suddenly start singing and dancing, but we may feel that Miss Brill is on the verge of a more genuine kind of self-acceptance: her role in life is a minor one, but she has a role all the same. Our perspective of the scene is different from Miss Brill's, but her enthusiasm is contagious and we are led to expect something momentous when the two-star players appear. The letdown is terrible. These giggling, thoughtless adolescents ( themselves  putting on an act for each other) have insulted her fur--the emblem of her identity. So Miss Brill has no role to play after all. In Mansfield's carefully controlled and understated conclusion, Miss Brill packs  herself  away in her "little, dark room." We sympathize with her not because "the truth hurts," but because she has been denied the simple truth that she does, indeed, have a role to play in life.

Miss Brill is an actor, as are the other people in the park, as we all are in social situations. And we sympathize with her at the end of the story not because she is a pitiful, curious object but because she has been laughed off the stage, and that is a fear we all have. Mansfield has managed not so much to touch our hearts in any gushing, sentimental way, but to touch our fears.

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“Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield: A Critical Analysis

“Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield is an acclaimed short story first published in 1920 in The Athenaeum, a British literary magazine.

Introduction: “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Table of Contents

“Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield is an acclaimed short story first published in 1920 in The Athenaeum , a British literary magazine. Later included in Mansfield’s collection of stories, The Garden Party and Other Stories, the narrative focuses on the life of Miss Brill, an elderly English teacher residing in France who spends her Sundays observing people in a public park and imagining their lives. The story’s subtle yet powerful portrayal of loneliness and isolation has garnered widespread acclaim, attesting to its literary merit. Notably, due to its timeless significance in the realm of literary discourse, “Miss Brill” has been anthologized extensively and is still scrutinized in literature courses worldwide.

Main Events in “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

• Miss Brill, an elderly English teacher, spends her Sundays observing people in a public park and creating stories about their lives.
• She enjoys wearing her fur coat and considering it as a companion, imagining it as a person with a voice.
• She encounters a young couple who mock her, causing her to feel rejected and isolated.
• Miss Brill returns home and puts her fur coat away, imagining it as dead and lifeless.
• She is then struck with the realization of her own insignificance and the harsh reality of her solitary existence.
• The story concludes with Miss Brill questioning her own role in the world and feeling an overwhelming sense of despair.
• The narrative is presented in a stream-of-consciousness style, allowing readers to see Miss Brill’s inner thoughts and feelings.
• Mansfield uses vivid descriptions and sensory details to create a sense of the park’s atmosphere and Miss Brill’s emotional state.
• The use of symbolism, particularly with the fur coat, highlights the theme of illusion versus reality.
• The story’s powerful ending leaves readers with a sense of empathy for Miss Brill’s loneliness and isolation.

Literary Devices in “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Characterization in “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Major character.

• Miss Brill: The protagonist of the story, Miss Brill is a lonely, aging woman who finds solace and a sense of purpose in her weekly visits to the park. Key aspects of her characterization:
• Delusional Optimism: Miss Brill constructs a romanticized view of her own life and place in the world. She imagines herself as an “actress” participating in the play of the park (“It was exactly like a play.”). This delusion shields her from the harsh reality of her isolation.
• Vicarious Living: Instead of actively participating in life, Miss Brill draws meaning from observing others. She eavesdrops on conversations and invents elaborate stories about those she sees (“No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there”).
• Sensitivity and Longing: Miss Brill is deeply affected by her surroundings and the emotions she perceives in others. The band’s music evokes powerful feelings within her, and she yearns for a sense of connection and belonging.
• Fragile Self-Image: Her cherished fur stole serves as a symbol of her attempt to cling to past vibrancy and a sense of worth (“What has been happening to me?” said the sad little eyes.”). The story’s cruel climax reveals the tenuous nature of her self-perception.

Minor Characters

• The Ermine Toque Woman: An older woman who also frequents the park. Her faded beauty and loneliness mirror aspects of Miss Brill’s own life and foreshadow her potential future. Miss Brill finds a fleeting connection with this woman, only to be disappointed when the woman departs without acknowledgment.
• The Old Couple: Regulars at Miss Brill’s “special” bench, they are described as statue-like and unresponsive. They may represent a further step in the decline Miss Brill fears, a life devoid of interaction.
• The Young Couple: This pair catalyzes the story’s climax with their cruel remarks about Miss Brill. Their casual dismissal of her shatters Miss Brill’s illusions (“Why doesn’t she keep her silly old mug at home?”). They represent the harsh judgment of youth and the uncaring reality of the world.
• The Old Invalid Gentleman: Miss Brill reads the newspaper to this gentleman, finding validation in imagining him as a captivated audience for her ‘performance’. He unwittingly reinforces her self-constructed narrative.

