"Miss Brill" Katherine Mansfield

At the beginning of the story, Miss Brill thinks about how she is glad that she had gotten out her fur. She touches it admiringly as if she is proud to be wearing it. I think it makes her feel beautiful, and she wants other to view her "character" as this beautiful woman. All of these hopes are shot when she is purposely overhearing a young couples conversation about her. The boy refer to her as "that stupid old thing," and asks why she doesn't keep her "silly old mug at home." No doubt, that was hard for her to hear, but it gets worse. The girl comments on her fu-fur, saying that it is "exactly like a fried whiting." I didn't know what that meant, so I looked it up and it said that it was a type of fried fish. One can only imagine her dissappointment. Upon hearing this news, she heads home and regrets to get her piece of pie that she gets every Sunday, because she is so upset. When she gets home, she takes it off and puts it back in the box that she had got it in and thinks she hears it crying. This crying illustrates how upset she is by the girls comment. It is as if the fur piece is saddened by her newfound embarrassment to wear it now.