Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill"

Statistics in sociology and psychology reveal that the elderly frequently live isolated lives, sometimes going days without contact with other people outside their homes. Such a lifestyle can lead to poor eating habits and malnourishment, medical neglect and complications, or psychological issues like depression, paranoia or dementia. In some cases, the elderly might even begin to create an alternate reality. In Miss Brill, the story's namesake appears to behave in this way. Whether or not Miss Brill truly suffers from the ill effects of elderly depression, she certainly appears in the story to be a lonely old woman who is vividly imaginative, yet sadly disillusioned.

It seems that when people are lonely, they will interact with anyone or anything, even inanimate objects. Miss Brill, in the opening scene of the story, appears to be a lonely person as she imagines her fur speaking to her: "'What has been happening to me?' said the said little eyes" (182). Miss Brill calls her fur a "little rogue" and then imagines is "biting its tail just by her left ear" (182). Indeed, Miss Brill appears to be lonely since she addresses her fur as if it were a long lost friend that has been away for some time.

Miss Brill's loneliness is further apparent in the next scene where she expresses her disappointment over the lack of conversation by the two other people sitting near her:

They did not speak. This was disappointment, for Miss Brill always looked forward to t

Related Essays

Katherine Mansfield on Women's Status Katherine Mansfield and Women's Status One of the themes that can be found in the stories of Katherine Mansfield centers upon the role, status, sexuality, and .... (1656 7 )

Katherine Mansfield's The Wind Blows The adolescent female narrator in Katherine Mansfield's "The Wind Blows" experiences the emotional and physical chaos of adolescence. .... (732 3 )

Initiation: Two Kinds, The Garden Party, and Paul's Case In Amy Tan's (1980) Two Kinds, Katherine Mansfield's (1922) The Garden-Party and Willa Cather's (1905) Paul's Case, we see, respectively, an epiphany occur in .... (854 3 )

Initiation: Two Kinds, The Garden Party, and Paul's Case In Amy Tan's (1980) Two Kinds, Katherine Mansfield's (1922) The Garden-Party and Willa Cather's (1905) Paul's Case, we see, respectively, an epiphany occur in .... (854 3 )

Mansfield's short stories .... meaning they all are searching for. Mansfield, Katherine. The Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. (1467 6 )

Category: Literature - K