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Levels of
Thinking
Putting It All Together –
“Miss Brill”
Grade Ten
Skill Focus
Levels of Thinking
Remember
Understand
Apply
Close Reading
Reading Strategies
Annotation
Generalization
Inference
Prediction
Literary Elements
Character
dynamic/static
motivation
Detail
Plot
Point of View
Rhetorical Shift
Setting
Style
Theme
Tone
shift
Figures of Speech
Analyze
Evaluate
Grammar
Phrases
Create
Composition
Types (modes)
Absolute
Participial
Clauses
Dependent/Subordinate
Independent
Sentences
Structure
balanced
complex
compound
compound-complex
simple
Syntax Techniques
Polysyndeton
Epanalepsis
Rhetorical Fragment
Analysis of a Text
Rhetorical Analysis Focused on Syntax
Metonymy
Expository
analytical
Persuasive (argumentative)
challenge
defend
qualify
The Process of Composition
Revision of Multiple Drafts
concision
content
organization
precise diction
sentence variety
Style/Voice
Conscious Manipulation of
Sentence Patterns
Experimentation with Sentence Variety
Use of Figures of Speech
Use of Literary Elements
Literary Techniques
Characterization
direct/indirect
Dialogue
Materials and Resources
• “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield
Lesson Introduction
Ideally, most lessons in an English classroom utilizing Pre-AP strategies would be like this one,
blending the skills of composition, grammar, close reading, and thinking. Focusing on a rich
text, however brief, analyzing the use of language in it, and using those language techniques to
enrich the writer’s own technique – these activities inform and reinforce students’ abilities to
form connections among all the aspects of language study. Any short, complex text may form
the basis of this kind of lesson. Questions that will assist the students in analyzing the passage
for close reading and for grammatical and syntactical elements follow. Use only those questions
that suit your class and your time constraints. Do not feel that you must cover all the questions.
Also included are writing prompts and revision suggestions. For the close reading questions,
students must have access to the whole story.
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Levels of Thinking
Levels of
Thinking
Putting It All Together –
“Miss Brill”
Grade Ten
Close Reading Questions
Levels of Thinking: Remember
1. Look up all unfamiliar words before reading the story: ermine, toque, rogue, eiderdown,
rotunda, etc.
2. As you read the story, write down details you observe about Miss Brill – where she goes,
what her nationality is, whom she observes, what she notices, what seems important
to her, etc.
Levels of Thinking: Remember and Understand
Katherine Mansfield characterizes Miss Brill indirectly, not directly. As close readers
observe Miss Brill in the public gardens, they will note that she reveals quite a bit about
herself in the people she observes and the way she sees herself. In fact, Miss Brill is not
aware that she is revealing herself to be a certain kind of person, for she sees herself
quite differently.
3. Create a chart like the one below. Write the details Miss Brill reveals that show us her
character as she sees herself. Then write the details that show her as others see her. One
example for each section is done for you.
Details that
reveal Miss Brill
as she sees
herself
“Little rogue!…
Little rogue biting its tail just by her
left ear.”
Details that reveal
Miss Brill as a
careful reader
sees her
How she would
describe herself
“There were a number of people
out this afternoon, far more than
last Sunday.”
“Only two people shared her
‘special’ seat. …”
She sees herself as quite daring
and fashionable to possess
this fur.
How the
reader would
describe her
She comes every Sunday to the
gardens – creature of habit?
Nowhere to go?
No friends or acquaintances?
Finding Patterns and Contrasts
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, and Analyze
4. Try to find a pattern in the people Miss Brill observes during the course of this visit to
the garden:
a. conductor with a new coat
b. old man in a velvet coat
c. big old woman knitting
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d. Englishman and his wife last Sunday
e. “old beggar who had his tray fixed to the railings”
f. “little boys with big white silk bows under their chins”
g. “little girls, little French dolls, dressed up in velvet and lace”
h. “tiny staggerer” with its “small high-stepping mother, like a young hen”
i. “two young girls in red” met by “two young soldiers in blue”
j. “two peasant women with funny straw hats”
k. “cold, pale nun”
l. “beautiful woman” with violets
m. “ermine toque and a gentleman in gray”
n. “funny old man with long whiskers”
o. “beautifully dressed” boy and girl in love
What Is Metonymy?
Metonymy is a form of metaphor. In metonymy, the name of one thing is applied to
another thing with which it is closely associated: e.g. “The pen [written language] is
mightier than the sword [physical force].”
