Miss Brill Presentation

When reading "Miss Brill," the imagery immediately jumped out at me.  The last few pieces of literature we've read, have contained imagery that expanded concepts (Frost compares his loneliness to a desert, Shakespeare equates his age to the season, Poe uses a man to represent the upperclass), however in "Miss Brill," Katherine Mansfield has her character represent her surroundings in a comparatively smaller scale.  Obviously, Mansfield is not the only author to take this route (using imagery this way makes things manageable for the reader), but this approach did bring up another question: What does this route mean for the story?

My search for an academic article yielded the piece, "Reductive Imagery in Miss Brill."  The article touches upon the topics I've just discussed, and also mentions some problems critics have with Mansfield's story (over-simplification, a contrived ending).  While I do think there are some problems with the story (mainly, my unhappiness lies with the contrived ending), Mansfield's language is very rich, and she skillfully paints realistic scenery.  Hopefully, all of this can be fully covered in my presentation tomorrow.

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