There will be many obstacles in life that will be too difficult for the average human being to face, but it is how well they are handled that will make the difference. If obstacles are managed correctly, this could have positive effects; however, if handled poorly, happiness may decrease. Katherine Mansfield's short story, "Miss Brill," uses symbols, plot, characters, and point of view to reveal the theme that creating an alternate reality through other people's lives will not alleviate loneliness. Miss Brill's fur coat, the symbol in the short story, is contextual. The fur is a contextual symbol because if it were placed in another story, it would not symbolize a single woman. According to Saralyn Daly, “When she puts away the fur… her identification with that object is so complete that the reader fears she will cry and yet is too brave to recognize it” (90). The fur symbolizes Miss Brill's life, in the sense that she has put her life in a box, like her fur, and needs a companion to take her out and bring her life back to her. When the little sad eyes ask "what's happening to me", these are Miss Brill's thoughts that are brought out through her fur. At the end of the story, despite her newfound awareness, Miss Brill denies some of her emotions when she "thought she heard something crying." The tears are obviously his, and once again he feels the emotion through his fur. The connection of passion with fur is forced into a character recognized by Miss Brill, and the reader is attentive to much else (Berkman 75). The author mentions that Mi...... half of the article ......1.Daly, Saralyn R. Katherine Mansfield. New York: Twanye Publishers, 1994. Hanson, Clare. Katherine Mansfield. New York: St. Martins Press 1981.Kobler, J. F. Katherine Mansfield: A Study in Short Fiction. Boston: Twanyne Publishers, 1990.Madden, David. "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield. University Review 31 (1964): 89-92. Mandel, Miriam B. “Reductive Images in “Miss Brill.” Studies in Short Fiction 26 (1989): 473-77.Morrow, Fiction by Patrick D. Katherine Mansfield. Bowling Green: Bowling Green StateUniversity Popular Press, 1993.Nathan, Rhonda B, eds. Critical Essays on KM New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1993. Pilditch, January. A critical response to Katherine Mansfield. Westport, Greenwood Press, 1996. Thorpe, Peter. "Teaching Miss Brill." University English 23 (1962): 661-63. .