Miss Brill

Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

This short story reminds us of the importance and fragility of perspective. "She was on the stage," (Mansfield, 185). That is how Miss Brill views herself towards the beginning of the piece, but at the end, we see her self-image take a plummet as a trivial, rude remark from a fellow actor on the stage hurts her deeply. Her emotional reactions are so deeply felt by her audience because we have all been in an elated situation with our heads so high in the clouds and our hearts so light that we think nothing can pull us down. But really, that is when we are at our weakest and most vulnerable. Without our guards up, people's untasteful comments sneak in and take advantage of our vulnerability, quickly pulling us down from the clouds and dropping us bewildered to the ground where Miss Brill finds herself at the end of the story.