Research Paper on:
Symbolism and Characterization in Katherine Mansfield's Miss Brill

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
incredibly representative of Mansfields work, "Eschewing plot for carefully chosen episodes, images or thoughts, development is driven by details or symbols. Her characterizations are sensitive and reveal a warm humanity  reminiscent of her greatest influence, Chekov" (Anonymous A Short Guide To Katherine Mansfield KathMans.html). In the following paper we examine the characterization and then the symbolism in Mansfields story  of Miss Brill. Characterization We begin with the character of Miss Brill, the primary character and the one through which we see all other characters. We see her  in the beginning as a very contemplative, and perhaps lonely, old woman. We note that she is apparently going somewhere and glad she decided on her fur, something which gives  us insight into the character of Miss Brill: "Miss Brill put up her hand and touched her fur. Dear little thing! It was nice to feel it again" (Mansfield NA).  She presents us with a woman who is perhaps enjoying her past, but still sensitive and intrigued by the present. "She had taken it out of its box that afternoon,  shaken out the moth powder, given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes....Oh, how sweet it was to see them snap at her  again from the red eiderdown!" (Mansfield NA). We see her as a sensitive and imaginative old woman as she thinks of the fur as a living creature, as her  little rogue. "Yes, she really felt like that about it. Little rogue biting its tail just by her left ear. She could have taken it off and laid it on  her lap and stroked it" (Mansfield NA). As she heads out we see her think clearly, and specifically, about her physical presence, as well as her emotional presence. We