Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill is a story about a lonely woman who seems to warp her perception of the world around her, something that causes her to unwittingly deny her loneliness. It is an undeniable fact, however, that Miss Brill is a lonely, old spinster. She is the main character of the story, and she spends her free time in the park eavesdropping on the conversations of other people. Katherine explains that Miss Brill covers her neck with a fox pelt, which she strokes as she secretly entertains herself with other people’s conversations. It is interesting that she does not even realize the fact that she is a lonely foreigner, and it is this lack of realization that causes her to twist the world around her.
Miss Brill is a spinster who has a peculiar character, and this especially becomes evident when she personifies her fur by pulling it out of a box and ‘rubbing the life back into its dim little eyes.’ Mansfield allows Miss Brill to give the fur, an inanimate object in reality, emotions and a voice, and it is this description that brings out lonely Miss Brill’s quirky disposition and appearance (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013). Miss Brill carries the fur throughout the story and continues to stroke it, a proof that she does not have any friends or acquaintances with whom she can socialize. This exclusion of the old woman from the rest of the world explains her peculiar character of prying other people’s conversations and other behaviors.
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Mansfield better characterizes Miss Brill using her emotions and reactions towards the conversations of the other characters. She sees an old couple and they make her a little emotional at first, then she feels ‘as though they had just come from cupboards…’ thus comparing them to a pair of forgotten dishes. This perspective of Miss Brill viewing other people as being confused and lonely is ironical considering the fact that that description best fits her. She is an intelligent observer, and this is evidenced by the manner in which she describes the other people in the park. Mansfield also talks about a band that is playing in the park, and she uses this as a motif to bring out Miss Brill’s emotions. Miss Brill somehow manages to connect all the songs by the band with the situations around her, and she even tells herself that “ the band seemed to know what [the ermine toque] was feeling…” Mansfield further uses the recurrence of the music by the band to characterize Miss Brill through the internal emotions that she experiences (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013).
It is through Mansfield’s characterization techniques that Miss Brill eventually discovers some truths about herself. The term “spinster” was initially used to refer an unmarried woman who made a living by spinning thread. However, the definition evolved over the years, and it perfectly suits Miss Brill as an older woman who does not have children and is unlikely to ever marry. In this narration, being a spinster comes with several negative connotations, where the people in the story look down on Miss Brill, something that leaves her lonely and ashamed. This term is still applicable today, but spinsters of the modern day are treated with so much more respect in comparison to the era of Miss Brill. Unmarried women today have managed to explore wider lifestyle choices and they have more freedom to remain unmarried without being judged by society, unlike the story of Miss Brill.
References
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2013). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing . D. Stone (Ed.). Pearson.
