Read the following passage from Katherine Mansfield's 1920 short story "Miss Brill" carefully.
"Only two people shared her bench, a fine old man in a velvet coat, his hands clasped over a huge carved walking-stick, and a big old woman, wearing a roll of knitting on her 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't listen, at sitting in other people's lives just for a minute while they talked to one another.
She looked at the spectators. Oh, how fascinating it was! How she enjoyed it! How she loved sitting here, watching it all! It was like a play. It was exactly like a play. Who could believe the sky at the back wasn't painted? But it wasn't till a little brown dog solemnized them by trotting by slowly that she discovered what it was that made it so exciting. They were all on the stage. They weren't only the audience, not only looking on; they were acting. Even she had a part and came every Sunday. No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there; she was part of the performance after all. How strange she had never thought of it like that before! And then she thought of her invalid gentleman to whom she read the newspaper four afternoons a week while he slept in the garden. She had got quite fond of the story of her own life.
Just then a boy and a girl came and sat down where the old couple had been. They were beautifully dressed; they were in love. The hero and heroine, of course, just arrived from his father's yacht. And still the band played, and still the little dog trotted in and out.
'No, not now,' said the girl. 'Not here.'
'Why not? Because of that old thing at the end there?' asked the boy. 'Why does she come here at all? Who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly old face at home?'
'It's her fu-ur which is so funny,' giggled the girl. 'It's exactly like a fried whiting.'
'Ah, shut up!' whispered the boy. 'Someone's coming.'
Miss Brill got up, went home, and went into her little dark room—her room like a cupboard."
A student writing a literary analysis of the passage intends to argue that the narrative exposes the fragile nature of romanticized self-perception. Which of the following thesis statements is most defensible and appropriate for this line of reasoning?
- AMiss Brill sits on a bench in the park, eavesdrops on various strangers’ conversations, and eventually returns to her small room after a young couple mocks her fur.
- BThrough the harsh words of the young boy and girl, the author expresses a personal disdain for elderly people who frequent public parks instead of staying home.
- By portraying Miss Brill’s sudden transition from viewing herself as an essential actress in a community pageant to being dismissed as an unwanted spectator, the narrative reveals how easily constructed illusions of connection can be shattered by external reality.Answer
- DAlthough Miss Brill initially feels isolated, her active participation in the park’s theatrical community shows that she successfully overcomes her loneliness by the end of the passage.
- EThe contrast between the silent old couple on the bench and the cruel young couple highlights that elderly people in the story are inherently wiser than the younger generation.