Miss Brill Literary Analysis Essay Example

Imagination is a powerful tool the human brain possesses which has the ability to take us to another reality by visualizing things. In Katherine Mansfield’s short story “Miss Brill'', we are introduced to a lady who mostly uses her imagination throughout the whole story. “Miss Brill” written in third-person omniscient and It was first published in Athenaeum on 26 November 1920, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.

The title character, Miss Brill, is an English middle-aged lady who is unmarried and lives a solitary life in France. She lives in her own apartment and makes a living by working as an English teacher and reading the newspaper to an elderly man who hardly knows her. Miss Brill also has a unique routine where she goes to a public garden park called the Jardins Publiques to listen to a band play every Sunday afternoon. She walks around and eventually sits on one of the public benches which she views as her own special seat. Then she would begin to disassociate herself from reality by fantasizing the whole park as if it is a play, where every person is an actor and has their own part including herself. She would believe that they are all connected together in some harmonious way. Mansfield does an excellent job of making the readers paint this scenery in their mind and realizing the optimism of Miss Brill through its third-person omniscient narration style .Soon after, she goes back home while buying a slice of honey cake at a bakery shop she always passes by. During her fantasizing phase, she observes snippets of other people’s activities, “[...] there was something funny about nearly all of them.” (Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield) and eavesdrops on their conversations, “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 round her.” (Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield) as this is her way of deeming herself as a part of the play. This gives the readers an impression that she is quite curious and subtle. The fact that she observes people is quite ironic as the fish called Brill is uniquely regarded as “the observer” of the ocean, thus, creating the irony, being that both of them have the same name and are observant. However, her loneliness is evident as she does not converse with anyone in the park except on her own fur coat⸺talking to it as if it is a real person. Hence, this provides the audience an impression that she is not as important as she perceives herself to be since nobody in the play actually tries to engage with her. 

Miss Brill’s fur coat symbolizes the reminiscence of her lost youth, where she feels wholesome. This is evident as she is filled with delight when she puts on her fur coat and says “Dear little thing! It was nice to feel it again.” (Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield) This gives readers the impression that she feels as if the fur coat is still brand new and fine, as well as feeling fulfilled whenever she wears it on. However, the fur coat is also quite parallel to her as they represent each one’s condition in life, being both old. She even calls this her “little rogue”, personifying it as her companion. Her yearning for her youthfulness is evident as she admires the young people in her play, viewing them as the hero and heroine.  “[...] they were in love. The hero and the heroine.” (Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield) However, Miss Brill’s view of the other elderly folks is greatly the opposite: “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!” (Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield) She felt that old folks are out-dated and boring, which is ironic because she is significantly similar to them, yet, she does not realize it at all. Having said that, her imaginary fantasy play sadly ends when the young couple who she previously viewed as the hero and heroine in her play makes rude comments about her. Miss Brill overhears their conversation and hears them say, “Why does she come here at all–who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home?" (Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield) This statement instantly shatters her epiphany, which causes her to go away from them and decide to return home. As Miss Brill flees the scene, she does not pass by on her usual stop at the bakery unlike before. Therefore, this section of the story signifies that she began to snap out of her illusions and is now back in reality. 

When she arrived back home, she went inside her little dark room and sat there for a long time. Creating the irony of her parallelism to the old folks in the park, given that she is now in one dark little room. This also gives readers the impression that she is now self-reflecting and realizes that her epiphany of her being important to society and being an actress in a play, is simply false. She grabs the box of her fur necklet and unfastens it and quickly lays it inside without looking. Contrary to her belief that her fur coat symbolizes her disillusionment of deeming herself as a youthful being⸺she hides her fur coat as for the reason that Miss Brill denies the reality of it being tatty and old. At that instant, she suddenly hears someone crying. Which could mean that she is actually the one crying and is now back in reality, fully aware of herself and how she’s truly feeling. 

Though the story takes place in a public space, it also conveys privateness through Miss Brill’s imagination. It is evident that her imagination is what alienates her from reality. She is able to create an internal world where she is able to exclusively express her own creativity through her thoughts. Her imagination and fur coat fills a void in her life which is her sadness and happiness. Contrary to my thesis statement of the power of imagination, many people use imagination to fill a void within them which they ardently seek to fill. The source of said void could be anything, specifically humans are susceptible to: loneliness, depression, lack of emotional comfort etc. But one thing remains common, the void.