Short Story Analysis: Miss Brill
Short Story Analysis: Miss Brill
In the story Miss Brill, details such as the fur Miss Brill wears and how she spends her Sunday evenings shed light into her characteristics and lifestyle. Her point of view shows her to be an unreliable narrator, reality being much different than it appears to Miss Brill. In the very first few paragraphs the reader begins to see the loneliness Miss Brill feels and how she responds to it. In getting ready to go out on Sunday evening, Miss Brill interacts with a fur she plans on wearing. Upon closer analysis the reader makes a connection between how she treats the fur, and how she, herself feels. She retrieves the fur out of its box, its lonely home. She may feel quite the same - trapped in a lonely house. She had "given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes." (102). Similarly, she might have gotten ready herself, maybe putting on a new dress, her eyes having a distinct sparkle to them, full of excitement. The similarities continue as she describes the fur. She refers to it as "rogue" (102), meaning adventurous, which she is not. She also refers to …show more content…
She says she had "become really quite expert.. at listening as though she didn 't listen, at sitting in other peoples lives just for a minute while they talked round her." (103) Out of her loneliness, she finds herself living vicariously through those around her. The reader can see how envious of people with mates and friends Miss Brill is as she writes about the couple she saw the week before. The woman was arguing with her husband about something that was not important. Referring to the woman, "Miss Brill wanted to shake her." (103) As she watches people, Miss Brill has an epiphany in paragraph 10. She realizes that it is almost as if she is in a play. This makes her happy, she feels she has a purpose. She feels important and needed, something that she may not have felt in
In the story Miss Brill, details such as the fur Miss Brill wears and how she spends her Sunday evenings shed light into her characteristics and lifestyle. Her point of view shows her to be an unreliable narrator, reality being much different than it appears to Miss Brill. In the very first few paragraphs the reader begins to see the loneliness Miss Brill feels and how she responds to it. In getting ready to go out on Sunday evening, Miss Brill interacts with a fur she plans on wearing. Upon closer analysis the reader makes a connection between how she treats the fur, and how she, herself feels. She retrieves the fur out of its box, its lonely home. She may feel quite the same - trapped in a lonely house. She had "given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes." (102). Similarly, she might have gotten ready herself, maybe putting on a new dress, her eyes having a distinct sparkle to them, full of excitement. The similarities continue as she describes the fur. She refers to it as "rogue" (102), meaning adventurous, which she is not. She also refers to …show more content…
She says she had "become really quite expert.. at listening as though she didn 't listen, at sitting in other peoples lives just for a minute while they talked round her." (103) Out of her loneliness, she finds herself living vicariously through those around her. The reader can see how envious of people with mates and friends Miss Brill is as she writes about the couple she saw the week before. The woman was arguing with her husband about something that was not important. Referring to the woman, "Miss Brill wanted to shake her." (103) As she watches people, Miss Brill has an epiphany in paragraph 10. She realizes that it is almost as if she is in a play. This makes her happy, she feels she has a purpose. She feels important and needed, something that she may not have felt in