Katherine Mansfield’s Technique

Mansfield masterfully reveals character through indirect methods:

• Limited Third-Person perspective: We experience the story entirely through Miss Brill’s eyes. This allows for subtle insights into her worldview but also highlights the potential gaps between her perceptions and external reality.
• Dialogue: Brief snatches of overheard dialogue paint portraits of other park-goers and starkly reveal how Miss Brill is viewed by some.
• Symbolism: Objects like the fur stole add depth and pathos to the portrayal of Miss Brill.

Major Themes in “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Loneliness and isolation:.

• Miss Brill’s solitary existence is underscored by her meticulous weekly ritual, a substitute for genuine connection.
• Her attempts to find belonging in the park observations are ultimately unsuccessful, culminating in the devastating encounter with the young couple.
• The story’s final image, where she imagines the fur crying, underscores a profound sense of loneliness and the unfulfilled need for connection.

Illusion vs. Reality:

• Miss Brill constructs an elaborate fantasy where she is a significant observer and even a participant in the ‘performance’ of the park. (“It was exactly like a play”)
• She reimagines her act of reading to the invalid gentleman as a theatrical role, further solidifying this illusion.
• This carefully constructed world is brutally shattered by the young couples’ comments, exposing the harsh reality of her isolation and how she is perceived by others.

The Cruelty of Judgment:

• The seemingly insignificant remarks made by the young couple have a devastating impact on Miss Brill. (“Why doesn’t she keep her silly old mug at home?”)
• Their remarks expose the casual unkindness that can exist in the world and highlights the vulnerability of those who are isolated or seen as different.

Aging and the Loss of Significance:

• Miss Brill’s cherished fur stole represents her clinging to a past image of herself, a time when she may have held more social value.
• The ermine toque woman, with her faded beauty, acts as a potential mirror of Miss Brill’s future, hinting at a further decline in vibrancy and social standing.
• The focus on elderly park-goers with their limited interactions suggests a society that diminishes the significance of its aging members.

Writing Style in “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Introspective Focus:

• ·  Third-person limited perspective tightly centered on Miss Brill’s thoughts and observations. (“She had taken it out of its box that afternoon…”)
• We experience the world of the park filtered through her perceptions and emotions.

Vivid Imagery and Symbolism:

• Rich sensory details: “blue sky powdered with gold”, the feel of the fur, the smell of moth powder.
• Symbolic objects: The fur stole represents Miss Brill’s fading vibrancy and yearning for connection.

Stream-of-Consciousness Narrative:

• Fluid movement between Miss Brill’s external observations and her internal thoughts. (“There were a number of people out this afternoon, far more than last Sunday…”)
• This creates a sense of immediacy and intimacy with the character’s experiences.

Descriptive and Suggestive Language:

• Evocative word choices that paint a picture in the reader’s mind (“…great spots of light like white wine splashed…”).
• Suggestive phrasing that implies deeper emotions and unspoken thoughts beneath the surface.

Subtle Irony and Ambiguity:

• Contrast between Miss Brill’s romanticized self-perception and the reality of how others view her. (“No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there…”)
• Open-ended elements leave room for reader interpretation, such as the exact nature of Miss Brill’s past.

Contrast: Outer World vs. Inner Experience

• Miss Brill’s internal monologues are set against the backdrop of the bustling park.
• This juxtaposition highlights her detachment and her attempts to construct a personal world of meaning.

Complex Sentences & Figurative Language:

• Mansfield’s sentences are often nuanced, with careful use of similes, metaphors, and personification. (“What has been happening to me?” said the sad little eyes.”)
• This demands attentive reading and encourages analysis of deeper nuances of meaning.

