"Miss Brill"

"Oh, how fascinating it was!  How she enjoyed it!  How she loved sitting here, watching it all!  It was like a play.  It was exactly like a play."

"Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield was a very strange story.  I did not really understand what the theme of the story was.  I just thought the story was about a crazy old lady that liked to people watch.  She would dress up and spend every Sunday eavesdropping on conversations of strangers in the park.  Then she got it in her head that it was some kind of play and everyone showed up each week to act out their parts. As usual, she made sure she showed up each week for her part.  However, towards the end, Mrs. Brill heard a boy and a girl talking about her and it really upset her and she broke her routine. I guess after reading it a second time I thought the theme might  be about confidence because Miss Brill's level of confidence changed from beginning to end.