Miss Brill Traits

“Miss Brill” is a cleverly written short story. The author, Katherine Mansfield, develops the character of Miss Brill very well in the few pages of this story. Three traits in which Miss Brill is portrayed in the story is nosey, lonely and delusional. These characteristic are developed through the use of voice, descriptive details and, internal dialogue. Miss Brill’s character are illustrated throughout the story by these traits using the mechanisms listed. The first trait illustrated through the use of voice is nosey. Miss Brill is very concerned and attentive to what other people are doing around her. She pays close attention to those that pass by and sit down in the “special seat” near her. As Katherine Mansfield writes, “A beautiful women

As Miss Brill was illustrated as lonely throughout the story, many of these descriptive details and words were used to help develop this character trait. As the author writes, “But today she passed the baker’s by, climbed the stairs went into the little dark room- her room like a cupboard- and sat down on the red eiderdown. She sat there for a long time.” The description of her change in routine and the details of her trip home illustrate her loneliness she felt as the couple joked about her routine on Sunday. Another example that illustrates her loneliness is, “And then she too, she too, and the others on the benches- they would come in with a kind of accompaniment- something low, that scarcely rose or fell, something so beautiful- moving … And Miss Brill’s eyes filled with tears and she looked at all the other members of the company.” Miss Brill has a moment of realization as she watches all the people come in together and leave together to the bench. This example is highly descriptive in describing this moment of realization and effectively helps to make this moment of sudden loneliness evident in the story. The description of these moments of loneliness help to illustrate Miss Brill’s characteristic of lonely. Although lonely was illustrated through the use of description details, the characteristic of delusional was developed through the use of internal