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Questions and Thesis Statements about “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

• How does Katherine Mansfield use the literary device of symbolism in “Miss Brill” to convey the theme of loneliness and isolation?
• Thesis statement: Through the use of various symbols such as the fur, the music, and the Sunday afternoon, Mansfield effectively conveys the theme of loneliness and isolation in “Miss Brill”.
• In what ways does Mansfield use the literary device of irony in “Miss Brill” to highlight the protagonist’s illusions and delusions?
• Thesis statement: By using various instances of irony such as the contrast between Miss Brill’s perceptions and the reality of her situation, Mansfield highlights the protagonist’s illusions and delusions and ultimately underscores the theme of the story.
• How does the narrative technique of focalization contribute to the reader’s understanding of the protagonist’s character in “Miss Brill”?
• Thesis statement: The narrative technique of focalization, which allows the reader to view the story through the protagonist’s perspective, provides valuable insights into Miss Brill’s character and ultimately enhances the reader’s understanding of the story.
• How does Mansfield use the literary device of foreshadowing in “Miss Brill” to create a sense of anticipation and unease in the reader?
• Thesis statement: Through various instances of foreshadowing such as the mention of “changing seasons” and the “erased numbers” in the magazine, Mansfield creates a sense of anticipation and unease in the reader that underscores the overall theme of the story.
• In what ways does Mansfield use the literary device of characterization to reveal the complexity of the protagonist’s emotions in “Miss Brill”?
• Thesis statement: Through various techniques of characterization such as dialogue, action, and thought, Mansfield reveals the complexity of Miss Brill’s emotions and ultimately underscores the theme of the story.

Short Question-Answer about “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

• How does Katherine Mansfield use the literary device of point of view in “Miss Brill” to convey the theme of loneliness?
• In “Miss Brill,” Katherine Mansfield employs the limited omniscient point of view to convey the theme of loneliness. The reader is privy to Miss Brill’s innermost thoughts and emotions, which reveal her deep-seated loneliness. Through the use of point of view, Mansfield places the reader in Miss Brill’s shoes, allowing them to experience the same sense of isolation that she does. By using this technique, Mansfield creates a powerful connection between the reader and Miss Brill, making the theme of loneliness all the more palpable.
• How does the use of symbolism in “Miss Brill” contribute to the theme of illusion vs. reality?
• Katherine Mansfield uses symbolism to illustrate the theme of illusion vs. reality in “Miss Brill.” The fur worn by Miss Brill symbolizes the illusion of her grandeur and the life she wishes she had. The fur also represents the reality of her loneliness and the need for connection. When the fur is taken away, the illusion of her grandeur is shattered, and Miss Brill is forced to confront the harsh reality of her loneliness. Mansfield’s use of symbolism illustrates the theme of illusion vs. reality and emphasizes the idea that appearances can be deceiving.
• In “Miss Brill,” how does Katherine Mansfield use imagery to convey the theme of isolation?
• Katherine Mansfield uses vivid imagery to convey the theme of isolation in “Miss Brill.” The park where Miss Brill spends her Sundays is depicted as a cold and lifeless place, full of dead leaves and bare trees. This imagery reflects the emotional state of Miss Brill and the loneliness she feels. Additionally, the descriptions of the other park-goers as “odd, silent, nearly all old” contribute to the sense of isolation and detachment from the world around her. Mansfield’s use of imagery emphasizes the theme of isolation and highlights the emotional distance that separates Miss Brill from the people around her.
• How does the use of irony in “Miss Brill” contribute to the theme of delusion?
• Katherine Mansfield uses irony to illustrate the theme of delusion in “Miss Brill.” Miss Brill’s belief that she is an important part of the Sunday ritual in the park is shattered when she overhears the young couple mocking her and her fur. The irony lies in the fact that Miss Brill’s illusion of her own importance is shattered by the very people she believed she was important to. The use of irony in this instance emphasizes the theme of delusion and underscores the idea that the reality of the situation is vastly different from Miss Brill’s perception of it.

Literary Works Similar to “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

Thematic similarities (loneliness, illusion, aging):.

• “ A Rose for Emily ” by William Faulkner: A reclusive Southern woman, Miss Emily Grierson, clings to the past as her world changes around her. Both stories explore the destructive power of isolation and the fragility of self-constructed illusions.
• “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield: While focused on a young, privileged woman, this story also touches upon class divisions and the gap between curated appearances and internal experience.
• “Araby” by James Joyce: A young boy experiences romantic disillusionment in this coming-of-age story. Similar to Miss Brill, the protagonist constructs an idealized fantasy that collapses when faced with reality.
• Stories by Anton Chekhov: Chekhov, like Mansfield, was a master of the short story form and often explored themes of loneliness, dissatisfaction, and the yearning for unfulfilled desires. Works like “The Lady with the Dog” delve into similar territory.

Stylistic Similarities (Introspection, Subtlety):

• “The Dead” by James Joyce: This longer story from Joyce’s Dubliners collection features a similar introspective style and focuses on a central character’s moment of epiphany and disillusionment.
• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf: Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness narrative and exploration of inner lives shares stylistic sensibilities with Mansfield’s work. While the setting and characters are quite different, there’s a shared emphasis on the interior experience.
• Stories by Alice Munro: A contemporary master of the short story, Munro’s works often examine the lives of everyday people with psychological depth and nuanced observation.

Suggested Readings: “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

• Fullbrook, Kate. Katherine Mansfield. Plymouth: Northcote House, 2002.
• Hanson, Clare, and Andrew Gurr. Katherine Mansfield: Writers and Their Work. London: Northcote House Publishers, 2006.
• Moran, Patricia. Word of Mouth: Body Language in Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996.
• Gunsteren, Julia. “Katherine Mansfield and Literary Impressionism.” Twentieth-Century Literature 57.1 (2011): 23-58.
• Jan Pilditch. “Mansfield’s ‘Miss Brill’.” The Explicator 56.2 (1998): 101+. Literature Resource Center .
• Narita, Miyoko. “The Illusion of Knowledge in Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Miss Brill.'” Studies in Short Fiction 25.3 (1988): 319-322.
• The Katherine Mansfield Society: https://katherinemansfieldsociety.org/katherine-mansfield-resources/stories/ : A dedicated website providing biographical information, critical analysis, and resources related to Mansfield’s work.
• Modernist Commons: https://www.library.upenn.edu/software-and-tools/scholarlycommons : A digital repository that may contain scholarly articles and resources on “Miss Brill” or Mansfield’s other writings.
• Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ : Often hosts free, public domain versions of classic literary texts, including works by Katherine Mansfield.

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“Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield Essay

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Symbolism is used in literature to denote a deeper meaning beyond the usual meaning of words. It can be used to characterize a situation or a person in a story to signify a hidden, concealed, or camouflaged meaning. For example, thunderstorm in a scene signifies troubled times or a catastrophe in the making. On the other hand, animals can be used to symbolize the character of a person. For instance, a pig is used to symbolize gluttony.

In the story ‘Mrs. Brill’ by Katherine Mansfield, symbolism is used to reveal the fantasy propagated by the main character due to her loneliness and lack of contact or interactions with humanity. The character is portrayed through symbolism as an elderly woman living her sunset years in an unreal world that is soon shattered by the harsh realities of life.

When we encounter Mrs. Brill, she is excited. The weather symbolizes the joviality felt by the protagonist. The fine weather portrays to us the mood and sense of happiness that the character is brimming with, as she is smugly satisfied with her existence. She is under the illusion that her life is as perfect as the weather.

She is also happy at having retrieved her fur from its box, which is a symbol of the longing the character is having for adventure and the expectations of life. The fur reminds her of better days. She refers to it as ‘Dear little thing’ to signify her attachment to it (182).

This attachment can be seen as a symbol of the protagonist’s pride in herself. It symbolizes what the character feels about herself and her life in general. Mrs. Brill has managed to convince herself that the fur is still in good condition despite its age just as her life is happy and eventful, though she has advanced in years.

The fur also symbolizes the change or transformation of Mrs. Brill. At first, the elderly woman is proud of it, just as she is happy with her state of life. Although it is old, she believes it can be refurbished to become as attractive as before. This can be seen as the opinion of the old woman about herself.

She seems to feel that her age has not affected the quality of her live, and she is still enjoying her life despite her age. Talking to the fur also symbolizes someone who lacks someone to talk to, and is left with no alternative but to address and hold a conversation with her property.

This fantasy is maintained in her mind until she is brought down to earth through a disparaging remark made by a young woman concerning the fur. This disappoints the old woman that she deviates from her normal routine. She does not make her usual bakery stop but returns to her room that is characterized as a cupboard. The cupboard is used to symbolize loneliness and desolation. The darkness of the cupboard symbolizes the depression that surrounds Mrs. Brill’s life. Hearing Mrs.

Brill crying further symbolizes the hopelessness of her situation as no one has ever referred to her by her name (186). She is not accustomed to being called, so she does it herself, referring to herself in the third party. This is a symbolism of detachment from reality and unwillingness to associate her name with herself. Her crying also marks the dawning of the harsh reality of life on her.

