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Rachel Oldfield 4-28-06
Modern British Literature
Molding Young Minds - For Better or for Worse
In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks, the unconventional teacher Miss Jean Brodie claims to devote the prime of her life to her young female students, especially the five girls who constitute the “Brodie set” and with whom she develops personal and lasting relationships. From the time Monica Douglas, Rose Stanley, Eunice Gardiner, Sandy Stranger, and Mary McGregor are ten years old at the traditional Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland, Miss Brodie not only educates them but takes them on outings and involves them in her personal life. The young girls of the Brodie set are taken with Miss Brodie, speculating upon her love life and accompanying her to weekends with the singing teacher, Mr. Lowther. Though the girls move on to the Senior school, Miss Brodie remains an active part of their lives as she reinforces the idea that they are her “crème de la crème” and that she is devoting the prime of her life to them. While Miss Brodie thinks that she is devoting the best years of her life entirely to her students, her method of teaching and the futures of her students suggest that her actions do not necessarily have positive impacts on her students. While Miss Brodie does do some good for her students, at the same time her harmful influence is uningnorably large in Sandy and the schooling of the other girls.
Miss Brodie’s influence is a complex one and she undeniably has some positive effects on her students. The main advantage of Miss Brodie to the girls is that she boosts the self-confidence of the Brodie set by telling them that they are the best and she makes their lives interesting outside of school as well. Having “Miss Brodie’s special girls…taken home to tea and bidden not to tell the others” (25) is a sure way to boost the self-esteem of the young girls, something important for their development into young women. Miss Brodie has tea with the girls, takes them in for a special trip into Edinburgh, and takes them for lovely weekends at Crammond when she is involved with Mr. Lowther. Even when the Brodie set is in Senior school, “everyone thought [they] had more fun than anyone else…and indeed it was so” (119). Miss Brodie’s singling out provides more individual attention to the girls so that Eunice who is “so quiet at first…eventually…cut capers for the relief and amusement of the tea-parties…then began to chatter” (25). She provides a certain comraderie and bond between these girls and herself that probably would not have existed otherwise. Looking back on these school days from when the girls are adults, it seems in large part that if anything, Miss Brodie did indeed have a positive impact. Rose “shook off Miss Brodie’s influence as a dog shakes pond water from its coat” (127) and it even “occurred to [Mary]…that the first years with Miss Brodie, sitting listening to all those stories and opinions which had nothing to do with the ordinary world, had been the happiest time of her life” (14).
Yet despite this apparent lack of harm, Miss Brodie has a visibly large influence on her girls that becomes harmful. Like with the social loner Joyce Emily who Miss Brodie “finds the time to take…up…and [take] to tea…on her own” (126) but who leaves to fight in the Spanish-American war and gets killed as a result of hearing Miss Brodie’s preach her fascist ideals, there is an element of dangerous and unpredictable power to Miss Brodie’s influence. Her teaching style is unorthodox and her pupils are “vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorized curriculum” (1) but this is not necessarily the issue. Though stating that Giotto is the best Italian artist because he is Miss Brodie’s favorite is not a generally accepted thing to do, this did not cause any acute harm as we see with Mary McGregor. It is more the scarily large influence Miss Brodie wields over the lives in general that is harmful. Off-topic education is one matter, but when the Brodie set’s friendship with their teacher has reached the point that “it [has] worked itself into their bones, so that they could not break away without…splitting their bones to do so” (123), it seems more damage is being done than good. Miss Brodie openly says that she has the ability to “mold” young minds which she definitely takes advantage of while the girls are still young and formulating their own identities. It is natural for the girls to form some attachment with their teacher, but Miss Brodie carries it to the extreme. Just because Miss Brodie does not approve, “Brownies and Guides were ruled out” (31); “it was necessary to put the idea aside, because [Sandy] loved Miss Brodie” (31).Then at the Senior School, the Brodie set is “not allowed to care” about team spirit according to Miss Brodie’s ideology. This influence is harmful because it gets to the point where Sandy “perceived herself, the absent Jenny, the ever-blamed Mary, Rose, Eunice and Monica…in unified compliance to the destiny of Miss Brodie, as if God had willed them to birth for that purpose” (31); the fact that Sandy sees her function and the function of the Brodie set as to serve Miss Brodie is remarkably scary. Miss Brodie’s domineering influence limits the girls’ decision making and exploration associated with growth, an important process in their development towards becoming adults.
