Miss Brill (Theme)

"Why does she come here at all--who wants her?" -page 186

Miss Brill might be the all time champ of people watching. Her routine to come to the park every Sunday has become a part of her life. The quote above uses indirect characterization. Miss Brill has no one in her life and is an extremely lonely person. She goes to the park and creates a play/story in her head. She judges the other people and creates entertainment for herself. Also, she could be covering up her own insecurities. Miss Brill changes quite a bit throughout the story. She starts off very confident and proud. After the she hears the young couple making fun of her, she loses all her confidence and becomes very upset. Miss Brill wants to be young and feel important in the world. The young couple makes her realize that she is old, strange, and lonely. When she heard something crying at the end, I think it could have been a number of figurative things. The crying was her feelings on the inside. Her creativity and confidence could be crying because they were damaged. Her longing for not being lonely could cause her inside to cry. A theme for this story could be that she does not like to accept change or it is hard for her to realize what her situation truly is.