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Discussion Questions – “Miss Brill”
1. Where does this story take place? How do we know (provide evidence from the story)?
2. Other than visit the park on Sunday afternoons, what two things do we learn that Miss Brill does in her spare time?
3. Consider the implications of the title of the story. What important information does it give the reader about the main character?
4. Analyze Miss Brill’s Sundays in the park. Why does she go there, and how does she feel when she is there?
5. How might you describe the mood of the story up until the very end?
6. In what ways are Miss Brill’s thoughts and feelings about those around her ironic?
7. Most of this story lets you know what’s going on in Miss Brill’s mind. During her visit to the park, she speaks to no one, she does nothing. Her imagination, however, is active, and she identifies with what is going on all around her. Consider Miss Brill’s fantasies.
a) What do they reveal about her needs and fears?
b) How would you describe Miss Brill’s life? (rich, meaningful, empty?)
c) How do her reactions to what she sees reveal the emptiness of her life?
8. The story takes a sharp turn when the young couple came to sit down beside Miss Brill. Before they came, Miss Brill has been having imaginations, imagining her as an important part of the park scene, as an “actress” in the performance. When she overhears the conversation between the boy and the girl, (the insulting comments), she finds out what others think of her.
a) How does this scene convey the nature of Miss Brill’s life?
9. At the end of the story, Miss Brill bypasses the honeycake, her Sunday treat, and returns to her “cupboard” of a room. It is clear that she is crying as she puts away her fur.
a) What does this action reveal about Miss Brill?
b) Do you think something has changed for her?
10. What role do the “hero and heroine” (in Miss Brill’s words) play in the climax of the story? What happens to Miss Brill as a
1. Where does this story take place? How do we know (provide evidence from the story)?
2. Other than visit the park on Sunday afternoons, what two things do we learn that Miss Brill does in her spare time?
3. Consider the implications of the title of the story. What important information does it give the reader about the main character?
4. Analyze Miss Brill’s Sundays in the park. Why does she go there, and how does she feel when she is there?
5. How might you describe the mood of the story up until the very end?
6. In what ways are Miss Brill’s thoughts and feelings about those around her ironic?
7. Most of this story lets you know what’s going on in Miss Brill’s mind. During her visit to the park, she speaks to no one, she does nothing. Her imagination, however, is active, and she identifies with what is going on all around her. Consider Miss Brill’s fantasies.
a) What do they reveal about her needs and fears?
b) How would you describe Miss Brill’s life? (rich, meaningful, empty?)
c) How do her reactions to what she sees reveal the emptiness of her life?
8. The story takes a sharp turn when the young couple came to sit down beside Miss Brill. Before they came, Miss Brill has been having imaginations, imagining her as an important part of the park scene, as an “actress” in the performance. When she overhears the conversation between the boy and the girl, (the insulting comments), she finds out what others think of her.
a) How does this scene convey the nature of Miss Brill’s life?
9. At the end of the story, Miss Brill bypasses the honeycake, her Sunday treat, and returns to her “cupboard” of a room. It is clear that she is crying as she puts away her fur.
a) What does this action reveal about Miss Brill?
b) Do you think something has changed for her?
10. What role do the “hero and heroine” (in Miss Brill’s words) play in the climax of the story? What happens to Miss Brill as a