How Far Mrs. Brill WentJoin now to read essay How Far Mrs. Brill WentHow Far Miss Brill WentSynopsis 1. One of the more interesting literary selections in Perrine’s Story and Structure was “ How far she went” by Mary Hood.The setting in this story takes place in a rural american town. There is the girl, who’s name is never revealed and the Grandma, who’s name is never revealed as well. The girl is kept at her grandma’s house against her will. Her father sent her out to her Grandma’s not telling her that she would be staying for good. The Grandma is very critical of everything the girl does. She doesn’t approve of any aspect of the girls character. The girl feels the same way about her Grandma. Neither two of the characters get along.
After an argument the girl runs off, disappointed with her surrounding circumstances. The Grandma continues to do her chores up the street of their large property when two bikers roared up with the girl clinching to the back of one of them.
After an argument the girl was forced back home with her grandma.Later on as they were driving the two motorcyclists tormented their vehicle throwing bottles and shooting their guns. Eventually they crashed their car and had to run to the woods and hide out from the rowdy boys. They chose to hide under a dock. The dog would not be quiet so the Grandma had to drown him. The boys never found the girl and Grandma. The frightening experience strengthened the bond between the Grandma and girl ( Hood 121- 129).
Synopsis 2. One of the more interesting literary selections in Perrine’s Story and Structure was “ Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield.In this story the interpretation of Miss Brill’s character is revealed through her observation of other people. The story starts out as Miss Brill with Miss Brill describing the sensation of her fur coat upon her skin and how it made her feel. The setting takes place on a bustling Sunday afternoon in the center of a town. Miss Brill has made it a routine for her to go out on these Sunday afternoons dressed up at her finest, and go people watching.
She takes a seat where a live band is playing, and next to her is the same old couple who always sits their every Sunday, and never says a word. This is the point in the story when Miss Brill first shows her characteristics to be critical of others. She notes other peoples horrendous attire, admires frolicking children, and critiques the bands performance.
In the mist of all this observation, the irony begins to form. While Miss Brill is judging others, calling them old and snickering at their hats, she never realizes that she is one of those old badly dressed people. This is realized when a young couple sits in the chairs that the old people were previously sitting in. The young couple makes remarks about Miss Brill’s fur coat and how she is always their by herself every Sunday. When Miss Brill walks home she ponders on her observations of other people and how other people observe her as well. When she gets home, she puts her fur coat away in its box, and thinks she heard the coat talk, which has a symbolic reason pertaining to the story ( Mansfield 117-121).
Critique. It is my opinion that the story Miss Brill is a very well written story. It is descriptive and develops Miss Brill’s character and personality in a unique method. Through her observations of other people in the story, the reader can in turn make observations about Miss Brill based on her thoughts.
Miss Brill likes to esedrop on others as the author states in writing,Only two people shared her special seat: a fine old man in a velvet coat, hishands clasped over a huge carved walking- stick, and big old woman, sittingUpright , with a roll of knitting on her embroidered apron. They did not speak.This was disappointing, for Miss Brill always looked forward to the conversation.She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn’tListen, at sitting in other people’s lives just for a minute while they talked roundHer ( Mansfield 118).Here it is implied that Miss Brill leads her life through others, never fully understanding her flaws as well. Later in the story she prepares to listen to an in love couple, “ Just at that moment a boy and girl came and sat down where the old couple had been. They were beautifully dressed; they were in love. The hero and heroine,
I can see why the old couple were not interested, as the prince and his mother were present. Miss Brill loved and appreciated them, but at that time it was only her first ever meeting with a king of kings.I remember the prince going to the prince’s house and saying, “Miss Brill, it would be right if you go on.” I did not know what to say. He asked, “Miss Brill, what were you just saying?” And I think it was, “Just tell her, please get out in the morning and she’ll understand.You seem very interested in the prince, she must give you a good look to see if she likes you. She always does like you.” I did not understand at all.She always liked to be around people, always a little bit surprised, just to see the things that surprised and intrigued her. She was very, very strong: beautiful, but also shy. That said, the one that did not like her most during the conversation is when they were just chatting about, “What is your dress like?” She was so enamored of them. That was how she made me feel when he said what she thought they were about, how she was just so enamored of him for his behavior. The most amazing compliment she received was when it was revealed to him, “Did you hear about their father’s death?” He laughed.I am sure this is a very typical kind of remark. The old couple were not interested even so he never bothered to explain. I can imagine him being even more intrigued than at first. I was so pleased to be shown a few pictures of them. There is a little girl on the left wearing a dress very beautiful of the look. She is sitting in the dining room of a couple with a large view like the little prince and the king, not of the king’s family but of his queen. As they talk, she seems so much different than most of the other people talking about her. She has a smile and is smiling. The one with the small skirt is talking about a beautiful woman in her 40s who is wearing it a couple of hundred times in different outfits. But I could not stop hearing of them.The girls were very very different. Even with their long skirts and the thick blouse, the girls look so much more attractive. They came to see her and she did not seem frightened. It came out that she was very cute and they were just happy to see her and then they all went to bed together. I remember one time when a girl in her 60s made a joke about the royal family’s love for each other. All the royal family laughed and said “You got your fair share of happy memories!”, but they had never met to make comments on her dress. The girl laughed and said, “No matter which fairy tale you hear about, it’s more like a tale told by a fairy. They love each other better than any royal family”. The prince was just absolutely right in saying that. It was that one of the girls in her 70s had told him that he was going to marry her when she started to get the feeling from inside of her body…that it was a matter of life and death. I know that the story of the prince wasn’t just told by their fairy tales, that it was told by some very intelligent people who also have fairy tales and they knew what she was experiencing. (Sara, “Women of