Female Protagonists of Manfield's "Miss Brill" and Joyce's “Eveline.” (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

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Compare and Contrast the Female Protagonists of Manfield's "Miss Brill" and Joyce's “Eveline.”
The essay discusses the differences and similarities of Protagonists of Manfield's "Miss Brill" and Joyce's “Eveline.” Both the two are great characters to compare. The two authors lived in the same period. The Katherine Mansfield lived between 1988 and 1923 while James Joyce lived between 1982 and 1941 (Joyce 24). Both the authors are masters of the stream of consciousness writing. Miss Brill appears in the Mansfield’s short story, Garden Party and Other Stories, while Eveline appears in Dubliners, Joyce best short story (Shaup 224).
Miss Brill is an old English woman living in a small apartment in France. She only communicates to the school children and his companion. When visiting the park on Sunday, Brill feels as if she is part of the community. However, she does not concur well with the boy and girl talk. She appears like an old fool and outdated person (Shaup 227). Conversely, Eveline is a girl full of desperation from his brutal father. She is weary of her dull job. Her boyfriend Frank, a sailor, offers her escape from the treadmill of Dublin. She hopes to enjoy a new life and happy marriage. However, she is nervous of her lover uncertainty (Joyce 27).
Both Eveline and Miss Brill have similarities as a female protagonist. First, the symbolism of their names in both passages. The dictionary meaning of the word Brill is a deep-sea flatfish. Her moth-eaten fur piece is labeled fried whiting. The fur piece she identifies herself with resembles fish. She is a lonely lady who is empty inside. Therefore, she is consumed by her solitude characters (Shaup 227). Similarly, Eveline symbolizes the evening. It is a stage when the darkness is approaching indicating inertia and lifelessness. Her escape symbolizes her wrong choice to escape into the darkness. She lacks the courage to face the new life in Irish. She fears the reality of the harsh social conditions. She endures spiritual emptiness and lacks moral hope thereby rendering her unable to make positive changes in life. The characters describe her as suffering from Irish paralysis (Merton 36).
Secondly, both the characters are partly responsible for their tragedies. First, Miss Brill appears as a self-centered person. She describes other people as odd and coming from cupboards or dark little rooms. However, she faces reality in the course of her life. In life, every person has to play her part. It is true that the community cannot isolate her since she is part of it. Miss Brill understands this but remains lonely. She fails to communicate completely with other people in the society. She disregards other people. Miss Brill develops a bad character of overhearing other people talks. However much the community also fails, she is the mastermind of it (Shaup 231). Similarly, Eveline is the cause of her woes. Her desire to escape is instigated by her brutal father and the mother’s death. She does not follow the promise of taking care of her younger brothers and keeping the house orderly. The promise of better life makes her forget her brothers and the Father. However, she escapes to a life full of uncertainty. She is nervous about the life, but she does not care much. She becomes paralyzed mentally to make a choice between her boyfriend and staying with her brutal father. She is unable to make decisions independently. Finally, she clings to the iron railing like a helpless animal. She even does not know whether she loves her boyfriend or not (Joyce 37).
Lastly, both Eveline and Miss Brill reflects the author’s mental state during the time they wrote the story. Miss Brill story was published in 1922 just one year before Mansfield’s death. The Author was born in New Zealand and spent most of her time in Europe. She endured miscarriage, unfortunate marriage, and several diseases. The suffering led her to very critical about life realities. However, she contracted a sexually transmitted disease. The diseases tormented her life in addition to her brother’s death. In her final years, she stayed alone on her bedroom. Therefore, she became more isolated from the people (Shaup 238). Her mental state prompted her to create Miss Brill character. Similarly, James Joyce wrote about Eveline during the long England governance and the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church. At that time, Ireland was a monotonous, entrapment and backward country. Joyce was not happy with the disappointments. She chose to escape with Nora, his wife, to other countries after completion of Eveline. Both authors are the psychological archetype for the two characters (Merton 38).
However, the two characters differ in how they face realities of their background values of life. Miss Brill does not accept the reality that she is poor. She wears a fur coat to appear like a rich person. The coat gives her confidence to fit into the rich people culture. She struggles to fit in a culture that is different from her background (Shaup 234). Contrary, Eveline accepts the reality of her poor family conditions. She led...