Miss Brill

Reading "Miss Brill", I was struck by the vivid language and writing style employed by Mansfield in this story. In the narrative, Miss Brill begins to perceive life and the world around her, as if it is all part of a complex play. She herself, as well as all those around her, all unite to form the actors in the production of their own lives, and serve as audience members to each others'. (Reminiscent of Shakespeare's "All the World's a Stage...", anyone?) Perceiving the world this way, she manages to assuage some of her pervading loneliness, binding her own life to the lives of others, and feeling as thought she is part of some unified whole.
Mansfield's writing style, serves beautifully to draw the reader into Miss Brill's perception of the world. It is as if the reader himself, is an audience member- the story reads almost like a play.
Mansfield uses vivid imagery to describe the setting of the play:
"Two young girls in red came by and two young soldiers in blue met them... Two peasant women with funny straw hats passed, leading beautiful smoke colored donkeys..." Mansfield consistently uses color imagery to describe characters in the story. Additionally, she repeatedly describes the music that is playing in the background, and with each character that we meet, with each changing action, the music changes as well: When a passing woman is insulted, "even the band seemed to know what she was feeling, and played more softly, played tenderly..." As in a play, the music changes to reflect the chaning mood of the plot.
It is almost as though we are not reading the story then, but seeing a play, complete with costumes and musical accompaniment.
In this way, Mansfield allows the reader to identify with Miss Brill. We are witnesses to the very same scene that she is watching, and our experience with the scene, thanks to Mansfield's technique, is just as real and true as Miss Brill's herself. We are spared no detail, and see and feel everything just as Miss Brill does herself.
Thus, at the end of the story, we understand Miss Brill's pain, and feel it just as acutely, as if we had been insulted ourselves.