Mrs. Brill by Katherine Mansfield
Mrs. Brill, a short story by Katherine Mansfield, takes place in Jardins Publiques seaside town in France. The story is about an elder lady by the name of Mrs. Brill who frequents a nearby park on Sundays to hear a band play. Before leaving to the park she removed her fur. Shaken of the moth powder and brushing it of Mrs. Brill admired her fur wrap. The tail was placed within its mouth and its black composite nose was no longer firm, giving the impression that the wrap was old. She decided that a little black wax would take care of the nose when it became noticeable and continued on staring and stroking it. Mrs. Brill went to the park and noticed and noted that there were a greater number of visitors this week than last. Being perceptive, she noticed that the band was player with more feeling and at a louder level. Comparing the conductor of the bands movement to that of a rooster and making note of his new coat, Mrs. Brill continued to survey her surrounding gathering every detail. Other items she caught includes; the crowd, flower bends, a beggar, and the big white bows under the flocking children about. She sat next to an old couple on the bench. The misses, a "big old women" wore a embroidered apron and the mister, a "fine old man in a velvet coat", gripping a cane, never spoke a word. Mrs. Brill was upset at this; she enjoyed a good conversation and hoped for the couple to leave. She reminisced of the couple the previous week the women wore a Panama styled hat and nagged about needing spectacles to view the scenery, her husband suggested different styles that may suit her but she carried on stating they would most likely slip off. She didn't find that couple interesting either but felt it was better than the statue like couple sitting in her "special" seat. Her attention to detail was precise; describing everyone her eyes came in contact with, observing changes in people from week to week. The band now turned into an orchestra like musical, performing on stage and everyone including her were actors and actresses. Her feeling and thought were conveyed omnisciently and when a direct emotion wasn't recognized, context clues were used so that the reader may be able to tell how she was feeling.
Early on in the story, there is a phrase about an older woman explaining an image. It says, “A woman with shorn white hair wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched.” She dresses comfortable but we know
Summary and Response to Barbara Kingsolver’s “Called Home” In “Called Home”, the first chapter of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver presents her concerns about America's lack of food knowledge, sustainable practices, and food culture. Kingsolver introduces her argument for the benefits of adopting a local food culture by using statistics, witty anecdotal evidence, and logic to appeal to a wide casual reading audience. Her friendly tone and trenchant criticism of America's current food practices combine to deliver a convincing argument that a food culture would improve conditions concerning health and sustainability.
This book is about a girl name Ellen Foster who is ten years old. Her mother committed suicide by over dosing on her medication. When Ellen tried to go look for help for her mother her father stopped her. He told them that if she looked for helped he would kill them both. After her mother died she was left under her fathers custody. Her father was a drunk. He would physically and mentally abuse her. Ellen was forced to pay bills, go grocery shopping, cook for herself, and do everything else for herself. Ellen couldn't take it any more so she ran away her friends house. Starletta and her parents lived in a small cabin with one small bathroom. One day at school a teacher found a bruise on Ellen's arm. She sends Ellen to live with Julia the school's art teacher. Julia had a husband named Roy. They were both hippies. Julia and Roy cared a lot about Ellen. After Ellen turned 11 years old she was forced to go live with her grandmother. Ellen didn't want to leave Julia and Roy but her grandmother had won custody. Her grandmother was a cruel old lady. Ellen spends the summer with her grandmother. Living with her makes her very unhappy. Since her grandmother owns farmland she forces Ellen to work on the field with her black servants. Ellen meets a black woman named Mavis. Mavis and her become good friends. Mavis would talk about how she knew Ellen's mother and how much Ellen resembled her mother. Her grandmother didn't think the same. She thought that Ellen resembled her father. She also hated that man. Her grandmother would often compare her with her father. Her grandmother would torture her because she wanted revenge from her father. Her grandmother also blames her for the death of her mother. While Ellen was staying with her grandmother her father died. When her father died she didn't feel sad because she had always fantasized about killing her father. Ellen just felt a distant sadness. Ellen cried just a little bit. Her grandmother was furious because Ellen showed some emotions. She told her to never cry again. After that Ellen becomes scarred for a long time. One day her uncle Rudolph bought the flag that had been on Ellen's father's casket. Her grandmother turns him away. Later that day she burned the flag.
The world is filled with many different types of societies and cultures. This is due to the fact that many people share dissimilar beliefs and ideas, as well as diverse ways of life. People lived under different circumstances and stipulations, therefore forming cultures and societies with ideas they formulated, themselves. These two factors, society and culture, are what motivate people to execute the things that they do. Many times, however, society and culture can cause downgrading effects to an assemblage if ever it is corrupt or prejudiced. Society and culture not only influences the emotions individuals have toward things like age differences, religion, power, and equality but also the actions they perform as a result.
“Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her “fur” for that Sunday afternoon in the park. Her little friend she wore around her neck would be the perfect companion to enjoy such a beautiful day. After going to the park and sitting down, Miss Brill wishes to talk with the other people sitting about, but they never make a sound, though after this she admits to listening to their conversations. “She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn’t listen, at sitting in other people’s lives just for a minute while they talked round her.” Within moments, Miss Brill is commenting on other people: The old people who sat on the benches like statues, the little children running here and there, a beautiful woman accidentally dropping violets on the floor, and once a little boy picks them up and tries to...
Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” is a short story illustrating the struggle of an old woman trying to face death with personal dignity. At the story’s heart is a masterful characterization of the protagonist, Granny Weatherall. Katherine Anne Porter has developed the character of Granny Weatherall “with such clarity and force that her life story becomes a prototype for everyone’s, regardless of age or circumstance” (Blake 3465). Porter’s vivid portrayal of this magnificent old lady depends mainly on her use of three artistic tools: point of view, development of plot conflict, and symbolism. A brief examination of these three tools shows how “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” achieves its stirring effect.
Pruitt, Claude. "Circling Meaning in Toni Morrison's Sula.” African American Review 44.1/2 (2011): 115-129. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Miss Brill is an older woman who is a English teacher, is a very lonely women. Every Sunday she dresses up in nice clothing and sits in the park to watch people. On one particular Sunday Miss Brill put on her nice fur, “She had taken it out of the box that afternoon, shaken out the moth powder, given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes.”(259). In this quote it gives the reader the first hint the Miss Brill is depressed and lonely. This quote also hints that the fur symbolizes Miss Brill. When it says that the dusting of the moth powder and the rubbing of the eyes gave it life, symbolizes that going to the park gave Miss Brill life. Throughout the whole story the author proves the point that Miss Brill is truly depressed. Like on page 259 at the end of the first paragraph, Miss Brill is talking to herself and admits to herself that she is depressed. This is shown on page 259 when the author states, “She felt a tingling in her hands and arms, but that came from walking, she supposed. And when she breathed, something tight and sad-no, not sad, exactly…” (259). She
“Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield tells a story of a lonely, English lady in France. Miss Brill is a quiet person who believes herself to be important. The whole afternoon at the gardens, Miss Brill does not converse with anyone, nor does anyone show any inclination to talk with her. She merely watches others and listens to their conversations. This provides her with a sense of companionship; she feels as if she is a part of other people’s lives. Miss Brill is also slightly self-conceited. She believes that she is so important that people would notice if she ever missed a Sunday at the park. It does not occur to her that other people may not want her to be there.
Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall. In Ballad of Birmingham, Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child. Much of this poem is read as dialogue between a mother and a child, a style which gives it an intimate tone and provides insight to the feelings of the characters. Throughout the poem, the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there.
There is perhaps no greater joy in life than finding one’s soul mate. Once found, there is possibly no greater torment than being forced to live without them. This is the conflict that Paul faces from the moment he falls in love with Agnes. His devotion to the church and ultimately God are thrown into the cross hairs with the only possible outcome being one of agonizing humiliation. Grazia Deledda’s The Mother presents the classic dilemma of having to choose between what is morally right and being true to one’s own heart. Paul’s inability to choose one over the other consumes his life and everyone in it.
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.
Simone de Beauvoir, the author of the novel The Second Sex, was a writer and a philosopher as well as a political activist and feminist. She was born in 1908 in Paris, France to an upper-middle class family. Although as a child Beauvoir was extremely religious, mostly due to training from her mother as well as from her education, at the age of fourteen she decided that there was no God, and remained an atheist until she died. While attending her postgraduate school she met Jean Paul Sartre who encouraged her to write a book. In 1949 she wrote her most popular book, The Second Sex. This book would become a powerful guide for modern feminism. Before writing this book de Beauvoir did not believe herself to be a feminist. Originally she believed that “women were largely responsible for much of their own situation”. Eventually her views changed and she began to believe that people were in fact products of their upbringing. Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986 at the age of 78.
To what extent does Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Medusa’ challenge stereotypical masculine and feminine attributes?
Florence by Alice Childress This 1950 play by Alice Childress takes place in a train station waiting room in a very small town in the south. The play describes how Miss Whitney, an old black woman, discovers that her premonition of the success of her daughter, Florence, as a black actress is undesirably similar to that of a racist, white society. This troubling discovery has just as strong an impact on the reader as it does on Miss Whitney. This drama teaches the reader how the views and opinions of individuals or groups can influence other individuals or groups to approach situations with the same reaction, although their views and opinions may be opposite. Marge, Miss Whitney's other daughter, first introduces this frame of mind to as she accompanies Miss Whitney at the train station.