"No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there; she was part of the performance after all. How strange she'd never thought of it like that before! And yet it explained why she made such a point of starting from home at just the same time each week-so as not to be late for the performance-and it also explained why she had quite a queer, shy feeling at telling her english pupils how she spent her Sunday afternoons." -"Miss Brill"

     I never thought starting out this story that it would make me feel so sympathetic towards a fictional character. Of course I first thought she was stuck up, conceited, and a little unwell for talking to a fur. However, when I finished the story, I realized the tragedy in her whole situation. She sits alone every Sunday at the exact same time, probably because she has no place else to go. Her name indicates she is unmarried and an older woman. She describes herself as an "expert...at listening" but the story never mentions any conversation with other people. This is a woman in desperate lonliness. Just like in other short stories like "A Worn Path," her actions portray the purpose of the writing. I do believe this story was meant to create sympathy in the reader because of the way Miss Brill handles her situation. At the beginning, she praises her fur and overlooks its blemishes. The fur, a representation of her because it is personified and she is the only reasonable character to be compared to it, then cries in pain at the end of the story. Miss Brill looks at herself as an actress and other people as her company because she is fantasizing reality. In reality, she has no connection with any of these people. However, if she praises her fur and thinks of life as a play, it covers up the pain of knowing she is a flawed social outcast. When I realized this, I felt sympathy for her. She could choose to hate life in this somber situation, or fantasize to numb the pain that is always present. It's tragic to see a situation where the person suffers because there is not way to change the circumstances.