The Importance Of The Colorless Age In Katherine Mansfield's 'Miss Brill'

Desired Approval from the Beau Monde
“As she drove the familiar route to the school, she considered her magnificent new age. Forty… Such a colorless age… Nothing would matter all that much when you were forty. You wouldn 't have real feelings when you were forty, because you 'd be safely cushioned by your frumpy forty-ness,” Liane Moriarty in her novel Big Little Lies remarks on the colorless way it feels to be forty no doubt based upon other’s opinions of the age. Though people cannot stop the natural process of aging the woman still feels less valuable than she would have at a younger age. Forty is in no way a terribly old age, but she still feels “frumpy” and “colorless.” In “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill is a middle to

When Miss Brill is sitting in the park observing passers-by, she notes “two young girls in red” who were met by “two young soldiers in blue … and they laughed and paired and went off arm-in-arm” (Mansfield 176). And later Miss Brill sees “a beautiful woman [come] along and [drop] her bunch of violets” (Mansfield 177). Miss Brill admires the beauty of these young people with their bright and vivid colors. To her the vivid colors represent life, passion, beauty, and happiness, all fulfilling elements that she believes she lacks. Later when she is studying herself she realizes that now in her older age “her hair, her face, even her eyes, [were] the same color as the shabby ermine, and her hand, in its cleaned glove, lifted to dab her lips, was a tiny yellowish paw” (Mansfield 177). All the colors that she notices in herself are dim and muted, communicating to the audience that Miss Brill feels her life much reduced from the brilliant excitement and color that it had once been. When observing the young people she sees red, which is commonly symbolizes passion and love; blue, which is frequently associated with innocence, youth, order, and serenity; and purple, which conveys richness, vibrancy, and royalty. In contrast the only colors Miss Brill mentions when critiquing herself are a muted brown and a yellowish color. The brown represents the confusion that is

But when [she puts] the lid on she [thinks] she [hears] something crying” (Mansfield 179). Miss Brill quickly locks up the fur without looking at it, much like she ignores her deep unhappiness. The fact that she thinks she hears it crying puts even more emphasis on the suppression of her happiness. Instead of even allowing herself a chance to feel deeply unhappy and come to terms with the criticism she faces due to her age, she attempts to suppress her sorrow. She wants so badly to be approved by society that she is willing to completely diminish her own happiness and not even allow herself to come to terms with her abuse by acknowledging it with sadness. Miss Brill sees the diminishment her own happiness as a worthwhile loss in order to be accepted by others.
The ermine fur not only begins but also ends this story, placing an enormous amount of significance on it. The fur frames not only the story, but Miss Brill’s ever changing mindset in response to the criticism of others; it shows the contrast of her happiness changing rapidly from giddiness into a depressing denial. The ermine fur signifies her desire to appear as happy as the youth she wishes to find approval