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Miss Brill is a lonely outsider. Mansfield does not give her a first name, just Miss, emphasizing her unmarried state. Importantly, Mansfield’s narrator also does not describe Miss Brill. Readers must infer her character from her behaviors and motivations. Every Sunday, when Miss Brill goes to the park, she sits on a bench and observes others instead of joining in the day’s activities. Because she doesn’t interact with those around her, she knows them only superficially. She sees people’s outward appearances, most often observing the clothes they wear.
Miss Brill eavesdrops on others, merely sitting in on their lives instead of engaging with them. Ironically, she criticizes people who are silent or still, although she says nothing and does not move. She is especially and ironically harsh in her opinions of older people, and we soon learn she joins their ranks when a young couple describes her as old. Through all of this, it is obvious Miss Brill longs for connection. Outside of the park, the only people she interacts with are her students and an old invalid who stares blankly and says nothing. At the park, she interacts with no one. She fools herself by thinking that the park’s regular visitors are like family. She imagines that rather than merely observing the drama of life that surrounds her, she plays her own special part and partakes in a grander story. However, the rude young couple breaks her fantasy. They view her as old, silly, and unwanted, and she seems to accept this characterization, returning to her “little dark room” alone and identifying with her fur stole, which she quickly boxes away into isolation again.
