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Miss Brill's Daydreams: A Psychoanalysis

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Miss Brill’s Daydreams: A Psychoanalysis “Miss Brill” is a short story in which the author, Katherine Mansfield, introduces and develops the main character by allowing the reader to view Miss Brill through her introspection and daydreams. This omniscient point of view the narrator provides helps the reader feel intimate with the character of Miss Brill, yet Mansfield manages to hold her at a mysterious distance. This may be because Miss Brill is not honest with herself about reality. For the majority, daydreaming is a common and even healthy mental process. Some people, however, use daydreaming to cope with and distance themselves from reality. Mansfield’s character, Miss Brill, seems to do just this. She may be suffering from what is known …show more content…

In the article, “Maladaptive Daydreaming: A Qualitative Inquiry,” Eli Somer makes it possible to understand the theme of daydreaming in Katherine Mansfield’s short story “Miss Brill” by examining the functions of daydreaming such as escapism from hard realities, self soothing attributes, and ways in which …show more content…

Mansfield’s theme of daydreaming reflects that Miss Brill is hiding from her feelings, is attempting to cope, yet is causing herself distress by distancing herself from reality. Daydreaming is common and often times healthy. Somers shares a colleagues report that 96 per cent of American adults daydream daily. (Somers 198) However, the character of Miss Brill uses it in such a way that she is not engaging with reality. This is an example of maladaptive daydreaming and can help the reader understand the development of the character as well as her underlying sadness and how and why she copes with it the way she does. Mansfield may leave her readers more aware of the necessity to engage with their surrounding environment. Doing so provides the ability to cope with adverse situations and reality

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The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is about a teenage girl named Connie who is in the mist of her adolescent rebellion. She wants to prove her maturity to others and herself. In the story, Oates describes that Connie always lets her mind flow freely in between her daydream. She even creates and keeps dreaming about her ideal male figure in her mind to make her happy and satisfied. Oates allows the reader to step into Connie’s “dream world” through the appearance of Arnold Friend.

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The reader soon discovers, this feeling that comes to Mrs. Mallard is joy and relief, she feels this because she can now finally be her own person. Mrs. Mallard comes to the realization that her husband had been oppressing her for years, “There would be no powerful will bending..”, and she was finally free of that. Before the passing of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was scared of living a long life because of the treatment she received from him. After his passing she had a much different outlook, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This shows that Mrs. Mallard was excited to now live her own life without being told what she was to do.

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In both The Story of an Hour and Hills Like White Elephants, the authors Kate Chopin and Ernest Hemingway describe women and the desire to express themselves and be free and how men influence their decision making. Women strive for a sense of freedom and independence and have the yearning to convey themselves freely. In Kate Chopin’s and Ernest Hemmingway’s stories, the authors suggest the two female main characters in their stories feel suppressed for liberty. Louise Mallard in The Story of an Hour is sick and very lonely. She is

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Mrs. Mallard goes to her room, and looks out into the patchy blue sky. Chopin uses the patchy blue sky to create an image of darkness clearing out of Mrs. Mallard’s life. When reading the story, a sense of relief comes to mind as Mrs. Mallard thinks of her life ahead without Mr. Mallard. This is when Mrs. Mallard’s character finally starts thinking for herself. She no longer has Mr. Mallard to hold her back.

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This shows a balance between gender roles, as well as the embracing progressive changes within culture and society. In the story “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin, a third-person omniscient narrator, relates how Mrs. Louise Mallard, the protagonist, experiences the euphoria of freedom rather than the grief of loneliness after hearing about her husband’s death. Later, when Mrs. Mallard discovers that her husband, Mr. Brently Mallard, still lives, she realizes that all her aspiration for freedom has gone. The shock and disappointment kills Mrs. Mallard.

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Further, situational irony is present through the reaction that Louise Mallard has after learning about her husband’s death. Upon first learning of her husband’s death she is very devastated and distraught. As soon as she is alone in the bathroom however, it is clear to the readers she is not as upset. In fact she is slightly relieved in that “she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (235).

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We think that the form of the “Imaginary” mentioned in Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of Mrs. Mallards family and friends “imagining” that the devastated new of Mr. Mallard’s death would cause her a heart attack, however later on in the story it was mentioned that she was in fact relieved to know she was a free woman of her marriage. Consequently, the reality of Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, perceptions and feelings were not the same as others may have assumed or imagined to be. Based on stereotypical standards of society this was misunderstood because a wife should feel an enormous pain for the death of her husband. As the story continues, when Josephine whose Mrs. Mallard’s sister told her about the death of Mr. Mallard, instead of reacting in shock as “many women would’ve (Chopin, The Story of an Hour)” done so, Mrs. Mallard “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.

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