If nowhere else, Miss Brodie’s destructive effects are extremely apparent in the troubled mind of Sandy and in her adult life. While when she is young there are moments when “Sandy felt warmly towards Miss Brodie” (118) when she is sixteen she vocalizes her opinion that Miss Brodie has been so hurtful that Sandy is “’not really interested in world affairs…only in putting a stop to Miss Brodie’”(134). We see how much influence Miss Brodie has had on Sandy in looking at her adult life. After perhaps being scarred by her brief relationship with the much older Teddy Lloyd, Sandy becomes a nun who desperately “[clutches] the bars of the grille as [is] her way” (33). Though Rose was somehow able to discard Miss Brodie’s effects, Sandy, who we find “fuming…with Christian morals” (134) is deeply shaken at how much automony Miss Brodie maintains and how she “elected herself to grace” (115) as if she was faultless. Though when she is young Sandy sees Miss Brodie as a nice teacher, as she gets older she starts to separate herself from Miss Brodie because she sees how much the teacher deliberately directed the girls to best serve Miss Brodie’s needs. Sandy realizes that “this was not all theory and a kind of Brodie game…Miss Brodie meant it…there was nothing new in the idea, it was the reality that was new”(128). Her increasing age allows her to view the situation from a slightly different perspective and to see just how conniving Miss Brodie is with the girls. In her comment of “’we’d look like one big Miss Brodie, I suppose’” (189), Sandy shows that she feels Miss Brodie has used Sandy and the other girls for her own personal means. In saying to Miss Brodie “’if you did not betray us it is impossible that you could have been betrayed by us’” (136) Sandy reveals that Miss Brodie has deeply hurt her - has betrayed her. Though parts of the other girls that make up the crème de la crème show no injuries, growing up with Miss Brodie clearly hurt Sandy for life.
Rachel Oldfield 4-28-06
Modern British Literature
Molding Young Minds - For Better or for Worse
In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks, the unconventional teacher Miss Jean Brodie claims to devote the prime of her life to her young female students, especially the five girls who constitute the “Brodie set” and with whom she develops personal and lasting relationships. From the time Monica Douglas, Rose Stanley, Eunice Gardiner, Sandy Stranger, and Mary McGregor are ten years old at the traditional Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, Scotland, Miss Brodie not only educates them but takes them on outings and involves them in her personal life. The young girls of the Brodie set are taken with Miss Brodie, speculating upon her love life and accompanying her to weekends with the singing teacher, Mr. Lowther. Though the girls move on to the Senior school, Miss Brodie remains an active part of their lives as she reinforces the idea that they are her “crème de la crème” and that she is devoting the prime of her life to them. While Miss Brodie thinks that she is devoting the best years of her life entirely to her students, her method of teaching and the futures of her students suggest that her actions do not necessarily have positive impacts on her students. While Miss Brodie does do some good for her students, at the same time her harmful influence is uningnorably large in Sandy and the schooling of the other girls.
Miss Brodie’s influence is a complex one and she undeniably has some positive effects on her students. The main advantage of Miss Brodie to the girls is that she boosts the self-confidence of the Brodie set by telling them that they are the best and she makes their lives interesting outside of school as well. Having “Miss Brodie’s special girls…taken home to tea and bidden not to tell the others” (25) is a sure way to boost the self-esteem of the young girls, something important for their development into young women. Miss Brodie has tea with the girls, takes them in for a special trip into Edinburgh, and takes them for lovely weekends at Crammond when she is involved with Mr. Lowther. Even when the Brodie set is in Senior school, “everyone thought [they] had more fun than anyone else…and indeed it was so” (119). Miss Brodie’s singling out provides more individual attention to the girls so that Eunice who is “so quiet at first…eventually…cut capers for the relief and amusement of the tea-parties…then began to chatter” (25). She provides a certain comraderie and bond between these girls and herself that probably would not have existed otherwise. Looking back on these school days from when the girls are adults, it seems in large part that if anything, Miss Brodie did indeed have a positive impact. Rose “shook off Miss Brodie’s influence as a dog shakes pond water from its coat” (127) and it even “occurred to [Mary]…that the first years with Miss Brodie, sitting listening to all those stories and opinions which had nothing to do with the ordinary world, had been the happiest time of her life” (14).
