Escaping from Loneliness Katherine Mansfield’s short story “Miss Brill” is a story of an elderly woman, Miss Brill, who is lonely and becomes entangled with observing others lives to amuse herself. By titling the story “Miss Brill”, Mansfield wanted to show by using the word “Miss” that the woman had never been married. This factor likely contributed to the reason why she was lonely. Mansfield lets Miss Brill escape to a fantasy world which …showed first 75 words of 255 total…

…showed last 75 words of 255 total…young couple in the end of the story talk about Miss Brill and call her a “stupid old thing” which makes Miss Brill wake up from her fantasy world. After this realization, Miss Brill rushed home and “unclasped the necklet” that she had once loved and “laid it inside” a box to store away. “Miss Brill” is an example of how many elderly escape the solace of their own lives to other people’s lives.