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In “Miss Brill,” the protagonist’s fur stole stands in for its owner. Miss Brill brings the fur out of its box the same way that Miss Brill takes herself out of her apartment. The fur provides her warmth against the cool autumn air but also emotional comfort as she ventures out.
Additionally, the fur’s box symbolizes Miss Brill’s apartment. At the park, Miss Brill observes “odd, silent, nearly all old” people who “looked as though they’d just come from dark little rooms or even—even cupboards.” Readers can infer that the fur’s box is like the “dark little room” that Miss Brill lives in. When Miss Brill puts the fur back into its box at the story’s end, she puts herself back into her own dark, lonely chamber.
Readers also see Miss Brill and her fur reflected in the woman with the ermine toque. Miss Brill thinks the hat is old and shabby and its owner likewise. Everything about the woman is the same color as the ermine, and her hand is “a tiny yellowish paw.” Readers see that Miss Brill projects her worries about her own age onto this woman, so both women’s furs symbolize their owners.
The girl in the young couple strengthens the symbolic connection between Miss Brill and her fur. When she mocks Miss Brill’s fur, she mocks Miss Brill. The girl’s word choices are telling. She says that the fur is “exactly like a fried whiting.” Both whiting and brill are kinds of saltwater fish, so the comparison is unflattering and specific in the extreme.