The author uses symbolism to show that the protagonist is living in fantasy and denial. She does this by the portrayal of Mrs. Brill as a silent busybody who likes to be privy to other people’s affairs. Though she has no friends, she dabbles in other people’s lives by eavesdropping on their conversations.

She considers herself superior to the people around her. By depicting the life around her as a play, she can convince herself of her superiority and use the orchestra playing to weave a make-believe play that satisfies her sense life. The orchestra’s tune symbolizes to the elderly woman the richness of her existence with the start of the season portending exciting times with the appearance of strangers. To the readers, this symbolizes a lonely life without worthwhile activities. Her routine of walks in the park shows scarcity of other activities.

The story’s title is also full of symbolism. It creates a picture of a lonely old Englishwoman living her last years cut off from contact with her family and other people. It portrays an unmarried woman who is a former teacher of a kindergarten. In her retirement, the title symbolizes that she is too formal, withdrawn, and does not form friendships easily.

Although we may feel sorry for her, it is in her character to rub people the wrong way and coupled with her unsocial behavior of eavesdropping and superior attitude; it no wonders no one warms up to her. The woman is also given just her surname to symbolize that she has no friends and no close acquaintance apart from a sick man that she reads to sometimes. The invalid is incapable of conversations, let alone interactions and relationships.

By wearing fur in warm weather to show off, it symbolizes the pomposity of the character. She seems to care what people think of her through her appearance and not her character. Indeed, she emphasizes appearance symbolizing someone who considers herself to have good tastes and better judgment; thus, the social superiority attitude to those around her.

Her description of others is dominated by their appearance, which to her symbolizes good upbringing and the character or disposition of someone. Her fascination with appearance makes it deeply hurting when the young couple she considered decent and likable turn on her and make unflattering remarks about her and her fur.

In conclusion, Katherine Mansfield effectively uses symbolism to bring out the theme of her story ‘Mrs. Brill’. The fur in this story is used as a symbol of the life of Mrs. Brill. It depicts the transformation of the attitude of the protagonist concerning her life.

At first, she is excited with the fur, complimenting it on its versatility and endurance, only to be deeply disappointed when she overhears it being described scathingly by a young couple. This is a symbol of her life that she thought was happy only for reality to intrude and reveal her loneliness. Symbolism is used to show how loneliness had fed the old woman’s illusions only for reality to harshly reveal itself.

Works Cited

Mansfield, Katherine. Miss Brill . Berlin: Reclam Verlag Leipzig, 2001

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Fiction — The Theme of Loneliness in “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield

The Theme of Loneliness in "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield

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Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 1130 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Table of contents

Miss brill's life as a depiction of the key theme, when the main part of the story begins, works cited.

• Barnard, P. (1989). Katherine Mansfield. Routledge.
• Böllinger, L. (2015). The Aestheticization of Discomfort and Empathy in Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 17(2).
• Brooks, P. (1984). Reading for the plot: Design and intention in narrative. Harvard University Press.
• Eysteinsson, Á. (2013). The concept of modernism. In The concept of modernism (pp. 11-40). Routledge.
• Goldman, A. (1982). Katherine Mansfield and the Origins of Modernist Fiction. Cornell University Press.
• Lawrence, D. H. (1921). Women in Love. T. Seltzer.
• Mansfield, K. (1997). The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield. Wordsworth Editions.
• Martin, W. R. (1977). “A Journey into Pure Being”: The Visual Arts in “Miss Brill.” Journal of Modern Literature, 6(1), 47-57.
• Reeder, L. A. (1974). Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill. The Explicator, 33(1), 28-30.
• Tóibín, C. (2009). The Empty Spaces in Miss Brill. The London Review of Books, 31(3), 17-18.

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Sample Student Essay on Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill”

The following essay was written by a student who wishes to remain anonymous.  (As we will shortly see, this reticence stems from modesty, not embarrassement!)

The essay is discussed at some length here .

It was written in response to the following assignment:

Discuss how the author's choice of a particular point of view helps communicate a central theme of the tale.  Develop a clear argument to show how the narrator's point of view is essential to the audience's recognizing and understanding the theme.  Support your argument with specific observations and analysis.  Quote and document according to the guidelines in the chapter "Writing About Literature" at the back of our textbook.

