Some Place To Go
Fantasy worlds are created in movies, plays, books, and many short stories. They are imagined by people who need a place to get away. A place where the individual is the in the center stage and everything goes their way. In Katherine Mansfield’s short story “Miss Brill,” Miss Brill lives in her own fantasy world. Every day Miss Brill plays her role in her fantasy by going to the park, criticizing each individual, as if she was of higher authority. Imagining that she might be missed by the actors if she were absent for a performance. Her fantasy is severely shattered when she purposely overhears two young lovers making fun of her. Through this destruction of her fantasy, Miss Brill realizes that she is lonely, insecure, and truly critical of others. Throughout the story Miss Brill is so lonely that she is accompanied by no one except her ratty fox fur. She is so lonely that she lovingly “laid [her fur] on her lap and stroked it” as if it were a beloved pet (par. 1). The fur acts like a support system to her.