analysis of Miss Brill
Analysis of the text «Miss Brill». by Stefanovskaya A.
The text under analysis is «Miss Brill» written by Katherine Mansfield.
The plot of the story is simple, and the themes are by no means uncanny.
What touches our attention is, indeed, the way Mansfield narrates the story and the language she employs in the whole process of narration. The style of this text is gallant, sensitive, lyric and also ironic. It`s written in third person narration.
The plot tells us about an old lady, who spends her Sunday holiday in the park.
One day she decided to put on her old fur and went to the park. She sat there, looking at the other people, listening to the music by the band, thinking about everything around her: parents and their children, different conversations, stories, nature.
The author uses a number of stylistic devices in order to describe the nature, such epithets as «the blue sky powdered with gold; the air was motionless» and such similes as «a faint chill, like a chill from a glass of iced water before you sip; great spots of light, like white wine splashed over the Jardins Publics; the old people sat on the bench, still as statues». This description helps us to understand the atmosphere better; it's like a kind of fairy-tale and ephemeral reality. It feels like some kind of magic is about to happen!
To describe the band the author uses simile «it was like someone playing with only the family to listen» and metaphor «a little chain of bright drops».
Despite all the delicacy of description, it also has a lot of irony, such as a simile of the conductor with a cock «he scraped with his foot and flapped his arms like a rooster about to crow, and the bandsmen sitting in the green rotunda blew out their cheeks» or going back to the old fur, it`s ironic description «Little rogue!... biting its tail just by her left ear».
But a deeper meaning is hidden in all of this!
The woman got away from her dark little room outside for air every Sunday. Contrasting of her room,
The text under analysis is «Miss Brill» written by Katherine Mansfield.
The plot of the story is simple, and the themes are by no means uncanny.
What touches our attention is, indeed, the way Mansfield narrates the story and the language she employs in the whole process of narration. The style of this text is gallant, sensitive, lyric and also ironic. It`s written in third person narration.
The plot tells us about an old lady, who spends her Sunday holiday in the park.
One day she decided to put on her old fur and went to the park. She sat there, looking at the other people, listening to the music by the band, thinking about everything around her: parents and their children, different conversations, stories, nature.
The author uses a number of stylistic devices in order to describe the nature, such epithets as «the blue sky powdered with gold; the air was motionless» and such similes as «a faint chill, like a chill from a glass of iced water before you sip; great spots of light, like white wine splashed over the Jardins Publics; the old people sat on the bench, still as statues». This description helps us to understand the atmosphere better; it's like a kind of fairy-tale and ephemeral reality. It feels like some kind of magic is about to happen!
To describe the band the author uses simile «it was like someone playing with only the family to listen» and metaphor «a little chain of bright drops».
Despite all the delicacy of description, it also has a lot of irony, such as a simile of the conductor with a cock «he scraped with his foot and flapped his arms like a rooster about to crow, and the bandsmen sitting in the green rotunda blew out their cheeks» or going back to the old fur, it`s ironic description «Little rogue!... biting its tail just by her left ear».
But a deeper meaning is hidden in all of this!
The woman got away from her dark little room outside for air every Sunday. Contrasting of her room,