Lonliness in Miss Brill

Loneliness in Miss Brill

In the short story "Miss Brill," penned by Katherine Mansfield in 1922, a Sunday afternoon is spent with an elderly woman during her weekly ritual of visiting a seaside park. The woman, Miss Brill, enjoys her habitual outing to hear the band play and soak in the atmosphere, but most of all she relishes the chance to sit in on the lives of others by listening and watching. Mansfield's "Miss Brill" illustrates the old woman's attempt to alleviate loneliness by creating an alternate reality for herself, yet she is ultimately forced to face the self-deception for what it truly is.{2}

Miss Brill's ritual of visiting the park every Sunday helps her to cope with loneliness.{3} It is clear how much enjoyment the old woman derives from the simple activity as the narrator states, "Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting [t]here, watching it all!" The weekly outing provides an opportunity for Miss Brill to place herself in the company of others and to leave behind "the little dark room" in which she lives. Miss Brill employs the tactics of listening and watching to passively include herself in the activities of the park crowd. She is expert at "sitting in other people's lives for just a minute" by eavesdropping. This habit of "listening as though she didn't listen" helps her to feel included. Being an avid people watcher, Miss Brill pays rapt attention to those who surround her. By the same care she takes in noticing others, she hopes that "no doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there" in attendance. This thought allows her to feel a sense of community with the strangers at the park. Miss Brill seizes every opportunity she can to imagine herself as having some connection with the individuals she observes in attempt to garner a sense of belonging. She even likens herself to being a part of the "family" that the band plays to. In effect, the weekly outing provides a means to escape the isolation felt in her solitary existence for a period of time by engaging herself in the happenings at the park. However, as Miss Brill observes and listens, she prefers to view her world through a proverbial set of rose coloured glasses to protect herself from confronting the truth of her lonely existence.{4}

Miss Brill alters her perception of reality to avoid facing unpleasant aspects of her life.{5} The first example of this is noted as she settles in on her "special" bench at the park and touches the fur stole surrounding her neck, and she is comforted by the fur's presence. She thinks of the pelt as more of a companionable pet as she considers that "she could have taken it off and laid it on her lap and stroked it." Ignoring reality, character and personality are imagined into the lifeless fur as she affectionately refers to the accessory as the "little rogue!" Another indication that Miss Brill skews her reality is seen in her perception of others versus herself. While watching, Miss Brill observes the other elderly bench sitters who share the same ritual in coming to the park every Sunday to watch and listen. She does not recognize herself as being in the same category when she notices that the others "were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms." She refuses to see her own reflection in this mirror of elderly loners. In the same way, Miss Brill twists her perception as she begins to fancy herself being an "actress." The park setting becomes a stage, the band orchestrates interactions, and the crowd becomes the cast for the scene she imagines as being "exactly like a play." In using this method, she provides herself with a sense of inclusion, importance, and connection to the strangers that surround her. The idea of playing "a part" in the park "performance" allows her to fool herself into believing she has a purpose within the crowd. Unwittingly, she has set herself