Compare And Contrast Soldier's Life And Miss Brill

754 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of war

Comparisons between two souls
“Miss Brill” is written by Katherine Mansfield. The protagonist, Miss Brill, is from an English town, but she now lives in a French town. The story does not say whether or not she has a support system; so, we assume she does not. Krebs is the protagonist in the short story “Soldier’s Home” written by Ernest Hemingway. Krebs is a character in this short story that has come to his home town, Oklahoma, after shielding his country in World War I. Although Krebs and Miss Brill are from two altered environments, they share some of the same isolated qualities and obstinate habits.
To make herself feel more encompassed in the external world, Miss Brill has an inflexibility of leaving her house with her fur and going to the park bench to watch the local band play. She also watches the society who roam the park, and eavesdrops on other people’s exchanges “She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn 't listen, at sitting in other people 's lives just for a minute while they talked round her” (Mansfield, 309). She alleged that by heeding she …show more content…

Miss Brill was also very delusional, she believed that she was playing a part in a play “They weren 't only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a part and came every Sunday” (Mansfield, 310). That was Miss Brill’s way of making an excuse as to why she had a routine. She is not facing the certainty of her life. By the end of the story, it seems that Miss Brill vicissitudes by breaching her routine “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”(Mansfield, 311). Miss Brill comprehends just how sealed in and miserable her life truly is. She is left in the isolated world which is her

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Soldier's Home 'And' In Another Country

    1853 Words  | 4 Pages

    In “Soldier’s Home,” the main character Krebs exhibits grief, loneliness. When he returns home with the second group of soldiers he is denied a hero's return. From here he spends time recounting false tales of his war times. Moving on, in the second page of the story he expresses want but what he reasons for not courting a female. A little while after he is given permission to use the car. About this time Krebs has an emotional exchange with both his little sister and his mother. Revealing that “he feels alienated from both the town and his parents , thinking that he had felt more ‘at home’ in Germany or France than he does now in his parent’s house”(Werlock). Next, the story ends with his mother praying for him and he still not being touched. Afterwards planning to move to Kansas city to find a job. Now, “The importance of understanding what Krebs had gone through in the two years before the story begins cannot be overstated. It is difficult to imagine what it must have been for the young man”(Oliver). Near the start of the story the author writes of the five major battles he “had been at”(Hemingway) in World War I- Bellaue Wood, Soissons, Champagne, St.Mihiel, and Argonne. The importance of these are shown sentences later that the

    Read More

  • Similarities And Differences Between Miss Manill And Miss Brill

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    Katherine Mansfield, author of “Miss Brill”, and Eudora Welty, author of “A Worn Path”, differ in their writing techniques, as well as, the portrayal of the two different women in the titles mentioned. “Miss Brill”, by Katherine Mansfield, is a woman, with a sense of entitlement, passing judgement during her traditional Sunday morning in the park. She later becomes upset when a young couple passes judgement on her. Phoenix Jackson, of “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, is the complete opposite character of Miss Brill. Jackson is a selfless, elderly woman, frail and losing her senses, who makes reoccurring trips to her ill Grandson’s doctor’s office to pick up a prescription. As a woman ages, despite the struggles that she has faced throughout

    Read More

  • Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    Miss Brill is a story about an old woman who lacks companionship and self-awareness. She lives by herself and goes through life in a repetitive manner. Each Sunday, Miss Brill ventures down to the park to watch and listen to the band play. She finds herself listening not only to the band, but also to strangers who walk together and converse before her. Her interest in the lives of those around her shows the reader that Miss Brill lacks companionship.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...

    Read More

  • Review of the Forgotten Soldier

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people question if Guy Sajer, author of The Forgotten Soldier, is an actual person or only a fictitious character. In fact, Guy Sajer in not a nom de plume. He was born as Guy Monminoux in Paris on 13 January 1927. At the ripe young age of 16, while living in Alsace, he joined the German army. Hoping to conceal his French descent, Guy enlisted under his mother's maiden name-Sajer. After the war Guy returned to France where he became a well known cartoonist, publishing comic books on World War II under the pen name Dimitri.

