What is the plot of Miss Brill?
What is the plot of Miss Brill?
Miss Brill is an English teacher living near the Public Gardens in a French town. The narrative follows her on a regular Sunday afternoon, which she spends walking about and sitting in the park. The story opens with Miss Brill delighting in her decision to wear her fur.
What is the conflict in Miss Brill?
This is seen when she blames the fur stole for everything that went wrong. Miss Brill’s perception of the world is the seat of the conflict in the short story. Everything was fine with Miss Brill until two people barged in on her psychological life and ruined things for her.
What is the main action happening in Miss Brill?
Unlock Every Sunday, Miss Brill goes to a nearby park to people watch. She is an extremely lonely woman, yet is completely unaware of how sad she is. She escapes the “dark little rooms or even-even [cupboard]” (Mansfield) in which she lives. To escape her loneliness, she goes to the park and watches other people.
What kind of person is Miss Brill?
Miss Brill: A middle-aged, unmarried English tutor in France, Miss Brill is optimistic, observant, and sensitive. Her reflections about her day to day life reveal that she is extremely lonely. She substitutes reality with fantasies about the lives of the people she comes in contact with.
Does Miss Brill come to a realization about her life and habits or does she manage to suppress the truths that have been presented to her?
Miss Brill does come to a realization about her life and habits. At the Jardin Publique, after she overhears the young man ridiculing her and the girl mocking her fur, her dream-world in which she creates romance at the outdoor concerts is crushed and her heart broken. It is a lonely life that Miss Brill lives.
What explanations might there be for Miss Brill’s thinking in the last line of the story that she heard something crying?
She, at some level, is humiliated, embarrassed and ashamed at what she overheard the young couple say about her as it resonates deeply within her and makes her realise just how ridiculous and lonely she is. The crying at the end of the story is therefore the sound of her own sobs.
