Miss Brill

Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

"But even the band seemed to know what she was feeling and played more softly, played tenderly, and the drub beat" (Mansfield, 184).

Miss Brill seems to find loneliness in her life as she tries to find someone to relate with. Starting off, Miss Brill sets herself up for failure just by getting out the fur and putting it on. Based on the description, the fur seems to be creepy and seems to characterize Miss Brill to resemble the fur. Personally, if I saw someone walking around with fur that had eyes, I would be creeped out. Similarly  Miss Brill finds herself becoming alienated because of her tendency to eavesdrop on other people's conversations. Again, if someone with creepy fur was also creeping on my conversation  I would probably outcast them as well. Furthermore, the music in the background seems to follow everything Miss Brill is feeling. She even notes it herself that the music seemed to know what she was feeling. All of these traits of the short story characterize Miss Brill. The surroundings of Miss Brill reflect her character. She seems lonely and finds comfort in the fur that she wears. The music displays the different feelings of Miss Brill. Indirectly, a lot is learned about Miss Brill just by her surroundings rather than a direct description of her motives.