August 2014
"Miss Brill" is a short story of harsh
disappointment and loneliness by Katherine Mansfield, and it is not modern pop
culture like the last piece of literature I analyzed (the song "Team"
by Lorde). It is true literature, for I read it for the first time in my AP
literature class during my junior year of high school. It resonated with me
because it was the only thing I've found that accurately describes my situation
and feelings. These ideas are dear to me and are extremely difficult to put on
paper, but I'll try my best to lay out the ideas expressed in this story.
"How she enjoyed it! It was like a play.... Even she
had a part and came every Sunday. No doubt somebody would have noticed if she
hadn't been there; she was part of the performance after all.... She thought of
the old invalid gentleman to whom she read the newspaper four afternoons a week
while he slept in the garden.... But suddenly he knew he was having the paper
read to him by an actress! 'An actress!' The old head lifted; two points of
light quivered in the old eyes. 'An actress - are ye?' And Miss Brill smoothed
the newspaper as though it were the manuscript of her part and said gently;
'Yes, I have been an actress for a long time.'"
Miss Brill is an elderly lady who entertains herself by
eavesdropping on strangers' conversations in the park every Sunday. In this
paragraph, she enthusiastically describes a realization: she has had an
important part in the dynamic of the park. She imagines the normally phlegmatic
old man being impressed with her and she was proud. She naively fantasizes
about being noticed and admired. The reader can conclude about this old man,
though, that he would probably be indifferent as she is irrelevant to him: Miss
Brill recognizes and cares for him but he carelessly sleeps through her
efforts.
The reason for why I insisted on clinging to theater as a
hobby was because being included was always guaranteed. Everyone had a part to
play, and if someone had lines with me they had to talk to me; they couldn't
choose to ignore me. I obliviously and blindly lived off of this false
sociability for years until I was harshly informed of how unwanted and disliked
I really was among theater people. I believe this is how Miss Brill feels.
No one notices nor cares if she is there or not, and this is
the very thing Miss Brill is terrified to acknowledge.
"The day was so charming - didn't he agree? ...But he
shook his head, lighted a cigarette, slowly breathed a great deep puff into her
face, and even while she was still talking and laughing, flicked the match away
and walked on."
This time Miss Brill observes a younger couple. The young
woman acts happy but in vain because the man acts bitter, cold and rude to her,
and even acts as though she doesn't exist.
"Just at that moment a boy and girl came and sat down
where the old couple had been. They were beautifully dressed; they were in
love. The hero and heroine, of course.... And still soundlessly singing, still
with that trembling smile, Miss Brill prepared to listen.
'No, not now,' said the girl. 'Not here, I can't.'
'But why? Because of that stupid old thing at the end
there?' asked the boy. 'Why does she come here at all - who wants her? Why
doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home?'"
This is the part when Miss Brill finally gets hit, hard, in
the face with the harsh truth. No one really wants her and she is in actuality
not important to the others in the park.
There are theories that these people Miss Brill observes in
the park aren't actually there, but rather flashbacks of her own life. After
all, three groups of people get progressively older and more dysfunctional. the
girl is the one who is mistreated.
"On her way home she usually bought a slice of
honey-cake at the baker's. It was her Sunday treat. Sometimes there was an
almond in her slice, sometimes not. If there was an almond it was like carrying
home a tiny present - a surprise - something that might very well not have been
there. But to-day she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs, went into the
little dark room - her room like a cupboard. She sat there for a long time...
she thought she heard something crying."
Miss Brill is so crushed that she can't risk another
disappointment, even if it is a minuscule disappointment such as not getting an
almond in her honey cake.
It is worth noting that cupboards are mentioned in the story
- and a cupboard is a symbol of things being dormant until they are useful.
This is a very important symbol in the story. Miss Brill is not useful in
society. Mansfield mentions cupboards once earlier in the story: "They
were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as
though they'd just come from dark little rooms or even - even cupboards!"
This a creepy, almost gothic description of the other garden patrons. They have
come out of their "cupboards:" they are important and noticed by
others. But here, at the end of the story, Miss Brill retreats back to her
"dark little room - her room like a cupboard" after her deception of
herself is shattered by two harsh young people who deem her "stupid,"
"silly," and "old."
The last line is one of my favorites: it clicks with me. It
was talking about her fur coat that she thought was a live pet keeping her
company, but the reader can assume that it was Miss Brill who was actually
crying. But the vagueness, surprise, and distance of "she thought she
heard something crying" shows how little she was willing to admit her
loneliness, and more importantly it implies that it is not her fault how
miserable she is and she cannot simply choose not to feel this way. Instead of
saying "Miss Brill cried," where she is the one doing the action,
Miss Brill is the observer yet again - the observer of herself.