The Use of Characterization in Miss Brill
Katherine Mansfield draws us in instantaneously with the setting. She paints this picture of a lovely and beautiful Sunday afternoon with "the blue sky powdered with gold and great spots of light like white wine splashed on the Jardins Publiques" and "the air was motionless". All of the observations pull you in and connect you immediately to what is going to occur throughout the story. Miss Brill as a character is extremely intriguing you see her putting herself in situations as if she is in them, eavesdropping, and people-watching but all of this, like in any other work of literature, has to deal with more than what meets the eye initially.
Miss Brill is reaching an age where few exciting things occur in her life anymore. Her life is slowing down, coming to a halt so to say. She is an unmarried, English woman; and much like older people she invests her time in places that she can feel young again. Throughout the whole short story, the characterization of Miss Brill really shows how lonely some people in this world can get. A connection can be drawn between A Clean, Well-Lighted Place and Miss Brill. The center of both stories revolve around a main character who is past their "glory days", they are struggling to find a place where they belong and find it both in a location that fits their needs. The drunk old man finds that in a safe, calm, and quiet cafe while Miss Brill finds hers being surrounded by the busy, ongoing lives of other people. Mansfield uses the music and the ambiance from the band in comparison to the emotions that Miss Brill is witnessing around her. Every emotion that is connected to Miss Brill, every human being feels at some point in time and by the end of the story that is what creates our biggest attachment to the eccentric Miss Brill.
I love how you connect the characters from the two stories, Dayeton! Both of their lives seem so diminished; fortunately, the old man cannot hear the young waiter's sentiments although I suspect he feels them. Unfortunately, Miss Brill has lived within the confines of her small room that when she does hear the young couple, it may be too late.
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