5. Find the detail above which is an example of metonymy.
6. Why do you think this person out of all those Miss Brill observes is described in this way?
7. Connect the “ermine toque” to Miss Brill’s fur at the beginning and the ending of the story.
8. Discuss this pattern in the short story: “There was something funny about nearly all of
them” and toward the end of the story “It’s her fu-fur which is so funny…” Also note that
both “j” and “n” above use the word “funny.”
9. A major shift in tone and narrative structure occurs in the last paragraph of the story. But the
events that lead to this shift happen earlier in the story. Trace the place in the story where
this shift begins.
What was happening
earlier in the story
Shift in action
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Shift in characters
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10. Mansfield reveals two new characters, the last to be introduced in the story, through dialogue.
Why do you think this is the only true dialogue in the story?
11. How do you know this dialogue has had an effect on Miss Brill?
12. Discuss the pattern in these sentences from the story:
a. (from the beginning of the story) – “And when she breathed, something light and sad –
no, not sad exactly – something gentle seemed to move in her bosom.”
b. (from the end of the story) – “And what they played was warm, sunny, yet there was just
a faint chill – a something, what was it – not sadness, no, not sadness – a something that
made you want to sing.”
13. Discuss the pattern in these sentences from the story:
a. (from the beginning of the story) – “They were odd, silent, nearly all old, and from the
way they stared they looked as though they’d just come from dark little rooms or even –
even cupboards!”
b. (from the end of the story) – “But today she passed the baker’s by, climbed the stairs,
went into the little dark room – her room like a cupboard – and sat down on the red
eiderdown.”
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate
14. Music plays a significant role in this short story. Find at least three details that refer to music.
15. How does Miss Brill see herself in terms of music?
16. What interrupts her view of herself as “still soundlessly singing”? (right before the “beautifully dressed” couple appears)
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create
17. Write a dialogue between the “beautifully dressed” couple, a dialogue that would confirm
Miss Brill’s view of herself in her own eyes. Write at least half a page. Be sure to begin a
new paragraph with each new speaker. Be sure to use quotation marks correctly.
Grammar/Syntax Questions – Rhetorical Analysis Based on Syntax
Levels of Thinking: Remember
1. Go through the story and highlight all the dashes.
2. What kind of information is usually included between the dashes?
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Levels of
Thinking
Levels of Thinking: Remember and Understand
The story contains a preponderance of compound sentences that are created in two ways: the
clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction preceded by a comma, or they are joined
by a semicolon.
3. Highlight or copy down as many of these sentences as you can find. Make sure you do not
include any complex sentences; make sure no dependent clauses are present.
Remember that dependent clauses begin with words called subordinating conjunctions or
relative pronouns. Here is a partial list:
when
where
why, what
since
as
after
until
although
than
because
before
that
unless
if
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze
4. Consider Mansfield’s rhetorical purpose in using so many compound sentences. What is the
effect of these sentences?
What Is Epanalepsis?
Epanalepsis is the repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause: e.g. “Common sense is not so common.” (Voltaire)
5. The following sentence contains an example of epanalepsis. Note the epanalepsis and
discuss the rhetorical effect.
“She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn’t listen,
at sitting in other people’s lives, just for a minute while they talked round her.”
6. The story contains several rhetorical fragments, sentence fragments purposely written to
create a certain effect. Find one such sentence in the story and write it. Noting carefully the
sentences that precede and follow it, analyze the effect of the rhetorical fragment.
What Is a Balanced Sentence?
In a balanced sentence, the phrases or clauses balance each by virtue of their likeness of
structure, meaning, or length: e.g. “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal.…”
(Ecclesiastes 3, King James version)
7. This is a balanced sentence: “They were beautifully dressed; they were in love.” Put the
sentence in context and discuss the rhetorical effect.
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Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate
8. Since the narrator sees everything from the vantage point of Miss Brill’s thoughts,
Mansfield seems to be making a connection between the many compound sentences and
Miss Brill’s character. Explain a possible connection between the type of sentences and the
character of Miss Brill.
What Is Polysyndeton?
Polysyndeton is the deliberate use of many conjunctions for special emphasis – to highlight quantity or mass of detail, or to create a flowing, continuous sentence pattern.
9. Write a sentence or two evaluating the rhetorical effect of the polysyndeton in the following
sentence:
“And the band changed again and played more quickly, more gayly than ever, and the
old couple on Miss Brill’s seat got up and marched away, and such a funny old man
with long whiskers hobbled along in time to the music, and was nearly knocked over by
four girls walking abreast.”
