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  • Essay / Portrayal of Optimism and Sadness: Character Analysis of “Miss Brill”

    Most people seek to mask themselves under a false personality when confronted with the world. Criticism and the truth are often too harsh for people to face and instead create false narratives about their lives in search of comfort. Katherine Mansfield introduces her character “Miss Brill” in her essay as a woman forced to confront these realities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay From talking to your fur coat as if it were your “thug” companion to creating a fictional life for herself in her imagination, Miss Brill seems to the reader as if she were written as a delusional character. In reality, Miss Brill is the victim of her own masquerade and uses it as a mask. In the short story "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill emerges as an optimistic, observant, and solitary character through the author's use of narration, dialogue, and actions. Mansfield begins by indirectly characterizing Miss Brill through the way she interacts with her fur coat. The coat itself had been worn and shabby, but in Miss Brill's eyes it still had youth and vivacity. This fur coat that the reader is introduced to at the beginning of the story ultimately represents Miss Brill herself. Katherine Mansfield explains that, like the fur coat, Miss Brill herself is past her prime, and instead of living like the younger one, she simply exists. The fox fur that Glint takes out of the dark box at the beginning of the story is then put back into the same box near the end of the story. This shows a direct parallel to Miss Brill herself leaving her apartment to seek separation from something bigger than herself and returning to her apartment to find herself alone. As Miss Brill's curiosity grows, she continues to observe the world around her. She pays attention to how people interact with each other. By comparing the people sitting in the stands and those on the field, she highlights their radical differences. On the one hand, people on the field seem full of energy and life, while people in the stands tend to be more outgoing. Although Miss Brill is capable of making these observations, she wants to reflect on the fact that she too is sitting among the people in the stands. Similarly, when making a close observation of a woman's social status based on her hat, Miss Brill is once again unable to recognize how she herself might appear to others. Miss Brill continues in the story with what appears to be a revelation about humanity. She sees the world in which she lives as a stage and all the people she meets as its actors. A boy and a girl replace the older couple in the parade. She immediately romanticizes them and adds them as heroes to her play. This is where Katherine Mansfield finally sets up the climax of the story by showing her audience Miss Brill's rationality and understanding of the world. A fight begins to break out between the two men and they immediately begin to project their anger towards Miss Brill. The specialness that Miss Brill felt in her own life was damaged by comments made by the boy and girl about Miss Brill's appearance and her "fried whiting" of a coat. After this meeting with the young couple, Miss Brill finally begins to observe herself and to see the eyes of others. Instead of continuing to look forward to the little surprise of finding an almond in your occasional honey cake,.