Question

"Miss Brill" - Short Story

1. How does this modernized interpretation of plot in and characters in the Miss Brill film hold up to Mansfield's original story?

Answer 1

Katherine Mansfield stories like Miss Brill are written in the form of third person narratives to provide insight about the internal feelings and perceptions. There is a usage of internal monologues which provide an in-depth analysis about the emotions of Miss Mansfield. The author discusses the behavior of Miss Brill. She was sitting in the garden appreciating the rock band music and touching her old fur coat that she had worn.She took the coat from the cupboard and brushed it and removed the moth balls. She was sad when she heard the comments that the fur was old and should be thrown and discarded and should not be worn again and again. The soul and heart of Miss Brill turned sad after listening to such comments and she stood beside the window room of her house for a large amount of time. There is a usage of rhetorical sentences,exclamations,repetition and unexpected shifts in syntax. Mansfield also discusses the works of paint and art performed by by Miss Brill with its effect according to the surrounding environment. She watches a man with grey hat made of fur coat and listens to conversations between male and female who seem to be disagreeing on some personal issues in the garden. She get mocked and ridiculed for her old white fur coat which has turned old and shabby. There is a focus on female subjectivity in this story of Miss Brill. There is a description of a party with lots of children dressed in clothes of various colors along with the elders enjoying at the party.There is a depiction of caricatures and emotions of people at the party as visioned by Miss Brill along with playing of music filled with colors and passion at the party.