Comparing Miss Brill And A Rose For Emily

Miss Brill in Katherine Mansfield’s short story “Miss Brill” and Emily in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner exhibits interesting similarities and differences. The differences and similarities are noticeable in the two characters. The two stories appear different, but the relationship they share is very profound. Both of the stories open to the reader with the realization of similarities and dissimilarities in them and the readers in terms of themes within the story, character traits and plot advancement. Miss Brill and Miss Emily both share many similar characteristics, for one being their romantic lives as well as personal lives, the two also have the crucial states of denial and they both avoid reality as well. The pride that associates with the community involvement is the major difference between the two characters. …show more content…
They both lack romantic and ordinary relationships which neither of the two ended up with a functional social life. On the other hand, there is a noticeable difference between the two characters public lives. Both of the stories reveal to the reader lives of two lonely women, longing for a civil relationship with a loved one or even just a friend. Brill would spend her Sunday outings, watching people with hopes that she would hear their voices. To her disappointment, people “did not speak.” (Mansfield, 18). Miss Brill therefore gets unamused with a mixture of feelings. She even feels somewhat joyous from the things that she sees and unconsciously relates them to her own life. Comparing herself to a woman who gives her a flower confuses her about whether to reject or accept them. The reader then is able to see that Miss Brill strives for the attention that the others in her community get from one another. She wants to be able to be apart of something, just like Miss