"Miss Brill"- Katherine Mansfield

  In a way, Miss Brill causes her own "demise" primarily because she commits a moral wrongdoing that many are guilty of: eavesdropping.  Had she not been so curious about the conversation of strangers, she would not have heard the hurtful conversation between her characterized "hero and heroine" that causes her heartbreak.  When Miss Brill is incapable of eavesdropping, she imagines the goings-on of the world around her.  Surprisingly, everything is rather "odd" in Miss Brill's made-up world.  She remarks, "...there was something funny about nearly all of them.  They were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms or even--even cupboards!" (Mansfield,184).  The funny aspect of her characterization of the society is that she ends up exactly like them, she may have even started out this way.  In the conclusion, she goes home and "went into the little dark room--her room like a cupboard..." (Mansfield, 186) just like the the "funny" and "odd" members of her imagined society.  From the condition of her clothing, the audience can also infer that she is rather "old" as well.  The fact that her preferred art is eavesdropping additionally suggest she prefers "silent" observation over taking an active role in conversations.