In the last paragraph of the story Miss Brill “unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying.” The writer chose to show the protagonist’s sorrow not through her own tears but through the “crying” of the necklet, her fur. This is because the fur is something “dear” to her. In the first paragraph, the reader witnesses her meticulous and affectionate treatment of her fur — “Dear little thing! … 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.” How the fur is treated is how highly she regards herself. Thus, when her confession — “Yes, I have been an actress for a long time.” — turns out to be merely an illusion, her value is degraded and the fur is no longer treated so lovingly.
The relationship between the fur and Miss Brill is pertinent because it gives the reader the basis for linking Miss Brill to the ermine toque more directly. When the young couple sits down on Miss Brill’s special seat, the girl replies to her beau, giggling, “It’s her fu-fur which is so funny. It’s exactly like a fried whiting.” A whiting is a type of fish, just as a brill, used as her name is a fish. Also, ermine is a type of white fur, and the word ‘whiting’ has the pronunciation of ‘white thing.’ Thereby the lady wearing the hat made of white fur is effectively linked to Miss Brill subconsciously in the reader’s mind.
The identification of a person by a non-human object is also done by the young couple at the end of the story. The boy says, “… Why doesn’t she keep her silly old mug at home?” The word ‘mug’ has a dual meaning; it can mean a face or a type of a cup. Because Miss Brill returns to “her room like a cupboard,” it is implied that Miss Brill is the “mug” that should be stored away. Even the girl’s ridiculing of Miss Brill on her “fu-fur” reminds us that the protagonist is not seen as a respectable, living human being. The boy insults her even more directly. He whispers, “Ah, be off with you!” This kind of expression would be used to an animal, such as a stray dog, to chase it away.
Further instance of that the ermine toque might be a different side to Miss Brill is that the band plays differently according to the toque’s mood. As the toque is publicly dismissed by the gentleman, the band changes its tune and “the drum beat, “The Brute! The Brute!” over and over.” The band, at other times in the story, switches its melody according to the current mental state of Miss Brill. When she first starts her Sunday ritual at the park, the music is “louder and gayer” than that of the previous week, illustrating Miss Brill’s anticipation of the coming events. Also, when the band starts again after the break, the band plays an uplifting melody. Miss Brill is so moved by the music and the moment; she believes that “in another moment all of them, all the whole company, would begin singing.”
The subtle but potent linkage between Miss Brill and the ermine toque gives the reader another version of the ending to this story. Perhaps on another day or at another time, Miss Brill would have chosen to act like the lady with the hat. The possibility of a brighter ending in place of the gloomy, self-defeated tone of the original ending is heightened by the remarkable similarity between the emotional roller coaster ride that the toque experiences and that of Miss Brill when she meets the young couple.
The lady in a white hat first greets the man enthusiastically. “Oh, she was so pleased to see him — delighted! She rather thought they were going to meet that afternoon.” This sense of heightened anticipation of meeting someone special is paralleled when Miss Brill first notices the young couple. “The hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father’s yacht. And still soundlessly singling, still with that trembling smile, Miss Brill prepared to listen.” Listening, to Miss Brill, is a way for her to practice “sitting in other people’s lives just for a minute while they talked round her.” While Miss Brill overtly did not engage in a conversation, inwardly, listening was her way of reaching out to others. Also the fact that she had hoped the old couple “would go soon” away from her “special” seat emphasized how she longed to meet an interesting person to communicate to.
The sweet anticipation quickly turns sour when the gentleman “shook his head, lighted a cigarette, slowly breathed a great deep puff into her face, … and walked on.” The public rejection is violent and unbearable. Hence, the band yells out, “The Brute!” Quite similarly, the euphoria suddenly dissipates for Miss Brill when the girl says “No.” This is reminiscent of the gentleman shaking his head. Also, the boy mentions her face, “the mug.” This closely resembles the gentleman’s puff into the toque’s face. Finally, the girl’s statement, “No, not here. Not yet,” suggests that the couple will “walk on” to another place leaving Miss Brill alone just as the gentleman did to the lady with a hat.
While the toque and Miss Brill go through an extraordinarily similar procession of feelings, the toque’s response to the “Brute” is quite a departure from that of Miss Brill to the inconsiderate young couple. In contrast to Miss Brill’s punishment of herself by refusing her usually Sunday treat, “a piece of honeycake,” the toque simply “pattered away” to someone “much nicer.” “The band changed again and played more quickly, more gaily than ever.” The band shows that the toque was not disguising her defeat as a ploy to save herself from disgrace. She is, in fact, upbeat enough to “move on” like the gentleman. This is a sign of a stronger self than the original Miss Brill.
The stronger Miss Brill, the ermine toque, can be more optimistic because she knows what the weaker Miss Brill doesn’t quite understand yet. Just before Miss Brill meets the young couple, she is captured by the illusion of an imminent chorus. “… it seemed to Miss Brill that in another moment all of them, all the whole company, would begin singing. … Yes, we understand, we understand, she thought — though what they understood she didn’t know.” I think the company, all the other men and the rest of the people in the park knew that rejection is a part of life. A woman can reject, just like the beautiful lady who dropped her violets, or be rejected, like the ermine toque that came right afterwards. In that sense, rejection is not such a big deal. The writer is telling the reader that when one experiences rejection, one can deal with it and continue one’s way. Unfortunately, knowing that is not so easy for Miss Brill.
Why then, did the writer not give the reader a brighter ending in the first place? The answer might lie in the first paragraph. As Miss Brill “rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes, “What has been happening to me?” said the sad little eyes.” If the fur is another extension of her, one can guess that Miss Brill is still confused about her emotions and her surroundings. It might take her some time to come to grips with all her conflicting emotions and to finally sort out her priorities and the next course of action. In conclusion, I believe the writer wanted to keep true to confused and discouraged Miss Brill but also hoped to leave the reader with a hint of a brighter future through the incident between the ermine toque and the gentleman. After all, “the Season had begun.” It would be unfitting to leave the reader with only a sense of despair at this happy time of the year.
Work Cited
Mansfield, Katherine. “Miss Brill.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 2008. 51-54.