 Mansfield’s “Miss Brill”

     This short story is narrated in the third person from the point of view of the limited omniscient narrator who primarily acts as the voice of the story’s protagonist, Miss Brill. By telling the story through the eyes of the protagonist, Mansfield is able to convey to the reader the protagonist’s loneliness and the lack of self-awareness. She offers no explanation as to the Miss Brill’s past, leaving it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. At the same time the author provides illuminating insights into the protagonist’s character and lifestyle that effectively communicate to the reader the theme of this short story. The central theme of “Miss Brill” is the pain of loneliness, and inadvertent attempts to experience life through the experiences of total strangers.

    From the beginning of the narrative it becomes apparent that Miss Brill is starving for warmth and companionship. She tenderly caresses her fur as if it were a beloved pet when she rubbs “the life into the dim little eyes” (p.50) of the old fox boa. 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 some one playing with only the family to listen (p.50).” Despite of her loneliness, she is considering herself a part of this family that the band is entertaining with its music. But in reality she is more of an observer, a voyeur, and not an active participant in life as it unfolds at the Jardins Publiques. She is looking forward to eavesdropping on other people’s conversations, believing herself to be quite an expert in remaining unnoticed. Miss Brill adopts a more critical, at times even hostile, attitude toward the women that she observes in the park than toward their male companions: she views the man who shares her “special” seat as “a fine old man,” while the woman is “a big old woman (p.50).” When she recollects the events of the previous Sunday at the park, she remembers a patient Englishman with the difficult to please wife, whom “Miss Brill wanted to shake (p.50).” These observation of the women carry perhaps a note of envy that she feels toward the women who have male companionship.

    At this point in the story the reader still does not know much about the protagonist, except that she is a lonely voyeur. Then one of her observations about the “odd, silent, nearly all old people, and from the way they stared they looked as though they’d just come from dark little rooms or even – even cupboards! (p.51)” whom she sees every Sunday at the park hints to the reader that she might be one of those people. The pieces of the puzzle, of course, fall into place at the end of the story, when the protagonist’s room is described as “the little dark room-her room like a cupboard (p.52).” This is the conclusion of the story, when Miss Brill is able to see herself and her surroundings in the new light. Her new self-awareness is brought about by disparaging remarks of the young lovers who refer to Miss Brill as “that stupid old thing (p.52),” and to her precious fur as “a fried whiting (p.52).” This is Miss Brill’s moment of epiphany. She is as old as the other park-goers, her fur is a pitiful necklet, and she foregoes her usual Sunday slice of honeycake. In spite of her newly found self-awareness, Miss Brill still denies some of her own emotions when “she thought she heard something crying (p.52)” at the very end of the story. The tears are obviously her own.

 Mansfield, Katherine. “Miss Brill.” An Introduction to Fiction. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7 th ed. New York: Longman, 1999. 50-52

Meanwhile permission is granted for non-commercial educational use; all other rights reserved.

Introduction

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) is New Zealand’s famous short fiction writer and a poet. The short story name, Miss Brill is written by her. At first, it was published in Athenaeum on 26th November 1920. Later on, it was reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.

Miss Brill Summary

 After that, she shifts her attention towards the people. While this, she observes some pesky kids, an old beggar who is selling flowers and a group of two girls and two soldiers. She seems captivating by all the things playing out before her.

Themes in Miss Brill

Loneliness and dissociation.

Although, she does not have any direct interaction or communication with the outer world. Rather, she sits there quietly and discerns the activities of people. She listens to their conversations and arguments. In this way, she considers herself a part of the community.

Youth and Old age

Reality and delusion, miss brill characters analysis, the old man and woman, a girl wearing an ermine toque and a gentleman in grey, young boy and girl, miss brill analysis, setting of the story.

The location of the story is set in France at Jardin Publiques in early spring and in Miss Brill’s home as well. Mansfield has set the time setting in the 1990s. 

Moreover, the incredible imagery is set for the representation of Miss Brill’s youth and old age . Particularly, when Miss Brill compares the young girl waning countenance of her face with her shabby hat “her face, even her eyes, was the same colour as the shabby ermine”. Through that Mansfield deploys that how with time she has grown old.

In addition, Mansfield exhibits the society’s mark of utmost importance as clothes. This is shown through the character of Miss Brill when she identifies everyone from their dressing.

Tone of the story

Literary devices.

There are certain literary devices such as metaphors, similes, personification in the story.  Readers can find the combination of metaphors with similes in the beginning of the story. Miss Brill exhibits the sky with powdered golden colors “ sky powdered with gold” . Also, she compares the sun rays with the color of wine set with the help of simile “ spots of light like white wine” .

More From Katherine Mansfield

Short stories.

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