    Read More

  • Miss Brill 'And It Would Be Different If'

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Miss Brill is an older woman who is a English teacher, is a very lonely women. Every Sunday she dresses up in nice clothing and sits in the park to watch people. On one particular Sunday Miss Brill put on her nice fur, “She had taken it out of the box that afternoon, shaken out the moth powder, given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes.”(259). In this quote it gives the reader the first hint the Miss Brill is depressed and lonely. This quote also hints that the fur symbolizes Miss Brill. When it says that the dusting of the moth powder and the rubbing of the eyes gave it life, symbolizes that going to the park gave Miss Brill life. Throughout the whole story the author proves the point that Miss Brill is truly depressed. Like on page 259 at the end of the first paragraph, Miss Brill is talking to herself and admits to herself that she is depressed. This is shown on page 259 when the author states, “She felt a tingling in her hands and arms, but that came from walking, she supposed. And when she breathed, something tight and sad-no, not sad, exactly…” (259). She

    Read More

  • The Crebal Banter In The Play 'By Oscar Wilde'

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play contains a constant exchange of verbal banter between the characters. Wilde does this in a comical way, while still using the witty remarks as a way to satirize the absurdities and excesses in the character’s lives. Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother, is a lady of high society, and she bases her life on the standards and morals that the Victorian society proposes. The film replaces the verbal banter with physical humor which ultimately loses the satire and wit the characters have in the play. In Act I of the play, Lady Bracknell questions Jack about his life in order to approve her daughter’s engagement to him. Her questions are based on what the society deems important, instead of what she, as a mother, should care about. Lady Bracknell says, “Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes … What is your income?” (Act I. 1435). Obviously, the verbal banter between Lady Bracknell and Jack is quite comical, but more importantly it satirizes the things that Lady Bracknell and the Victorians value essential. The film modifies this scene into a more visual one for a modern audience. Lady Bracknell and Jack still have their witty conversation; however, Wilde’s intended effect of the verbal banter is lost. The director modified the verbal banter because a modern audience most likely would not comprehend Wilde’s intentions. The visual aspect of this scene is the director’s way of expressing the satires of the Victorian morals in a way that the modern audience will understand. In the film, this scene is made visual as Jack enters Lady Bracknell’s home. Large pillars, expensive paintings, and grandiose doors create the mood. She sits ...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Soldier's Home By Ernest Hemingway

    192 Words  | 1 Pages

    Between the two authors, Hemingway and Eliot, a similar idea shows through their writing, connecting them. They both use the common aspect of negative tone to reflect how after being in a war, the purpose that used to drive one’s life grows pointless and irrelevant. In the text of “A Soldier’s Home,” Krebs tells his mother “I don’t love anybody,”(Hemingway) which shows the audience the bitterness which he has attained. One may assume this aggravation comes from war due to Kreb’s mother’s surprise at finding this new attribute. Like “Soldier's Home”, “The Hollow Men” by TS Eliot has an indignant tone that shows the negative responses one returning from war has of their surroundings. Eliot shows the melancholy of his text while saying “our dried

    Read More

  • Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Third Person-Point of View as used by Katherine Mansfield in “Miss Brill” Katherine Mansfield’s use of the third person, limited omniscient point of view in “Miss Brill” has the effect of letting the reader see the contrast between Miss Brill’s idea of her role in life and the reality of the small part she truly plays in world around her. In one short Sunday afternoon, the main character’s view of herself changes dramatically different changes. Until the end, the reader does not realize the view is like a mirror at a carnival, clear on the outside edges and distorted in the centre. Mansfield’s use of the story’s point of view causes her readers to look inside themselves to see if they also view life as Miss Brill does: as they wish it to be, not as it is. In the beginning, Miss Brill sees herself as an observer of life, somehow separate, but yet an integral part of life. From the first sentence, “Although it was so brilliantly fine--the blue sky powdered with gold and great spots of light like white wine splashed over the Jardins Publiques”(49), the reader is made aware of her wonderfully vivid imagination. She seems to notice everything. In addition, she paints it in such words that we see it also. As readers, we want to believe that Miss Brill really has a deep understanding of the world around her. Yet Miss Brill wishes to be a part of the world and not apart from it, so we see her view shift to include herself. Now we begin to wonder about her...

