Blog Entry 4: Quote-Response

I think "Miss Brill" is a sad story. Here is this woman who lives alone on a limited income, and she gets all gussied up to go out on Sunday and sit with other people. She doesn't interact with them, but she imagines herself as part of the "play" (86). On this day, the conversation she overhears upsets her because the careless young people make her see herself as they see her instead of the "performance" she imagines herself part of (86). The quote that really conveys her disillusionment is when she puts her "dear" fur back in its box: "But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying" (87). I think the words "lid" and "something crying" are important. The lid suggests something is being closed. Perhaps a chapter in her life has now ended because she sees her own life as sad and small. The "something crying" almost seems to be the fur that is her friend. Yet, of course, part of a dead animal can't really cry. So, maybe she is projecting the way she herself feels onto the fur. She is so devastated that she can't cry, so she imagines hearing something outsider herself crying. I think that dislocation from her own feelings emphasizes the pain of her realization.