Miss Brill Epiphany
In “Miss Brill”, by Katherine Mansfield, Sundays are a magical day for Miss Brill who avoids her reality by creating a daydream as she sits alone in a public space. Every Sunday Miss Bill, a shy English school teacher, goes to the Jardins Publiques and takes her “special seat” to eavesdrop on others conversations. Miss Brill, being a lonely older woman, starts to view everything she observes, on Sundays, in the form of a beautiful choreographed theatrical performance in which everything plays a role. This becomes a place where she feels as though she belongs but this fantasy is soon shattered. She is completely unaware of how others view her until she has an epiphany at the end of the story. Miss Brill creates a delusion that she is an important
…show more content…
The first example of this is noted as she settles in on her "special" bench at the park and touches the fur stole surrounding her neck, and she is comforted by the fur's presence. She thinks of the pelt as more of a companionable pet as she considers that "she could have taken it off and laid it on her lap and stroked it." Ignoring reality, character and personality are imagined into the lifeless fur as she affectionately refers to the accessory as the "little rogue!" Another indication that Miss Brill skews her reality is seen in her perception of others versus herself. While spectating, Miss Brill observes the other elderly bench sitters who share the same ritual in coming to the park every Sunday to watch and listen. She does not recognize herself as being in the same category when she notices that the others "were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms." She refuses to see her own reflection in this mirror of elderly loners. In the same way, Miss Brill twists her perception as she begins to fancy herself being an "actress." The park setting becomes a stage, the band orchestrates interactions, and the crowd becomes the cast for the scene she imagines as being "exactly like a play." In using this method, she provides herself with a sense of inclusion, importance, and connection to the strangers that
The first example of this is noted as she settles in on her "special" bench at the park and touches the fur stole surrounding her neck, and she is comforted by the fur's presence. She thinks of the pelt as more of a companionable pet as she considers that "she could have taken it off and laid it on her lap and stroked it." Ignoring reality, character and personality are imagined into the lifeless fur as she affectionately refers to the accessory as the "little rogue!" Another indication that Miss Brill skews her reality is seen in her perception of others versus herself. While spectating, Miss Brill observes the other elderly bench sitters who share the same ritual in coming to the park every Sunday to watch and listen. She does not recognize herself as being in the same category when she notices that the others "were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms." She refuses to see her own reflection in this mirror of elderly loners. In the same way, Miss Brill twists her perception as she begins to fancy herself being an "actress." The park setting becomes a stage, the band orchestrates interactions, and the crowd becomes the cast for the scene she imagines as being "exactly like a play." In using this method, she provides herself with a sense of inclusion, importance, and connection to the strangers that