"Miss Brill" by Katherine Manfield

"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 box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying" (page 186).

One of the questions after this passage said "What do you think Miss Brill looks like?" After reading this story, many descriptions came to mind. I kind of envisioned her to look like a person who wants to be all prim and proper but cannot pull off the facade. For instance, she is characterized as a person who wears a massive fur coat. Perhaps she is just someone who wants to be the fairest of them all but just does not fit into society. I'm not really sure. The fact that we do not know Miss Brill's first name also fits in to her characterization. This shows that she doesn't want society to know who she really is. Maybe she is insecure in some way. Also, this hinders society from knowing her on a deeper level. Society in this story never takes the chance to get to know her. She is merely just someone there, like a shadow. Miss Brill's observations about the people she encounters reveal that she is a lonesome, nosy person. For instance, everyone she mentions is mentioned with someone else. Couples are everywhere in this story. The only thing that Miss Brill matches herself up with is her coat. Maybe this shows some significance because perhaps Miss Brill cannot find someone herself. I feel that she watches other couples to live vicariously through them. I also feel that she is single. If she was widowed or divorced, she might be called Ms. Brill. The fact that she is called Miss Brill, though, just makes me think that she always has been single. The conflict of the story is that Miss Brill is unaware that people don't let her in. She simply only stares and watches other people's lives instead of living one herself. The antagonist of the story is the people involved (society) because they are annoyed with Miss Brill's way of living, or should I say "not living" her own life.