Literary Analysis Of Miss Brill

Miss Brill, a lovely respectable women who lives in a perfect world or so we thought. Miss Brill seemed to be a happy being, who as though was a cheerful optimist, didn 't see the sadness of herself but she did of others. In the text ‘Miss Brill’ written by Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill feels as if she appears to be wanted by others, but only plays a part in a fantasy world. The reality is, she is not wanted and is just a lonely old women. The author shows the difference between appearance and reality by using a range of language features to show that Miss Brill has her idea of herself as a fantasy and the way that near the end, reality hits her. In the text, the idea that when individuals isolate themselves from society they start to live

This was very evident during the text when the park was described to be like a theatre. The extended metaphor of the park was shown “it was like a play. It was exactly like a play”. Miss Brill has a very strong imagination and believes that what she is witnessing in the park is like a play or theatre. To her it seemed like everything had a purpose and everything was scripted. “Even the band seemed to know what she was feeling and played more softly, played tenderly” was used by the author to show that extended metaphor more clearly as to Miss Brill it plays a part in the play and is an important part to Miss Brill because the band knew exactly how she was feeling and played the song more gracefully. In every play or theatre show, the music is already pre planned, which is how Miss Brill perceived the park to be. 3rd person narrative is another example how she felt like she belonged and is also part of the extended metaphor. The example of the 3rd person narrative is “No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn’t been there;she was part of the performance after all” shows how Katherine Mansfield was trying to portray the Miss Brill thought she was important. By the use of 3rd person, it is showing the reader that she is important in the play and how she feels she is part of the performance. This example is saying that if Miss Brill wasn’t at the park every Sunday afternoon, someone would have noticed she was gone because she was essentially a part of the show. In society, people make up theories and fantasies in their heads about them being an important role just to make themselves feel better. People imagine things in order for them to not face reality such as loneliness. Miss Brill differs from society because everyone tries to include everyone and most of us are wanted by someone, whether that being from your family or friends to people in higher statuses. In Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield