The novel Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, and the short story “Miss Brill,” by Katherine Mansfield, seem to contain the same internal ideas. The strongest similarity between the stories are the characters. But this is also the strongest difference. PI and Miss Brill suffer from loneliness, simple and misunderstood mentality, and having to deal with others who humiliate them. The characters of Miss Brill and Pi have a lot in common. Both need to lie to themselves to adapt to difficult times. When the rest of the world goes on without them, while they are deteriorating, and because neither of them can handle the truth and stay sane, they lie to themselves. But they have rude awakenings. Pi is not believed when questioned, so he speaks his truth. But the reader has difficulty knowing which story to believe. He knows what the real world wants to hear. While Miss Brill is happy with her ways. Miss Brill and Pi possess the ability to become emotionally attached to a fur and an animal. Miss Brill connects with a fur coat. She's so close to his fox fur that she can see right through it. He is as old and useless as she is to the world. Except when it comes out on Sundays. It gives her comfort. She's the closest thing to a friend in the cruel world she lives in. Pi befriends a tiger. Richard Parker becomes Pi's only companion. He was there through thick and thin. All they had was each other for months. When he loses his friend, it seems to be more than he can bear. “I cried like a baby. It wasn't because I was overwhelmed at having survived my ordeal, although I was. And it wasn't even the presence of my brothers and sisters, although that was also very moving. I was crying because Richard Parker had left me...(...... middle of paper ......rker, the tiger. But Miss Brill goes away, goes home and gives up. She is very more naive than Pi. A stranger disrupts his happy fantasy while Pi has seen his family killed and is still going through the traumatic experience of trying to survive the ocean “It is needless to say that this or that night was the worst of the my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I haven't chosen any as a champion (123).” Pi also had to enjoy the company of a hungry and scaverous hyena who ate the zebra and killed the orangutan surrenders. He continues to live his life. Finally, he gets a break when Richard Parker kills the cruel hyena. “Richard Parker's jaws closed on the side of the hyena's neck [...].” safety of the territory and of society, Miss Brill is trying to stay at the distance she is at.