Miss Brill Character Traits

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The story takes place in a French park called “Jardins Publiques”. In the story “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, the character that is portrayed, Miss Brill, is a unique individual. She is a sensitive and observant woman. Miss Brill demonstrates the characteristics of a round and symbolic person. To begin with, Miss Brill demonstrates the characteristic of a Round person. A round character is anyone who has a complex personality. In the story “Miss Brill”, the character shows true alienation and loneliness. “What has been happening to me?” said the little eyes. Oh, how sweet it was to see them snap at her again from the red eiderdown! (Mansfield 167). Miss Brill speaks to the coat as if she is speaking to another person. Based on this she could be seen as a weird individual and very imaginative. Additionally, Miss Brill spends her Sundays at the French park eavesdropping in individual’s conversations and …show more content…

A symbolic character is any major character whose very existence represents some major idea or aspect of society. Miss Brills fur coat is similar to her own life. Miss brill removed her fur coat from its box in the beginning and towards the end she returns it to its dark box (Mansfield 171). The fur coat and herself do not go out often. The crying that she imagines coming from the box could be interpreted as Miss Brill herself crying. Furthermore, the women’s ermine toque could symbolize faded beauty. “But as Miss Brill wondered, the ermine toque turned, raised her hand as though she’s seen some one else, much nicer, just over there, and pattered away” (Mansfield 169). Similar to Miss Brills fur coat she is also faded beauty. Throughout the story almost everyone is described based on their clothing. Clothing could portray how the individuals are in society. Her fur coat shows that she came from high class back in the day but she is now seen different from the society she lives in

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