Disillusionment

--The Analysis of Miss Brill

Miss Brill was a short novel written by Katherine Mansfield, which described a lonely English old lady who lives in France and maintained her livelihood by teaching and reading newspapers for patients. Since she lived alone in a foreign country and had not many relatives and friends, she always wanted to involve in the local society. Like many lonely persons who kill lonely times by imagining something fantasy, Miss Brill was such a person who also imagined that she was an interpretation of the crowd. Through the detailed description by Katherine, the audiences could feel and sense the loneliness of Miss Brill. Since she was so lonely, Miss Brill felt that the only joyful thing for her to do was to go to a park in order to scatter the loneliness. She always imagined that she was the important and crucial part of the park by observing people in the park. From the novel, it could be seen that Miss Brill like to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. In the following part, I would analyze the protagonist in the short novel. I would analyze how the protagonist changed.

The novel stated that Miss Brill liked to go to the park when the weather was good. She liked to listen to other people’s conversations, and she imagined she had involved into the conversation as well as involving into other people’s life. Miss Brill was sensitive to everything and liked to observe. Miss Brill had sharp eyes and had sympathy for everything. Miss Brill thought life was a drama, and she was one of the characters in the drama. The imagination scattered the loneliness for her and brought joy for her life, which was a hallucination. Just as the author stated:

“She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn't listen, at sitting in other people's lives just for a minute while they talked round her.”

“They weren't only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a part and came every Sunday.”

From the above words stated, it could be seen that Miss Brill had taken the park as a place where the play was performing, and she was one of the important roles in the play.

On a Sunday when the weather was quite good, Miss Brill walked out to the park. When Miss Brill was intoxicated with the imaginative world which she created, she heard the conversations from two young people by accident.

’’Because of that stupid old thing at the end there?" asked the boy. "Why does she come here at all - who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home?"

"It's her fu-ur which is so funny," giggled the girl. "It's exactly like a fried whiting."

The conversation was like a blow and a shout to Miss Brill. Just as the author said:

“It's exactly like a fried whiting."

The feeling of warmth and satisfaction disappeared. It seems that she had dropped from the imaginative world into the despair abyss. When the imaginations had clashed with the real world, the bond between her and the practical world has been cut off. It seems that she had depicted the reality world. Besides, the conversation also realized that the dramas or plays in her brain was her self-entertainment without any point to other people. Even though she was eager to be accepted by the society and understood by other people, she had been refused by the society and by other people. In an instant, she realized that she was just a repulsive person without any sense of presence. The passion with imagination suddenly vanished because she had sensed the cruelty from the conversation of two young men and realized that her imagination was quite different from that of other people. Mill Brill felt desperate and felt hardships from reality. Hence, Miss Brill felt more lonely. Through the words and description of the author, the audience also had the same sympathy. Just as author

“She went into the little dark room - her room like a cupboard.”

From the above words, it could be seen that Miss Brill was quite hopeless about the society. However, the author did not describe how sad she was direct and neither mentioned the inner feelings of Miss Brill. Instead, the author used quite a calm tone and plain words to demonstrate the great change of Mill Brill’s inner world. The author stated the hopeless as follows:

“The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking.”

The author used such words to end the whole passage. The image of a lonely old lady whose dream had been destroyed bounced off the paper, leaving audience lots of imaginations. But from the brief description, it could be seen that the inner world of Miss Brill has changed a lot because she had changed from a lonely but happy woman into a lonely but hopeless lady. The author used the broken box to imply that the fantasies of Miss Brill had been broken.

In conclusion, the author used plain and gentle language to describe how the fantasy dreams of an old lady were ruined by the reality. The inner world of Miss Brill experienced great transformation, which indicates the deeper theme that the epic was full of loneliness with the development of technology.