Narrator and point of view

The short story “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield is told in the past tense by an unknown narrator.

The narrator uses Miss Brill’s limited point of view and also inserts his/her own comments. For example, when Miss Brill imagines that she is part of the play that takes place in the park, she feels like she is understood by her fellow actors (the other people in the park) (ll. 154-155). Here, readers gain access to Miss Brill’s internal monologue, which helps them understand more about the character. The narrator, however, points out that she does not know what they are supposed to understand, emphasising her emotional distance from herself and limited perspective: “- though what they understood she didn’t know.” (l. 155).

The information conveyed through Mis...