miss brill

The Third Person-Point of View as used by Katherine Mansfield in "Miss Brill" Katherine Mansfield’s use of the third person, limited omniscient point of view in "Miss Brill" has the effect of letting the reader see the contrast between Miss Brill’s idea of her role in life and the reality of the small part she truly plays in world around her. In one short Sunday afternoon, the main character’s view of herself …

…omniscient point of view allowed Mansfield to keep hidden Miss Brill’s fears and the reality of her life. If the reader had been given the thoughts of any of the other characters, the fantasy would have been destroyed in the beginning of the story, ruining any effective use of foreshadowing. Even Miss Brill’s thoughts in the first person point of view would have given away her fears and made the story totally different.