Miss Brill

In Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill, the main character has a life changing event that makes her question everything she knows. Miss Brill is an older british woman who lives alone in an apartment. Every Sunday she goes to the park to listen to a marching band that plays, and she also listens in on other people’s lives and conversations. After the park, she also stops by a local bakery and gets a piece of cake as her “Sunday treat” (91). The author makes it seem like Miss Brill thinks life is a walk in the park. Because of this belief she has, Miss Brill is a naive and routine oriented person, until she encounters a young couple at the park. Miss Brill views the world as a little child would see it. She notices every little detail in it, the insects, conversations etc. She acts as though she is five years …show more content…
She does things a certain way and has been like that for what seems like her whole lifetime. Every Sunday afternoon she goes to the park, sits there for a while and then stops by the bakers for a piece of honey cake. This routine she has is clearly shown near the end of the story. “On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey cake at the baker’s” (91). This shows that she has certain things that she does at the same time every week, thus showing that she is a routine oriented person. This regimen stops all of a sudden after the incident at the park. She is clearly shaken by the experience and it makes her do something out of the ordinary which is a big change for her. This pattern is evidently broken on her way back to her apartment. “But today she passed by the baker’s” (91). The encounter with the young couple undoubtedly gets Miss Brill off her routine because her stop at the baker’s is obviously a sign of stability. She undeniably cherishes this normality so much, and all of a sudden she forgets her usual stop. This stop is a vital part of what makes Miss Brill