Commentary on Miss Brill Essay

The short story Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield is about a middle aged, lonely, spinster that is an English teacher in a seaside vacation town. Overall I felt a feeling of loneliness and possible regret throughout this story. Miss Brill goes to the park every Sunday by herself and likes to see the people in the park as actors in a play arranged for her amusement. She has a special seat she always sits in, where she listens to the conversations of those around her. Readers begin to understand that this is how she finds her sense of self worth.

Only two people shared her "special" seat: a fine old man in a velvet coat, his hands clasped over a huge carved walking-stick, and a big old woman, sitting upright, with a roll of knitting on her embroidered apron. They did not speak. This was disappointing, for Miss Brill always looked forward to the conversation. 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. (Meyer, Michael 307)

Ms. Mansfield created an interesting world in her story. Readers become interested in Miss Brill, wonder about her life, and feel sympathy for a lonely character that we may not have initially felt any bond with at all, and then we are abruptly expelled from her world.

On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at the baker's. It was her Sunday treat. Sometimes there was an almond in her slice, sometimes not. It made a great difference. If there was an almond it was like carrying home a tiny present - a surprise - something that might very well not have been there. She hurried on the almond Sundays and struck the match for the kettle in quite a dashing way.

But to-day she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room - her room like a cupboard - and sat down on the red eiderdown. She sat there for a long time. The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklace quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying. (Meyer, Michael 309-310)

Works Cited

Meyer, Michael. "Miss Brill." Mansfield, Katherine. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9. Boston / New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2011. 307-310.