Miss Brill Symbolism

Katherine Mansfield 's short story "Miss Brill" is an great example of how a writer can use various literary techniques to lead the reader to a better understanding of Miss Brill the character. Instead of merely stating the message of the story, Mansfield used various literary techniques to allow the reader to draw his own conclusions about the character. Using these literary aspects to reveal a truth about a character to the reader is often referred to as characterization. Four of the most easily recognized literary techniques used in Mansfield 's "Miss Brill" are her use of symbolism, setting, allusion, and points of view used by different characters in her story.

Symbolism plays a very large part in understanding Miss Brill the character.
The point of view is based strictly on what Miss Brill sees and feels, without being biased by her rose-colored view of life. Upon arriving at the park, Miss Brill begins to take in the details of her surroundings. She seem to cling to the best qualities of her surroundings - there were far more people than last Sunday, the band sounded louder and gayer, and the conductor was wearing a new coat. As she sits in her "special seat" she is disappointed that the odd man and seated next to her. She had become "quite an expert at listening as though she didn 't listen". She views her eavesdropping as active participation in conversations surrounding her. Although she continues to watch the others in the crowd in and awe and fascination, she views the elderly people in the crowd quite differently. She calls them "odd, silent and nearly all old...and they looked as though they had just come from dark little rooms or even - even cupboards". Trying to keep her mid of the elderly people, Miss Brill convinces herself of her importance in this grand play and that "no doubt, somebody would have noticed is she hadn 't been there". When the young couple seated beside her begin to talk, Miss Brill listens intently to their conversation. It is then that she hears them talk of her the way she has been viewing the other elderly people throughout the afternoon. "Why does she come here at all - who wants her"? The omniscient point of view allows the reader to view this conversation as it actually occurred, not as Miss Brill would have no doubt changed it in her mind. When she returns home "to her room like a cupboard" without getting her usual slice of honey cake, we see that she scene at the park has affected her. Yet, she is not changed by it. When she puts away the fur, "she thinks she hears something crying". As a defense mechanism, she attributes her