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create
What Is an Absolute Phrase?
The absolute phrase possesses a unique rhythm and sound and is a sophisticated
grammatical structure to use in your writing. Basically, it contains both a noun and a
participle. Many times, the absolute phrase may be recognized by the fact that if the
verb “was” or “were” were added, the result would be an independent clause.
Example: His head pounding, he reached for the aspirin bottle.
Add “was,” and you would have a separate independent clause: His head was
pounding, and he reached for the aspirin bottle. The beauty and function of the absolute
phrase, however, is to subordinate an idea to the main idea. The main clause is he
reached for the aspirin bottle. Rather than write a separate sentence, the writer may add
the information his head pounding as secondary in importance to the main clause and
produce a more compact sentence with a unique sound and rhythm.
10. This short story contains no absolute phrases. Find two sentences in the story; alter each one
to add a participial phrase and an absolute phrase. Two examples are provided for you.
Example One: Mansfield’s sentence: “She felt a tingling in her hands and arms, but that
came from walking, she supposed.”
Participial phrase added: Tingling from anxiety, Miss Brill kept walking.
Absolute phrase added: Her hands and arms tingling, Miss Brill realized walking had
made her feel this way.
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Example Two: Mansfield’s sentence: “She hurried on the almond Sundays and struck
the match for the kettle in quite a dashing way.”
Participial phrase added: Hurrying on the almond Sundays, she struck the match for the
kettle in quite a dashing way.
Absolute phrase added: She hurried on the almond Sundays, her arm striking the match
for the kettle.
Composition Activities
Expository/Analytical Mode
What Are Static and Dynamic Characters?
A static character changes little over the course of a narrative. These characters are often
one-dimensional and may resemble stereotypes. Things happen to these characters, but
little happens in them. A character that changes in response to the actions through which
he or she passes is called a dynamic character.
1. Using evidence from the text, write two separate paragraphs, arguing opposite positions.
Reread the last sentence of the story: “But when she put the lid on she thought she heard
something crying.”
Position A: Miss Brill hears herself crying.
Position B: Miss Brill thinks she hears her fur crying.
Which one of your paragraphs establishes Miss Brill as a dynamic, not static, character?
Write a third paragraph explaining fully.
2. Write an essay showing how Mansfield uses the resources of language to characterize Miss
Brill.
Note: The term “resources of language” is sometimes worded differently: rhetorical
devices, an author’s style, stylistic devices, etc.
Persuasive Mode
What Does It Mean to Qualify an Assertion?
In a persuasive essay, other than defend or challenge, the writer often has the option of
qualifying his or her position. To qualify is more intellectually difficult and subtle but,
if handled well, is quite effective. Qualifying basically means agreeing or disagreeing
according to a certain set of circumstances. For instance, if students are asked to respond
to the prompt “For in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase
of sorrow,” those who qualify this assertion might write that seeking knowledge is
surely a worthy pursuit, but when a person seeks this knowledge to the exclusion of
other necessary parts of life – family, friends, socializing, recreation, creativity, work,
etc. – certainly sorrow may result.
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3. Defend, challenge, or qualify one of the following assertions in an essay.
• True inner happiness can come only from knowing and facing the truth about oneself.
• It is possible to construct a satisfying inner life based on a delusion.
• Old age is a lonely and depressing stage of life.
• We never completely see ourselves as others do.
4. After you have written a draft of your essay, work with a partner to improve the way you
have used language. Use the Revision Workshop guidelines that follow.
Revision Workshop
Levels of Thinking: Remember and Understand
1. Read the essay carefully to determine whether or not the writer tends to use a variety of
sentence structures: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex.
2. Read the essay carefully to determine whether or not the writer has included dashes and
used them correctly.
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply
3. If your partner does use lots of simple sentences, help him or her to combine sentences
using subordinating conjunctions and/or relative pronouns.
4. Help your partner to create compound sentences by using semicolons in some cases and a
coordinating conjunction preceded by a comma in others.
5. Help your partner to write at least one balanced sentence.
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze
6. Read the essay carefully to determine if your partner has used participial phrases.
7. Determine if your partner has used an absolute phrase somewhere in the essay.
8. Determine if your partner has used polysyndeton to create a sense of a list that goes on
and on and on.
9. Help your partner to include at least one example of each of the above elements.
Levels of Thinking: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create
10. Help your partner to write an original example of metonymy.
11. Help your partner to write a rhetorical fragment and to explain the intended rhetorical effect.
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Levels of Thinking