Miss Brill
by Katherine Mansfield
Pre-reading Strategies
Terms to Know: (helpful but optional activity- no marks)
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eiderdown
rogue
rotunda
ermine
manuscript
accompaniment
whiting
necklet
Prior Knowledge: (2 marks each)
1. Imagine you are seated beside an older lady on the bus. How do you react? What
might be going through your mind as you get settled in for the 15-minute bus ride?
2. The setting is the time and place of the story. Often the setting is an essential element
in making a story meaningful. The story “Miss Brill” takes place in a park, near the
seaside in France in the 1920’s. How do you imagine this scene? Use your 5 senses to
gather some ideas: (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feels).
Comprehension Questions: (3 marks each)
1. To create an unforgettable character, every detail must add to her development.
Author Katherine Mansfield creates Miss Brill by connecting her to specific objects.
Find the following 3 objects in the story: (a) the fur necklet, (b) the “special” seat
(c) the different hats on strangers
How does each thing help to create the main character Miss Brill? Discuss her
personalityi, or her attitude towards others, or her own feelings of self-worth.
Include 1-2 quotations in your responses.
2. Throughout most of the story, Miss Brill seems to experience reality not as it is
but as she would prefer to see it. What parts of the story support this idea?
3. What do we know about Miss Brill’s life? Find examples from the story that give
clues.
4. What happens to Miss Brill that changes her whole outlook? Who is involved and
what do they do? What realization does Miss Brill experience?
5. Make connections: (*this could be whole story or parts of the story, including
character, setting, symbols, events, actions) You choose what connection you want to
make.
Text-to-Text
Text-to-Self
Text-to-World
How does this relate to
How does this relate to
How does this relate to
something else I’ve read:
me: my experiences,
other things in my life?
news, magazine, blog,
values, opinions
job, friends, family, global
recipe, joke?
issues, society issues
Creative response: (5 marks)
Write an obituary3ii for Miss Brill. Consider how you, the writer, are connected to
her. Make it as creative as you like but using facts accurate to the story.
i
Personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a
person unique
ii
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an
account of the person's life and information about the upcoming service.