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Charge Of The Light Brigade And O Captain My Captain

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charge of the light brigade and O captain my captain are poems about the defects of war and the impact it can have on people and the nation. Both authors give their perspective of war and how it impacts them. In order to do so they use literary devices to give their opinions. Charge of the Light Brigade and O Captain My Captain both share a theme of war but the authors give their own point of view of war using metaphors, personification, and tone.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Miss Trufusis

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    Miss Trefusis and U.N Savory were both different people with different backgrounds, But Roald describes them as different types of people with many secrets. Miss Trefusis is a old, rich women who has many servants to help her needs, while U.N Savory is a strange and odd man who has many weird secrets about his past life. A women who describes her fingers and toes as "the nastiest part of the body"(The Voyage Out,31) seems different from a Soldier who has a desire for wearing wigs for his baldness as "it's quite brilliant" ( The Voyage Out, 121).

    Read More

  • Point of View in Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

    586 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story is written in a third person omniscient (although limited) point of view. Miss Brill also interprets the world around her in a similar fashion. She is her own narrator, watching people around her and filling in their thoughts to create stories to amuse herself. Compared to most people, Miss Brill's thinking is atypical. Generally, in viewing the world around him, a person will acknowledge his own presence and feelings. For example, if something is funny, a person will fleetingly think "I find that amusing." While that entire sentence may not consciously cross his mind, the fact that it is humorous is personally related. Miss Brill has no such pattern of thought. She has somehow managed to not include herself in her reactions; she is merely observing actions and words. In this manner, she most resembles the narrator of the story by simply watching and relaying the events around her.

    Read More

  • Comparision of "The Soldier" and "Dulce et Decorum Est"

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Compare and contrast “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke with “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen with regard to theme, tone, imagery, diction, metre, etc”

    Read More

  • Miss Brill's Loneliness

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    This second woman is thrilled at the chance for company and "was so pleased to see him-delighted!" The man veritably ignores the woman's excited chattering and even goes to the point of being rude. Having lit a cigarette, he "slowly breathed a great deep puff into her face, and even while she was still talking and laughing, flicked the match away and walked on." Miss Brill deeply empathizes with this woman as she transfers the humiliation and pain vicariously felt into the band's music that plays in the background. Miss Brill watches the woman's reaction and imagines that "even the band seemed to know what she was feeling and played more softly, played tenderly." Upon witnessing this scene, Miss Brill places herself into her "actress" mode to avoid vulnerability. In doing so, she is able to delude herself into believing that she is safely distanced from suffering the same hurt as the woman in the fur hat. This coping mechanism allows her to comfortably resume watching and listening, but she has also unknowingly set herself up to be emotionally wounded by a young couple that seat beside her. The young man refers to Miss Brill as "that stupid old thing" in his conversation with his girlfriend. He continues, knowing fully well Miss Brill is

    Read More

  • Comparing Soldier's Home And Old Man At The Bridge

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    When you look into Hemingway’s stories, it may seem like they’re all tied together by war time and the aftermath of. While this is true, there are also many themes that bring together and define Hemingway’s style. One aspect that I noticed a lot was the idea of nihilism- the loss of the things that give life meaning, many of his main characters possess this attitude. His characters have developed these attitudes as a result of war and these attitudes are what defines their present life. When looking at Soldier’s Home and Old Man at the Bridge, you can see a lot of similarities despite the fact that one is a 76 year old man displaced by the Spanish civil war and the other is

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast Soldier's Life And Miss Brill

Open Document