MISS BRILL BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

NOR SHAZILA ROSLEE NOR SUHAILA DAUD NUR ATHIRAH YUSOFF NUR FAZLIN MOH NOR NUR KAMILAH MOHAMAD

AUTHORS BACKGROUND

KATHLEEN MANSFIELD BEAUCHAMP

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, on October 14, 1888. She was educated in London, and gained her intellectual freedom by studying Oscar Wilde and the other English decadent writers of the early twentieth century. Began publishing stories in Australian magazines in 1907, and shortly thereafter returned to London. In 1911, she published her first volume of stories, In a German Pension. Together Mansfield and Murry published a small journal, The Blue Review, and the experience gained them entrance into the literary community. 1917, Mansfield became increasingly ill because of the tuberculosis. She continued to write, publishing Bliss and Other Stories and The Garden Party and Other Stories in 1920 and 1922 respectively. Though she was separated from Murray for long periods, it was he who saw that her literary reputation was established by publishing her last stories and her collections of letters after her death in January, 1923, at the age of thirty-four.

SUMMARY

The story is about Miss Brill, a middle-aged English teacher in an unnamed French vacation town. It follows her on a regular Sunday afternoon in the park, which she spends walking and sitting in the park, wearing an old but beloved fur. She sees the world as if it were a stage, and enjoys watching the people around her, often judging them condescendingly. However, she then overhears a young couple's cruel remark about herself, and the story ends with her realizing that she is not really needed in the busy world.

THEME

LONELINESS

CHARACTERS

Miss Brill Fur Necklet The Woman in the Ermine Toque The Young Romantic Couple

MISS BRILL

MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN

UNMARRIED ENGLISH TEACHER

ASTUTE OBSERVER

YOUNG ROMANTIC COUPLE

BEAUTIFULLY DRESSED AND IN LOVE

HAVING A QUARREL

CONDEMNS MISS BRILL

FUR NECKLET

CHARACTERISED AS HUMAN

FRIEND OF MISS BRILL

SYMBOLIZE MISS BRILL

WOMAN IN ERMINE TOQUE

SYMBOLIZE CHARACTER OF MISS BRILL

YELLOW HAIR

OTHER CHARACTERS

Old couple Englishman and his wife Two young girls and soldiers Funny old man

SETTING

Written in modernist mode

The Jardins Publiques, the French term for public garden, or park. Bakery Her little dark room

LITERARY ELEMENTS

Third person point of view through narration Symbolism Interior monologue Imagery Imagination

LESSONS

We have to be care to each other

It is not good to make fun of others We should respect the elders We should make friends and communicate with others