People Watcher Extraordinaire (Indirect Characterization)

"She had become really quite expert, she thought, at listening as though she didn't listen, at sitting in other people's lives just for a minute while they talked around her." -pg 183

Miss Brill is perhaps the most talkative person that I have ever met (read about) that actually doesn't do that much talking. The stream of her consciousness is hard to follow, elaborate, and constantly observant. She is the queen bee of all people watchers and her thoughts reflect that. Interestingly enough, none of her thoughts are directed on herself. Certainly, they involve her ermine toque, her fellow "actors", and even her role "on stage", but never anything specific about who she is, what her life is like, or what her circumstances are. The author drops a few hints about her occupation, but that is it. The readers are left to decide who she is based on her opinions of others. 

What I determined from the most indirect characterization I have ever read was that Miss Brill is perhaps the most eccentric and peculiar character of all (even Bartelby). Her thoughts are based on reality, but imaginative and full of imagery and figurative language which compares her comrades of Sunday with many things and ultimately a play acted onstage. What I gather about Miss Brill herself is that she is a single, middle aged to old, lonely woman who desires nothing more than companionship. She lives vicariously throught the thrills she witnesses and makes up in her head. Toward the end of the story, she is confronted with a harsh dose of reality that makes her see the other Sunday people as they really are: flawed, rude, normal people. The loss of her most joyful muse causes even her ermine toque to weep.