Miss Brill

Optimistic, observant, and sensitive, Miss Brill lives one life in her head and another life in reality. Because of the loneliness that characterizes her real life, she develops a rich internal life, substituting real relationships with those she eavesdrops on during her Sundays in the park. She even personifies her fox fur necklet as a “little rogue” (Paragraph 1). Yet Miss Brill’s focus on the beauty around her, her knowledge and awareness of her own feelings, and her detailed observations of others indicate that she is not completely delusional.

Miss Brill chooses to see her life in hopeful terms and to make the most of it, despite her poverty and loneliness. Though she lives in a pleasant dream world of her own making, her dream world consists of attempts to connect with others and to see herself as making a positive contribution to society. In reality, she might be considered a poor, lonely, useless, old lady, but her vision herself as someone with a worthy contribution to make in the world seems brave, not insane.

The world, on the other hand, seems cruel, as exemplified by the youthful lovers who maliciously insult Miss Brill, dismissing her humanity and stripping her of dignity and value. Her emotional devastation is as much a result of the realization of the cruelty in the world as it is a realization of her true situation. Miss Brill knows her true situation; she just chooses to ignore it until it is forced upon her. Much of the pathos and sympathy generated by Miss Brill involves the reader’s acknowledgement that all human beings share Miss Brill’s need for connection and belonging.