Isolation among old people

Katherine Mansfields melancholy short story, Miss Brill, illustrates the denial of

loneliness of the elderly.

Miss Brills thoughts reveal that in order to suppress her feeling of isolation, she attempts to

insert herself into others lives and be part of the society through them. Miss Brill is an English

teacher, and also a newspaper reader for a man who barely listens to her. On Sunday, she always

visits the Jardins Publiques a park in which she spends her time watching other people, and

listening to music from a band. She is alone in the park every time, nevertheless, she usually takes a

fox-like coat, which she treats as if its actually alive, with her. At the beginning of the short story,

Mansfield shows that miss Brills loneliness is obscured, And when she breathed, something light

and sadno, not sad, exactly something gentle seemed to move in her bosom. (Mansfield,

1920). She makes use of the phrase, no, not sad, exactly, as a sign indicating that miss Brill isnt

sure whether within her heart she actually feels lonely or not. Her thoughts are a factor that makes

her emotion become unclear. As she is sitting in the park, she eavesdrops peoples conversations.

She also tries to engage with them in her own mind by predicting, and criticising others actions,

even though she isnt a part of their lives at all. This is what makes her Sunday, a day which most

people usually spend time with their family, become more cheerful and it blurs the loneliness inside

of her. In addition, she compares the situation with a performance which she plays a crucial role,

No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadnt been there, she was part of the performance

after all. (Mansfield, 1920). Miss Brill tricks herself into thinking that even she is sitting alone and

isnt involved with anyone, everyone pays a lot of attention to her.

No matter how hard people try to conceal their true feeling, they cannot completely erase it

out off their heart, and a better way to cope with it is learning how to accept it.