Miss Brill - 5112 Words

Review of European Studies December, 2009 A Stylistic Analysis of â€Å"Miss Brill† by Katherine Mansfield Shenli Song College of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Gongshang University Office of Foreign Language College at Zhejiang Gongshang University Xia Sha City-University-Town, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China E-mail: windyforever@gmail.com Abstract Katherine Mansfield, remembered as one of the finest writers of English short stories, enjoys enduring fame and a somewhat awesome literary status with her short stories, Miss Brill as one of her representative pieces. The interest of our Chinese critics, in general, locates more in the modernist techniques and devices she employs to present the inner world of the characters in her stories,†¦show more content†¦1, No. 2 Review of European Studies the whole novel: â€Å"the linguistic pattern of choices realizes a primitive pattern of cognition, which in turn is the key to the tragic vision of the novel.†(Leech Short, 2001: 32) Halliday being the widely acknowledged precursor of functional stylistics, the eminent German linguist-critic Leo Spitzer (1887-1960), is likewise father of literary stylistics. In his insistence that the smallest detail of language can unlock the â€Å"soul† of a literary work, he maintains the task of stylistics is to provide a hard-and-fast technology of analysis: I would maintain that to formulate observation by means of words is not to cause the artistic beauty to evaporate in vain intellectualities; rather, it makes for a widening and deepening of the aesthetic taste. It is only a frivolous love that cannot survive intellectual definition; great love prospers with understanding. (Leech Short, 2001: 2) A question which is often asked in this connection is â€Å"At which end do we s tart, the aesthetic or the linguistic?† The image used by Spitzer of the â€Å"philological circle†, the circle of understanding, however, seems to suggest there is no logical staring point. Spitzer argues that the task of Linguistic-literary explanation proceeded by the movement to and fro from linguistic details to theShow MoreRelatedSymbolism In Miss Brill, By Katherine Mansfield1143 Words   |  5 PagesMiss Brill is a short fiction story written by Katherine Mansfield, which was first published in November 1920 in Athenaeum, an English literary magazine and then in Mansfield’s The Garden Party Other Stories. The story takes place during a Sunday afternoon as an elderly woman enjoys her weekly visit to a French park. She enjoys watching others and sitting in on their lives, while the band plays in the gazebo. This story, written in the third person omniscient point of view, is told with a stream-of-consciousnessRead MoreKatherine Mansfields Miss Brill Essay example1122 Words   |  5 Pagesto life† is defined as characterization. Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield displays the character of Miss Brill as the protagonist, confronted with the reality of her existence. In the short story Miss Brill, by Katherine Mansfield, an elderly woman spends a Sunday afternoon visiting a seaside park as part of her weekly ritual. As a developing character, Miss Brill is forced to face a harsh reality from her routine events. In the short story, Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield effectively uses variousRead MoreEssay on Katherine Mansfields Miss Brill1218 Words   |  5 PagesIn Katherine Mansfield’s short story â€Å"Miss Brill,† one such person, herself a kind of outcast of society, creates a fantasy world in which she is at the center. â€Å"Miss Brill† is the story of a woman battling with loneliness. She partakes in a ritual in which every Sunday she would spend the entire afternoon at the local park eavesdropping and ob serving the people around her. In her mind everyone around her is apart of her unadorned existence when in fact Brill only sits alone seemingly franticallyRead MoreAnalysis Of Katherine Mansfield s Miss Brill Essay1552 Words   |  7 PagesMansfield uses an extensive range of language†¯techniques†¯to†¯portray†¯the lonely and slightly delusional spinster; Miss Brill. The story of Miss Brill is an extremely good†¯example†¯of how a writer can use different language techniques to reveal a†¯variety†¯of aspects of the†¯character. The†¯author†¯uses†¯characterisation†¯through the language techniques to†¯reveal a variety of truths to the reader about Miss Brill’s personality.†¯Mansfield uses the language techniques†¯to express the theme of†¯connectedness throughoutRead MoreEssay about Katherine Mansfields Miss Brill627 Words   |  3 PagesIllusion vs. Reality in Miss Brill Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield is set the Jardins Publiques in France. Every Sunday Miss Brill looks forward to getting dressed up and visiting the park, where she enjoys people watching. Her weekly visits to the park are undoubtedly the highlight of her week, bringing her great joy and satisfaction. There are many illusions in this story, in this essay I intend to show three different illusions Miss Brill uses to make herself happy and how her realityRead MoreAnalysis Of Katherine Mansfield s Miss Brill1437 Words   |  6 PagesKatherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill In â€Å"Miss Brill,† Katherine Mansfield tells the story of an elderly woman’s fantasy and role among the world until it is depicted from a young couple bringing her down to reality. Mansfield uses sense imagery and Miss Brill’s perspective on the world rather than her own thoughts of herself, but portrays psychological portraits of self-destruction from Miss Brill’s fantasy world. Mansfield uses self-destruction to symbolize the character of Miss Brill by sitting in on othersRead MoreA Character Analysis of Katherine Mansfields Miss Brill Essay830 Words   |  4 PagesKatherine Mansfields Miss Brill is a woman self-contained, not pessimistic but settled, content. She is not a victim of her circumstances, but the satisfied creator of them. You could say she has her ducks lined up the way she wants them. Through the character of Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield reveals a woman who has the ability to enjoy a simple world of her own elaborate creation. Miss Brill is a single woman, probably in her mid to late fifties. She lives alone in a very small space withoutRead More Point of View in Katherine Mansfields Miss Brill Essay846 Words   |  4 PagesThe narrator in the story â€Å"Miss Brill† by Katherine Mansfield, is telling us this story in the third person singular perspective. Our narrator is a non-participant and we learn no details about this person, from a physical sense. Nothing to tell us whether it is a friend of Miss Brill, a relative, or just someone watching. Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill comes alive from the descriptions we get from this anonymous person. The narrator uses limited omniscience while telling us about this beautifulRead MoreEssay on Point of View in Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield585 Words   |  3 Pages The point of view that Katherine Mansfield has chosen to use in Miss Brill serves two purposes. First, it illustrates how Miss Brill herself views the world and, second, it helps the reader take the same journey of burgeoning awareness as Miss Brill. 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 createRead MoreEssay about The Theme of Katherine Mansfields Miss Brill1221 Words   |  5 PagesIn the story Miss Brill, an old, lonely lady spends her Sunday observing people in a park. Although ignored by everyone around her, Miss Brill manages to convince herself that she is really an integral part of the scene and would be missed if she werent there. Her illusion is shattered by a chance remark at the end of the story, and she returns home, clearly devastated by her new understanding of her place in life. What this story is trying to illustrate is that sometimes people can be happy through