Use Of Irony In Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill

Irony in Katherine Mansfield’s story “Miss Brill” demonstrates the reasoning of Mansfield’s argument. Every day we should live our lives not thinking about what others think of us, but some people do. Many occasions we come across others who are on their own paths. When we go out in public, we observe one another and maybe make judgments about the people we see or talk with. These judgments can shape how we see ourselves. Sometimes we compare ourselves to those we see every day, yet some of us fail to find the flaws in our own self that we blame others of having. We seem to make mistakes in our comparisons to each other. As a human, we become ignorant and become ironic critics of others. This is seen in “Miss Brill”. The main character

If Miss Brill sees that what she believes isn't reality, she can become shattered and emotionally devastated. She views the park as a stage, the people as actors and actresses and herself an actress. This technique of looking at things seems to give Miss Brill a perception of being desired. She despises other people at the park as if they were unworthy of what she is. While observing different people in the park Miss Brill overhears a conversation where a couple is talking about her and how funny she looks with her fur. The man says: "Why does she come here at all-who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly mug at home?" "It's her fu-fur which is so funny"(64) In that example of the young couple, a sudden change transpires in the way Miss Brill acts. It seems like those comments emotionally destroy her. However, at the end of the story, after eavesdropping on the young couple and hearing the cruel words she comes to apply the same description to her own life. On page 64 in the last paragraph it says “But today she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs, went into the little dark room--her room like a cupboard--and sat down on the red eiderdown”. In this description, it shows how lonely she lives her life. By using a qualified wise narrator to tell the story, the reader understands how a person can see life

She loves observing/eavesdropping on people while sitting on the same bench in the park. She would listen to anything and everything someone would say. Miss Brill was an observer and embraced it. This routine of observing people and was her Sunday routine. An interesting fact while she was watching she was making judgments on their lives, without them even knowing it. One day, an old man in a velvet coat, with his hands on a huge walking-stick, and an old woman, sitting with a roll of knitting on her, sat beside Miss Brill on her bench. They did not speak or make eye contact with her. Miss Brill seemed disappointed. Miss Brill loves observing every detail of the people she listens too, even the ones she saw every time should would be at the park. She became quite an expert, she thought, at listening and acting as though she didn't listen, to the people sitting around her. Her favorite thing was to feel like she was in the