Compare/Contrast Essay on the Short Stories "Miss Brill" and "Prue"

Lonely Women
According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, "Katherine Mansfield is regarded as one of the masters of the short story" (Columbia). She is known as a talented musician (Columbia). She uses music in her short story "Miss Brill" to help set the stage for the play that is about to begin. In addition to becoming "the first Canadian to win the Canada-Australia Literary Prize in 1977", Alice Munro preferred to write "about women's lives and motivations" (Encarta). Katherine Mansfield's story "Miss Brill" and Alice Munro's story "Prue" have similarities and differences between them by lonely women acting life out in imaginary plays (in which they are the main characters) and the use of symbolism.
In both stories, the main characters are lonely. Miss Brill is a lonely old woman who enjoys going to the park every Sunday. She listens to the band, watches, and listens to all the people that come there. She tries to hide her "emotional isolation, by pretending she is a cast member in a stage production" (Mansfield 260). Miss Brill's only friend is her fur coat. She notices every detail among it, like the feel of the fur, the sad eyes, and the nose, which is not firm anymore.…