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Comparing Short Stories 'Miss Brill And A Rose For Emily'

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Comparing Short Stories 'Miss Brill And A Rose For Emily'
Lonely In Society Short Stories “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner are painfully sad. The authors use of alienation in society have both similarities and differences. Miss Brill and Miss Emily experience that being lonely can be destructive to their self-esteem which prevents them from having or maintaining relationships with others. It has become evident that society has driven Miss Brill to isolation and has alienated Emily from love. Miss Brill is a lonely and slightly delusional women. During the course of the story, Miss Brill seems to care about her appearance. When getting dressed she is “glad that she has decided on her fur” (183). Also, in order to look her best on her Sunday outing, she believes that a “little rogue” (184) is “absolutely necessary” (184). MIss Brill is fascinated by all the people in the park that she goes to every Sunday. Miss Brill gets excited to eavesdrop on all the conversations that are going on around her. Although Miss Brill listens to the couples who sit on the bench next to her, she never engages in any conversation. Instead she becomes more and more intrigues with the immediate atmosphere until she reaches a state of delusion. She begins to fantasize that her life is a play and …show more content…
Suddenly Homer and Emily are seen together; the town can not believe Emily would go with a Northern man. The townspeople see Homer enter Emily’s house one day but never see him leave. One day, Miss Emily goes into town to purchase arsenic. Emily had everyone in town talking and wondering what she would do with such a poison. The town was speculating that she would kill herself, but Miss Emily fooled them all. After she passed away the townsmen find Homer’s corpse lying in her bed. This suggests that Emily had poisoned the man because of her fear of being left alone

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