Authors write about characters in many different ways. In some novels, the author does not reveal in the slightest way how their attitude towards the character. In other novels, the author's attitude is quite obvious. Authors can also control the view the reader has on characters using word choice and literary techniques. In Miss Brill, a short story by Katherine Mansfield, the reader can identify Mansfield's view on Miss Brill through the literary techniques the author uses; narrative intrusion, subtlety, and limited omniscience.
Narrative intrusion is the first technique used by Mansfield. An example of this is in the first paragraph when Miss Brill is describing her fur and Mansfield writes, "Yes, she really felt like that about it". This is narrative intrusion because Mansfield is interrupting the description of Miss Brill and her love for the fur to tell the reader not to be incredulous, but rather to believe that Miss Brill really does love the fur. This intrusion shows that the author thinks Miss Brill is odd for liking the fur, as Mansfield has to repeat herself (showing sarcasm) when it comes to Miss Brill and the fur, to prove that she really does like it. Another example of narrative intrusion where Mansfield is sarcastic is when Mansfield is describing Miss Brill's seat on the bench and calls it her "special" seat. By putting special in quotations, the reader can see the sarcasm in Mansfield's description, which gives it an almost mocking tone. This leads the reader to believe that Mansfield's attitude towards Miss Brill is a negative and mocking one. .
Another literary technique Mansfield uses is limited omniscience. An example of this is in the fourth paragraph, when Miss Brill describes a couple's clothing as a "dreadful Panama hat and she had button boots". This is limited omniscience as Mansfield is showing what Miss Brill thinks of the accessories, and not those wearing them.
