Miss Brill: Exploring the Theme of Loneliness - Essay Sample

Introduction

Loneliness is a distressful feeling that people from all walks of life face. Senior citizens, for example, are the population groups that face the highest rates of loneliness. Loneliness can occur in a myriad of ways. Literature is one of the means that explain to readers how their characters can be lonely. In the short story, Miss Brill, for example, the narrator presents the theme of loneliness. While the author, Mansfield, does not directly narrate that Miss Brill is lonely, the story illustrates several ways that she is lonely. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the loneliness and ways to address the matter. The essay uses Miss Brill's story as a research point to address the issue of loneliness in senior citizens. Community involvement is necessary to alleviate loneliness in senior citizens.

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In the short story Miss Brill by Mansfield, loneliness is an underlying theme. In the short story, it is evident that Miss Brill is lonely considering the way she cares for her fur coat (Mansfield 1). Besides, Miss Brill's loneliness is evident through her Sunday visits to the park where she sits at a designated spot and watches strangers (1). Her weekly visits to the park show Miss Brill's desire to be included in the interactions of people in the park (2). More so, from the story, the readers understand that Miss Brill lives by herself. She is alienated from members of the community and the only conservation she holds is with her fur coat. In the story, Miss Brill overhears a boy and a girl make fun of her fur coat as old and shabby (2). Miss Brill feels like the community that should accept her is rejecting and mocking her. Due to that, she retracts back to her house to live her lonely life as she has always done (2). Evidently, Miss Brill's loneliness makes her vulnerable and alienated.

There is a need for a humanitarian pact to ensure that senior citizens are not lonely anymore. Paredes, Lee, Chik, Gupta, Palmer, Palinkas, Kim, and Jeste (1) indicated that loneliness is closely associated with social isolation. In their study, the authors established that loneliness impacts the health, well-being, and longevity of senior citizens. In the short story, it was apparent Miss Brill's social isolation affected her wellbeing. She was unable to interact with members of society and only relied on her fur coat for excitement. Besides, the boy and the girl who made fun of her coat, as well as the older couple who she sits next to in the park, made no effort to make Miss Brill feel welcomed in society. Such a scenario validates the need for interventions to alleviate loneliness among senior citizens.

There are various approaches to addressing loneliness among senior citizens. McLeod, Musich, Parikh, Hawkins, Keown, and Yeh (1) conducted a literature review to support their discussion of the interventions necessary to alleviate loneliness among senior citizens. The authors established that telephone-based interventions, community involvement, online and digital solutions, as well as resilience training would help to alleviate loneliness among the elderly (3). They mentioned that telephone-based interventions, as well as online and digital solutions, would help senior citizens to have social connections. Regarding resilience training, it will help senior citizens to develop enhanced cognition. With the diversity of older adults, the interventions will likely help them alleviate loneliness.

Conclusion

Overall, loneliness in the elderly is a social problem that needs to be addressed. In the next five years, senior citizens are going to be the dominating population. Due to that, community involvement and a strong familial system have to be present to ensure that the senior citizens are not lonely during old age. The short story Miss Brill is a good example of literary works that shows the severity and impact loneliness has on senior citizens. More research needs to be done to develop and deliver interventions that will help curb loneliness among senior citizens.

Works Cited

Mansfield, Kathrine. "Miss Brill." Kathrine Mansfield Society. 1920. Accessible at http://www.katherinemansfieldsociety.org/assets/KM-Stories/MISS-BRILL1920.pdf

McLeod, et al. "Examining approaches to address loneliness and social isolation among older adults." Journal of Aging and Geriatric Medicine, volume 2, number 1. 2018. doi: 10.4172/2576-3946.1000115

Morlett, et al. "Qualitative study of loneliness in a senior housing community: the importance of wisdom and other coping strategies." Aging and Mental Health, 2020. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1699022