Marlee Whittington
Antley
Ap Lit & Comp-4
26 August 2016
Characterization Essay #1 (Miss Brill)
In her short story, “Miss Brill,” Katherine Mansfield uses a variety of techniques such as descriptions, thoughts, and actions to fully characterize Miss Brill. She does so in a way to convey Miss Brill’s behaviors that “help” her to cope with her loneliness. One behavior Miss Brill has is that she wears a beloved old fur that is her “prized possession” every Sunday to the Jardins Publiques, a park in France. Her fur isn’t just any fur for it is her friend. She keeps it in a box, brushes it, and even speaks to it in the same manner you would to a pet. She even refers to it as her “little rogue.” Mansfield has included this behavior of Miss Brill to show that not only is the fur there to help her cope with her loneliness but is also there for her to hide behind so to speak. In the ending paragraph when she is laying the fur down inside the box at the end of the day she “thought she heard something crying.” The …show more content…
Mansfield adding this behavior to her shows that Miss Brill is living behind a mask, a façade. She herself cannot even notice that she is doing this and even if she does she is in complete denial. And right after she says that, she says that everyone else is acting too with her because she doesn’t want to be the only one. This one behavior covers all the others because she is longing for that connection and this is a way she is coping as well. Katherine Mansfield wrote Miss Brill’s character as an old woman longing for connection yet is unaware and or in denial that she is as lonely as she is. Mansfield includes descriptions, thoughts, and actions that all contribute to Brill’s character. The behaviors that she withholds paint a solid picture for her
Antley
Ap Lit & Comp-4
26 August 2016
Characterization Essay #1 (Miss Brill)
In her short story, “Miss Brill,” Katherine Mansfield uses a variety of techniques such as descriptions, thoughts, and actions to fully characterize Miss Brill. She does so in a way to convey Miss Brill’s behaviors that “help” her to cope with her loneliness. One behavior Miss Brill has is that she wears a beloved old fur that is her “prized possession” every Sunday to the Jardins Publiques, a park in France. Her fur isn’t just any fur for it is her friend. She keeps it in a box, brushes it, and even speaks to it in the same manner you would to a pet. She even refers to it as her “little rogue.” Mansfield has included this behavior of Miss Brill to show that not only is the fur there to help her cope with her loneliness but is also there for her to hide behind so to speak. In the ending paragraph when she is laying the fur down inside the box at the end of the day she “thought she heard something crying.” The …show more content…
Mansfield adding this behavior to her shows that Miss Brill is living behind a mask, a façade. She herself cannot even notice that she is doing this and even if she does she is in complete denial. And right after she says that, she says that everyone else is acting too with her because she doesn’t want to be the only one. This one behavior covers all the others because she is longing for that connection and this is a way she is coping as well. Katherine Mansfield wrote Miss Brill’s character as an old woman longing for connection yet is unaware and or in denial that she is as lonely as she is. Mansfield includes descriptions, thoughts, and actions that all contribute to Brill’s character. The behaviors that she withholds paint a solid picture for her