Yet despite this apparent lack of harm, Miss Brodie has a visibly large influence on her girls that becomes harmful. Like with the social loner Joyce Emily who Miss Brodie “finds the time to take…up…and [take] to tea…on her own” (126) but who leaves to fight in the Spanish-American war and gets killed as a result of hearing Miss Brodie’s preach her fascist ideals, there is an element of dangerous and unpredictable power to Miss Brodie’s influence. Her teaching style is unorthodox and her pupils are “vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorized curriculum” (1) but this is not necessarily the issue. Though stating that Giotto is the best Italian artist because he is Miss Brodie’s favorite is not a generally accepted thing to do, this did not cause any acute harm as we see with Mary McGregor. It is more the scarily large influence Miss Brodie wields over the lives in general that is harmful. Off-topic education is one matter, but when the Brodie set’s friendship with their teacher has reached the point that “it [has] worked itself into their bones, so that they could not break away without…splitting their bones to do so” (123), it seems more damage is being done than good. Miss Brodie openly says that she has the ability to “mold” young minds which she definitely takes advantage of while the girls are still young and formulating their own identities. It is natural for the girls to form some attachment with their teacher, but Miss Brodie carries it to the extreme. Just because Miss Brodie does not approve, “Brownies and Guides were ruled out” (31); “it was necessary to put the idea aside, because [Sandy] loved Miss Brodie” (31).Then at the Senior School, the Brodie set is “not allowed to care” about team spirit according to Miss Brodie’s ideology. This influence is harmful because it gets to the point where Sandy “perceived herself, the absent Jenny, the ever-blamed Mary, Rose, Eunice and Monica…in unified compliance to the destiny of Miss Brodie, as if God had willed them to birth for that purpose” (31); the fact that Sandy sees her function and the function of the Brodie set as to serve Miss Brodie is remarkably scary. Miss Brodie’s domineering influence limits the girls’ decision making and exploration associated with growth, an important process in their development towards becoming adults.
If nowhere else, Miss Brodie’s destructive effects are extremely apparent in the troubled mind of Sandy and in her adult life. While when she is young there are moments when “Sandy felt warmly towards Miss Brodie” (118) when she is sixteen she vocalizes her opinion that Miss Brodie has been so hurtful that Sandy is “’not really interested in world affairs…only in putting a stop to Miss Brodie’”(134). We see how much influence Miss Brodie has had on Sandy in looking at her adult life. After perhaps being scarred by her brief relationship with the much older Teddy Lloyd, Sandy becomes a nun who desperately “[clutches] the bars of the grille as [is] her way” (33). Though Rose was somehow able to discard Miss Brodie’s effects, Sandy, who we find “fuming…with Christian morals” (134) is deeply shaken at how much automony Miss Brodie maintains and how she “elected herself to grace” (115) as if she was faultless. Though when she is young Sandy sees Miss Brodie as a nice teacher, as she gets older she starts to separate herself from Miss Brodie because she sees how much the teacher deliberately directed the girls to best serve Miss Brodie’s needs. Sandy realizes that “this was not all theory and a kind of Brodie game…Miss Brodie meant it…there was nothing new in the idea, it was the reality that was new”(128). Her increasing age allows her to view the situation from a slightly different perspective and to see just how conniving Miss Brodie is with the girls. In her comment of “’we’d look like one big Miss Brodie, I suppose’” (189), Sandy shows that she feels Miss Brodie has used Sandy and the other girls for her own personal means. In saying to Miss Brodie “’if you did not betray us it is impossible that you could have been betrayed by us’” (136) Sandy reveals that Miss Brodie has deeply hurt her - has betrayed her. Though parts of the other girls that make up the crème de la crème show no injuries, growing up with Miss Brodie clearly hurt Sandy for life.