Emily is a lady who uses her imaginations to keep herself away from the real world. She does not want to confront the realities of life. Her father dies and when neighbors come to comfort her, she is least worried. She is not dressed like someone who is mourning. Neither does she look like a worried person. She wonders why visitors have come to her home. This prompts her to tell the visitors that her father is not dead.
We clearly see in this scenario that Emily has blocked her mind from anything that is bad. She does not want to get hurt and in that case, she denies any possible that might cause her suffering (Faulkner). However, she is unable to sustain this illusion that is in her head. After confrontation with her neighbors she breaks down and starts crying. Here we see that she has accepted reality and thereafter her father was buried. It is evident that she cannot sustain the illusion of her father not being dead (Faulkner).
Miss Brill on the other hand faces a more or less similar situation. It is told that Miss Brill wears her fur and goes to the park every Sunday (Mansfield). While at the park, she is busy evaluating other people who are at the same park. She passes judgments on them and this makes her feel good.
What Miss Brill is trying to do is to justify her own misery. She is a lonely woman who is empty and has no one to talk to (Mansfield). She even does not have a pet to accompany her to the park. She goes to the extent of talking to her fur. This makes her look like a crazy woman even though she does not find anything strange with her behavior. She denies this reality until a young girl makes fun of her fun and the young boy makes a comment that Miss Brill was not wanted by anyone (Mansfield). This made her realize that no one wanted to associate themselves with her.
Miss Brill thinks that sitting in the park every Sunday at the same time is a stage performance. She thinks that she is an actress. This makes it easier for her to consider other people as being in some sort of a play. All these are illusions she has created in her mind so that she may get through the day.
The scenarios between Miss Brill and Emily are alike in that they have both created a false world around them that makes them feel happy. This ‘world’ is supposed to shield them from any pain that would be caused by the truth. However, Emily’s illusions are more dangerous (Faulkner ) than those of Miss Brill (Mansfield). Emily goes to the extent of killing Barron. She does so that he may not leave her again. This is makes her condition worse than that of Miss Brill.
Miss Brill and Emily did not have to suffer like that if only they had a different view of life. The two characters could have tried a different approach to dealing with their situations. First and foremost, they should have accepted the problems that they had. If they knew that problems were a part of life, then they would have handled those situations differently. Secondly, they should have found people to talk to. That way they would not be lonely. This would have helped ease their problems.
I believe that the two women would have been able to fit into the society had they had a different upbringing. It is not in doubt that Emily was from a higher social status in society. This made it difficult for her to adjust to the normal life once her father died. I can assert that Emily was a product of the setting and the environment.
The two ladies are indeed victims of circumstance. However, the way they chose to deal with their situations shaped their behavior and finally eventually led to their outcome in life.