Krystel Iris M.

de Castro 151290

R27 – Ma. Soccoro Perez October 26, 2015

A Literary Analysis in the Framework of Miss

Honorifics, used as a form of address denoting esteem and respect, precede the names

of the protagonists of the short stories “Miss Brill,” “A Rose for Emily,” and “The Virgin.”

The narrators, who enlighten the readers through the third person point of view, refer to the

three women as “Miss.” Whether this technique is employed to recognize her

relative social status as compared to the narrator, to emphasize her celibacy and mark her

availability for marriage, to identify the man to whom she belongs, in this case, her father, or

to attribute certain physiognomies and traits to the women, it substantially influenced their

characterization. As the title is appointed to them by the writer and is dictated to them by the

society, it affected the individuals’ behaviors and interactions, resulting in various digressions

from a common conflict – isolation and desire.

Miss Brill

An aging, lonely woman who vicariously spends her Sundays at the park is the

subject of an evoking character portrait by Katherine Mansfield. Through a limited third

person narrator who submerges into the psyche of Miss Brill without infusing any

intrusive commentaries, the reader infers her character by the descriptions and dialogue

around her. Mansfield especially uses Miss Brill’s perceptions and emotions toward the

conversations and actions of the other characters to paint an accurate picture of her.

She might have acquired her title “Miss” from being an English teacher, however, as

“Miss” was also a default title to actresses during her time, the illusion of being “an actress
for a long time” has transpired given her eccentric disposition. Her belief that “somebody

would have noticed if she hadn’t been there” is actually the reverse because “the whole

company” is oblivious to her existence.

The third person narrative allows the reader to see the contrast of Miss Brill’s

romanticized imagination and the reality of her life. An exile of her society, Miss Brill

attempts to participate in the episodes by “sitting in other people’s lives” and brushes off

sentiments of sadness, correcting herself that what she feels as “light and sad” is “not sad

exactly” but “something gentle seemed to move in her bosom.” She professes a partial

awareness, explaining her "queer, shy feeling" when she tells her pupils how she spends her

Sunday afternoons. Mansfield hints that Miss Brill’s superego is only suppressing her sadness

though it at times her id slips and manifests itself in her identification with the other

characters in the story.

This dramatic irony lets the reader understand her character and encourages us to

consider her self-deception as optimism to evade the tendency of self-pity. By refusing to

accept the role of an aging woman in seclusion, she is indeed an actress. However, her utopia

crumbles before her as the young couple that she presumes as the hero and heroine derisively

jests about the isolation that Miss Brill tries to deny. Thus results in a realization that changes

her and ends the story.

Miss Emily

William Faulkner’s tale of the narrator’s nonlinear recollection of “a woman who has

had a tragedy, a tragedy and nothing could be done about it … and this was a salute ... to a

woman you would hand a rose." Rightfully entitled to “Miss,” Emily is a descendant of an

antebellum Southern aristocratic family. When Miss Emily dies, “the whole town went to her

funeral with the "sort of respectful affection" for a "fallen monument." Miss Emily’s only
possession is their house that lifted “its stubborn and coquettish decay,” the townspeople "are

glad" because now they could "pity Miss Emily" after her father dies. Nevertheless, Miss

Emily refuses to humble herself as the town demonstrates absolute subservience and

reverence toward her. "She carried her head high enough even when we believed she had

fallen,” as justified by the death of his father to whom she was economically and

psychologically dependent, thus making her title “Miss” show her father’s possession of her,

and the further isolation that she thrust herself into by committing necrophilia against her

love interest, Homer Barron.

She has shut herself inside her house and her only connection with the outside world

was Tobe, her servant. Like Miss Brill, she has struggled to cope and to escape her loneliness,

but only attempting twice: once to date with Homer Barron and a second time to teach china

painting to young people. During her rendezvous with Homer, the townspeople could not

believe Miss Emily to “forget noblesse oblige” and intervened in her first effort to break free

from her attachment to her father. She, then, succumbs to the scourge that besieges their

family, schizophrenia and this prompts her to kill her Homer Barron and even sleep with him.

