Miss Brill
By: Katherine Mansfield

In this short story, I personally found Miss Brill to be extremely odd and creepy.  I was able to characterize Miss Brill with these traits based on her actions throughout the story.  The way that she holds her fur and pets it while watching the people was just strange in my opinion.  "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" (183).  This quote explains that Miss Brill almost viewed this "obsession" as an art.  She was impressed with herself for remaining so discreet in her eavesdropping of the local people.  Shockingly, the people don't seem to notice Miss Brill's strange habit.  This came as a surprise to me because this is her activity every single Sunday.  I would think that the people would start to notice her and the fact that she basically watches everyone.  Another literary device that I found in this story was simile.  A great example of simile usage can be found towards the middle of the story.  "How she loved sitting here, watching it all!  It was like a play.  It was exactly like a play" (184).  This comparison of the daily activities of the people to a play further concerned me.  Miss Brill watches the people so intently that she considers it like going to a theatrical play.  Overall, Miss Brill clearly has some issues that cause her to act in this odd manner.  She seems lonely and isolated, and somehow her fur and watching the people seems to comfort her.