Examples Of Irony In Miss Brill

Each protagonist has struggles in their lives which leads to their own motivation, and their own journeys. In the story “Miss Brill”, her motivation comes from her perception of her self-worth. Miss Brill has the desire to connect with others and be part of something that is “worth more” than her own daily life. Essentially, Miss Brill was content with her life, but only due to the fact that she had created a world for herself to live in, and comes to the quick conclusion that what she perceives the world to be, is actually not the real world. In the story “Identities”, the motivation for the protagonist has to do with his yearning for a change in his mundane lifestyle. He wishes to escape how he is living now, and essentially create his own

In each of these stories, it is used to show the reader how each protagonist is oblivious to their distorted perception of reality. In “Miss Brill,” the protagonist is not only a victim but also a perpetrator of making the judgement of others, “…there was something funny about… or even cupboards.” This is an example of irony due to the fact that the reader is clear as to how Miss Brill is being judged by others, and yet still she manages to judge others herself. Another good example of irony is Miss Brill’s fur, “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-- Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her fur.” It is ironic that Miss Brill believes her fur is so “brilliantly fine”, due to the fact that she later on judges a woman with a fur toque who gets rejected by a man due to the fact that her toque is so ages. Yet, Miss Brill does not notice that by her saying, “the ermine toque turned, raised her hand as though she’d seen someone else, much nicer, just over there, and pattered away,” she is basically judging someone else based just off of the woman’s looks, while others continue to judge Miss Brill off of her appearance. The irony in each of these stories helps the reader understand each of the protagonist’s unawareness of their situation. Not only does the irony provide more information to the reader,

In both stories, each of the authors use a “dark to light” type of contrast. In Miss Brill her day begins with bright sky, “…the blue sky powdered with gold…” which also corresponds to the mood at the start of the story. Yet, as the story progresses the story gets “darker”. This darkness, “Her little dark room, her room is like a cupboard,” corresponds with her “defeat”, of how she is made aware of the discrepancy between how she sees herself and how the world sees her. In addition to the contrast in “Miss Brill,” there is also contrast in “Identities”. At the beginning of the story, the day is described as, “the promise of a Saturday liquid with sunshine,” which sets the mood of the story to be somewhat happy, and uplifting. As we transition from the beginning to the story to the end, we see a change in the mood to a somewhat darker situation. At the end of the story we see how the protagonist is mistaken for his identity, and ends up being killed. This is a huge contrast to the beginning of the story, where it is sunny outside and it is a very nice day. Through the contrast, the reader can see how both protagonists are judged by others, and see the dark outcome of