When the students ceased to come to her house for their china painting lessons, “the front

door closed upon the last one and remained closed for good.”

Miss Emily gained respect as a "lady," one who superior to the townspeople and who

holds herself aloof, yet Miss Emily bares her naivety and vulnerability. She is easily

susceptible to a fabricated story on her tax exemption that “only a woman could have

believed” and undeniably embodies a gullible “Miss.” She also uses her aristocratic position

to cover up the murder and the necrophilia. However, the real surprise in the ending may be

that the town knows Miss Emily killed Homer all along and has long ago pieced together the

puzzle, as supported by eluding the reaction of the people who broke into the room. They

already “knew that there was one room in that region above stairs which no one had seen in
forty years, and which would have to be forced,” but the narrator never condemns her actions.

As a member of the town, the narrator seems to confess the crimes the town has committed

against Miss Emily in an attempt to justify her actions and to show that she is not to blame.

Miss Mijares

Virginity is the prized possession as a “Miss” in the Filipino culture. In Kerima

Polotan’s narrative, however, she depicts a 34-year-old spinster as a "victim" rather than

heroine of this value system. Miss Mijares submitted her life to her family, dutifully tending

to her mother and shouldering the education of her niece, which hindered her in fulfilling the

desires of her heart. Her superego presided over most of her decisions in life regarding

marriage, family, and her future.

Referring to her as "Miss Mijares" underlines her high position in the placement

section of an agency and her character – a prim, curt, stern woman who regards highly of

herself. She speaks peremptorily, just like Miss Emily, and considers speaking in the dialect

as an act of charity to the job applicants. However, Miss Mijares only behaved accordingly to

obscure her regret of believing “that Love stood behind her, biding her time, a quiet hand

upon her shoulder (I wait. Do not despair.)” She reflects on her sexual state "with a mixture

of shame and bitterness and guilt” and wishes to be loved by others. The title “Miss”

connotes sexual appeal and she responds to this through the way she dresses, wearing “poufs

and shirrings and little-girlish pastel colors...and an inevitable row of thick camouflaging

ruffles” to create “an illusion for hips and bosom,” teasing and inviting love to approach her.

Despite her resolute countenance, her id slips sometimes as indicated by the

paperweight transforming into a dove in the carpenter’s hand and her dream of being lost.

When the paperweight was “felled by time before it could even spread its wings,” Miss
Mijares laughed despairingly, bitterly accepting the reality of living alone for the rest of her

life. She resorts to a defense mechanism that distances her from others of lowly status. On the

other hand, when her “young dreams fluttered faintly to life” during her encounter with the

carpenter after the jeepney took a detour, Miss Mijares surrendered to the temptation and in

spite of her struggles and sacrifices, she is still illustrated as a grotesque figure who “turned

to him, with her ruffles wet and wilted.”

The protagonists of the three different short stories about a day at the park, the

memory of a necrophiliac recluse, and a family-oriented virgin all share a common honorific,

“Miss.” The women also respond to this address in peculiar ways: Miss Brill fantasizing her

importance who later realizes the truth of her frivolity, Miss Emily clinging to her aristocratic

roots to resist change and onsets the decline of her sanity that provoked her necrophiliac act,

and Miss Mijares sacrificing her desires for her family but then condescends to a previously

disparaged job applicant. Nonetheless, a feature that unites them all how the paradigm of the

narrator and their society about them influenced their attitudes and deflected their views

about themselves.

The third person point of view encompasses the reality and allows the readers to

understand the characters’ motivations. Through an objective eye, the reader recognizes the

blurred perspectives of the women and their response to what the society dictates to them. All

three suppressed their sexual fantasies to adhere to the principles they must uphold as a

“Miss,” but this ultimately incited a protest within them, and in the end yielded to the desires

of their hearts.