Miss. Brill

Adrianna Dowdy

Professor Statkus

Engl-1003-L03

12 February 2016

“Miss Brill”

        Every woman wants to be loved and wants to have someone there to build a bond with. Back in the nineteenth century a spinster was a “lonely, childless, frumpy middle-aged woman who longs to be like other “normal” women...” (Mansfield 147) They worked spinning wool. Normal woman is someone who is married and has children. In today’s society the word spinster is rarely used because unmarried women in this day in age are not seen as they were back then in the nineteenth century.         

        Miss. Brill was an older woman who was lonely and unmarried. She would go to the park every Sunday and just sit there and watch. She would watch the people in the park and see how happy and sad the couples would be. “But he shook his head, lighted a cigarette, slowly breathed a great deep puff into her face, and even while she was still talking and laughing, flicked the match away and walked on.” (Mansfield 149) This portrays even if you are committed to someone it isn’t always fine and dandy. Husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends bicker all the time. Miss. Brill was there so often that she was noticed and people wondered why she was even at the park. In the nineteenth century if you weren’t married and didn’t have kids you were basically frowned upon. There was a couple talking at the end of the bench Miss. Brill was sitting on and they said, “Why does she come here at all–who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home?” (Mansfield 150) She was not looked at kindly; no one really wanted nor understood why she was there. They thought she should just stay in the house because she did not live up to the “normal” aspect of society.

        In today’s society you are accepted for being an unmarried women. You are looked at as strong and independent. As a woman if you are a single parent no one sees a problem with it as long as you provide for your child and take care of him or her. According to, Singh Sandeep, “In the midst of a traditionally male-dominated society in the tiny Gulf island, a new breed of women is gaining ground and choosing independence over marriage.” Women like being independent. They do not like to rely on other people, especially the male population, for something. Women want to show people that they (we) can work just as hard and provide for themselves. Today’s society is being more and more okay with this theory. Even though there are some aspects of women being independent that are still being questioned or accepted is not nowhere near as bad as it was like in Miss. Brill’s era.