Friday, September 2, 2011

Miss Brill pp. 294-96

One of Miss Brill's favorite pasttimes is watching people at the park on Sundays.  What do her observations about the people reveal about her?

14 comments:

cdm37 said...

In this story, Miss Brill does not merely observe the people around her, but she also creates romanticized scenarios for each person. She even believes that everyone at the park is part of a play, including herself. These observations and fantasies by Miss Brill show us that she is a lonely woman, but that she is happy to be lonely. She has nothing else to do, so she goes to the parks on Sundays and creates fake lives for the other people in the park. We know she doesn't do it out of depression, because she describes how much she enjoys it. She even mentions reading to a man that is sleeping in the garden and says he could have been dead and she would not have even cared. All these observations prove that Miss Brill enjoys being alone.

CK said...

By observing Miss Brill's interactions with the people and world around her, it is revealed that she is very lonely. Miss Brill commonly enjoys watching the people surrounding her at the park, but one action Miss Brill does extremely demonstrates her loneliness. Miss Brill begins talking to a piece of fur clothing as if it were a real person. This wild incident reveals the extreme solitude Miss Brill experiences. She hardly ever speaks with other people and in turn, she begins talking to this fur clothing.

annamac said...

I think her observations reveal that she is lonely, and desperately wants to be a part of something. She makes her observations happy and lighthearted for the most part, but in the end it is obvious that she is sad to be all alone. Miss Brill tries to convince herself that the people in the park need her, and when she finally realizes that this is not the case, she is crushed. I almost felt like crying myself! The people that Miss Brill observes are the closest thing she has to friends. Her observations reveal her intense lonliness and wish for companionship, and I cannot help but pity her.

bekaht12 said...

Miss Brill's observations about the old people at the park reveal that she views herself as young and pleasant. In reality, the woman's illusions about her own personality are entirely false. Her views of others directly mirror her own appearance. She is old, odd, and looks as if she lived in a "cupboard" away from modern and young society. Miss Brill's observant--or nosey--nature makes apparent that she does not understand the decorum and customs of the younger set to which she so desperately wants to belong. When her listening ears overhear a conversation about her own person, Miss Brill is shocked to realize that her assumptions about herself are untrue because her own personality dictates her "reality."

Mary Caitlin said...

The observations about the people that Miss Brill observes reveals several things about her. One can tell through these observations how lonely Miss Brill is. She listens in on other people's conversations and talks to her fur coat. She has no companions. The observations also reveal her to be a little bit crazy. By reading to the sleeping guy and once again talking to her fur, one can definitely see some signs of crazy in her. I agree with annamac in that she wants to be a part of something. I think this is why she pretends that she is in a play while she is at the park.

K.dubb said...

One thing the observations reveal about Miss Brill is that she is really nosey. I was thinking, "Why in the world does she intervene in the lives of others and not live her own life?" Then I realized she does not have a life. She is so wrapped up in the lives of others that she is avoiding her own life. Miss Brill enjoys her life, which is sad. It is not until she is made fun of that she realizes maybe this is not how life is suppose to be. The life of Miss Brill is a sad lonely one because she does not realize life is passing her by.

benson2012 said...

Well it is obvious that she is bored or discontent or lonely with her own life. And for someone to people watch to pass the time is not very uncommon. But Miss Brill was people watching in an weird way. As we discussed in class, she pointed out flaws in others that she could not even see in herself, or perhaps she did not WANT to see them in herself. She, like many women, wanted to be a part of everyone elses lives and feel included and she thought she was, yet she was not even liked. The fact that she spends her time watching other people and has made it a dominate part of her routine just shows how much she longs for companionship and a feeling of acceptance.

DTrag said...

Miss Brill's observations about the people not only reveal how lonely she was, but it also shows how crazy she was. Everytime at the park, she sees all the people and believes them to be taking part in a play. This shows just how mentally off she was from the grips of reality. Even though she is lonely, she does not know she is. This loneliness is only evident to others who are at the park.

Anonymous said...

Miss Brill loves attending to the play held at the park every Sunday afternoon. This play--which, in reality, is only a figment of her imagination--includes herself and everyone else there (that, it should be mentioned, she has never been acquainted with). She fabricates counterfeit lives for each of the people she "encounters", or rather observes. Aside from these interesting pastimes, Miss Brill also seems to interact with her "fur", as if it were a living companion. All of these activities reveal that this woman is severely lonely and somewhat mentally ill. The strange thing is that she seems thoroughly content with her life.

Bwood said...

Miss Brill is a very strange woman who sits at the park day after day making up a play that not only inclues the people in the park but herself also. These wildly illustrious plays are completely made up in her mind and no one else has any clue about them. These plays reveal that Miss Brill is a lonely woman who is stuck in the mindset of thinking that she still lives a young person's life. The observations that she has about the people in the park truly show how fanatical Miss Brill is. She believes she is still young and has no clue that she is an old woman. Her fantasies show that she is not only lonely but that she still believes she can intermingle with other young people.

Rubik said...

One thing about Miss Brill is that she perceives others as what she truly is. She sees the "old" couple and calls them "odd". Of course as others have said "directly mirrors her own appearance" While she sits in the park, she describes people as they pass by and basically points out that they are just another person walking through the park. Ironically, this is what she perceives of them and not of herself, for she herself is also just another occupant in the park. I'd say the section that most exposes her characters mindset is the "scene" with the sleeping old man. She reads and story to a sleeping old man and honestly did not care if she was reading to a corpse or not. This shows her lack of care for people as a whole, which is a key to seeing that she is content with solitude, as well as shows she's a bit crazy. Seriously, who speaks, let alone reads, to a sleeping man?

Seth Frazier said...

Miss Brill creates a facade of a perfect life to fill a void of loneliness in her heart. Miss Brill feels as though she is in a play, a play she is given a major roll in, and in this play she plays a major roll of great influence in peoples lives. This shows that Miss Brill wants to be included so badly that she builds up this world of make-believe because her world is tragic. Ironically through her eyes she sees old and hurt people and puts her own self above them, when at the close of the story she comes to the realization that she is one of those same people.

james hartley said...

Miss Brill is a strange creature. She sits every sunday in the park watching the people as they go on about their day. She eavesdrops and even creates her own scenarios involving the people she sits and watches. She obviously is a very lonely woman. She never talks to anyone at the park and eventually regresses to the point of talking to her fur coat. Miss Brill even gets to the point to where she believes that her fur talks back to her. She is a lonely woman who has earned my sympathy.

Aaron Bowman said...

In the story, because Miss Brill is so lonely, she decides to go to the park to observe others hoping this would help her feel known to everyone else. The problem with this is she acts crazy and nosy to those around her. As a result, this shows she wants to interact with everyone and hopes they will do the same back to her. However, those in the park think differently of Miss Brill.