Miss Brill

"The old people sat on the bench, still as statues.  Never mind, there was always the crowd to watch." - Katherine Mansfield.

Miss Brill herself is an elderly woman.  She is not, though, a typical stock character of an old woman.  She is more complex than that.  As the quote above helps to show, she judges other elderly people.  In this way, she is acting like a younger, sort of immature teenager.  She separates herself from the other elderly people or those who act elderly.  Another example is when Miss Brill noticed other people who just sat on benches.  She said the were "nearly all old, and from the way they stared they looked as though they'd just come from dark little rooms or even - even cupboards!"  By describing the other elderly people in a more negative tone, she is separating herself from them and showing that she herself is much more than one of those typical older people.