The+Prime+of+Miss+Jean+Brodie

=Title of the Work:=


__The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie__ =Author:= Muriel Spark =Nationality/Ethnic Background:= Scottish from Edinburgh = = =Genre and Sub-genres:= Contemporary Scottish literature =Pertinent Biographical Information:= The Character of Jean Brodie was modeled after a teacher that Muriel Spark had in school, named Ms. Christina Kay, but the name was taken after a real Jean Brodie. =Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background:= Set and influenced by Pesbyterian Edinbergh, Scotland. =Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts= = = Sandy Stranger - main girl in the "Brodie Set"; best friends with Jenny Gray; Miss Brodie's closest confidant, but ended up "betraying" her; famous for her vowel sounds and had a great imagination Rose Stanley- famous for her sex; Miss Brodie claims she has "instinct" Mary MacGregor- famous for her stupidity; died in a hotel fire Eunice Gardiner - famous for her spritely gymnastics and glamorous swimming Monica Douglas - famous for doing math in her head and her temper Jenny Gray - famous for her excellent singing and apiration to be an actress; best friend of Sandy Jean Brodie- taught the "Brodie Set" when they were ten years old; believed in teaching outside of the cirriculum, thrusting her own opinions and beliefs on the girls; her influence on the girls was a large one, her rule over the girls being compared to a fascisti; didn't get along with the other staff; considered her favorite girls to be on their way to being "the creme de la creme"; considered herself to be living in her prime; "progressive spinster"; betrayed by one of her girls (Sandy), though she never knew who; missed her chance at the love of her life (Mr. Lloyd) Miss Mackay - headmistress of the senior school; enemy of Miss Brodie and had been looking for ways to get her fired for years =Brief Plot Summary= In Edinburgh, six ten-year-old girls are assigned Miss Jean Brodie as their teacher. The girls were Sandy, Rose, Mary, Jenny, Monica, and Eunice. Miss Brodie's teaching style was heavily based on the actual latin translation of the word "education", with the word "educere" which means to lead out. Brodie sticks to teaching the girls in the disciplines of art and history, as well as enlightening them with her travel stories, rather than the normal subjects of mathematics and science. As the reader follows the group of girls, called "the Brodie set", it becomes obvious that the girls have begun to stand out to other students and administrators alike. The reader learns that one of the girls in this infamous set will "betray" Miss Brodie's trust to a higher administrator, and while Miss Brodie never learns which girl it is before her death, the reader becomes aware that it was her teachers pet, Sandy Stranger. Throughout the novel, not only is there flash forwards into the lives of the Brodie set, but there is also detail into the life of Jean Brodie herself. The main focus on Miss Brodie's life is her love life. In the school while the girls are in Miss Brodie's class, Jean Brodie becomes entangled in a love triangle with the schools music teacher, Mr. Lowther, and the schools art teacher, Mr. Lloyd. While truly loving the married Mr. Lloyd, Brodie begins a relationship with Mr. Lowther. While being loyal to Miss Brodie, the girls were growing older and had to be promoted to the upper school. The headmistress of the upper school, Miss Mackay, has it out for Jean Brodie, trying to drain the girls of information that could possibly be used to get Jean Brodie fired from the junior school. Miss Brodie ultimately decides to test the brodie set before their sixteenth birthdays to make sure that Brodie can trust them. Ironically, Brodie ends up choosing Sandy as the girl she can trust the most of the set. In the girls last year of school, at the age of seventeen, the brodie set splits apart. Mary quits school to become a typist, and Jenny quits school to be an actress. Rose gets married, Eunice becomes a nurse and Monica becomes a scientist. Ultimately, Sandy ends up joining a catholic convent as a nun.

=Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance= Psychological Control - Miss Brodie has a psychological control over her girls, leaving each of the girls whom Miss Brodie has been controlling to be a small peice of Miss Brodie herself, and defined by that peice. This relates to the theme that psychological control over a person's life takes away the life they have, and instead leaves them to live a life of their controller. Reputation - The first chapter of the book is devoted to the introduction of each of the girls in the Brodie Set and each of their reputations. Each girl has ever managed to move past their reputation, even if it is wrong as in Rose's case, who is not actually having sex even though she is famous for it. The theme presented here is that reputations can hold you back. Education - cirriculum learning versus cultural learning. Miss Brodie strayed from the teaching in the cirriculum and instead taught about politics and current events. The girls struggled to keep up once they were in the Upper School. This theme that there needs to be balance in education between classical cirriculum learning and cultural learning. This theme was the most prominent in the book Opinion - Miss Brodie was in the opinion that she was in her prime. She put her opinions about the world onto the girls, and the girls devoloped opinions about Miss Brodie. The other teachers in the school held opinions about Miss Brodie, and her about them. The thematic significance is that everyone has an opinion, but no one's in necessarily more right than another. Metaphor of Miss Mackay as a Predator - This metaphor of Miss Mackay as a predator deplays her conflict with Miss Brodie, her prey. This again relates to the theme that their two differing attitudes toward education don't mix. =Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)= "Never let it be said that I put ideas into your heads" - Miss Jean Brodie's statement here is ironic because she often thrust her opinions and beliefs on the girls throughout the book on how they should act, and what is important in life. "To me education is leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul" - The is Miss Jean Brodie's opinion of education, one of the two presented in the book. The book explores what Miss Brodie's girls learn in class that is different from what they gain in the other type of education, curriculum learning. "...A different Jean Brodie under the forms of Rose, Sandy, Jenny, Mary, Monica, and Eunice" - This again related to the effects of psychological control over a person. The girls are now no longer themselves, but a part of another person. "It was impossible for them to escape from the Brodie Set because they were the Brodie Set in the eyes of the school...they were not allowed to car. Their disregard had now become an institution...without this reputation, the six girls would have gone each her own way by the time she was in the fourth form and had reached the age of sixteen." - The relates the thematic element that once under someone's control or will, escape is impossible. Miss Brodie's Betrayal - "It is only possible to betray where loyalty is due." - This quotation questions whether turning Miss Brodie in can be considered a betrayal. Sandy thinks is can't be considered a betrayal because she didn't owe Miss Brodie all her loyalty. She recognizes the overpowering influence Miss Brodie had on her a a young age and the need to rescue girls from it now. She doesn't think the word betrayed applies. she is saving firls from conformity and instead giving them a chance to grow up as real individuals, forming their own opinions about the world. =Major Themes= The themes in __The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie__ relate to individualism and education. At a young age, the girls in the story are placed in an educational situation where their individualism is taken away from them. They become under someone else's control and don't get the cirriculum teachings they need to succeed. Psychological control over another person replaces who they are, with the person their controller is. In education, cirriculum learning may seem boring, but it is that kind of learning, with facts and no opinions, that is needed to succeed in life. Putting opinions in education ruins the purpose of it, not letting students come to their own conclusions about the world.