The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Pages 1-50

This book The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark begins with boys on bikes that are talking to school girls which they distinguish by the way they wear their hats. These girls are called the Brodie set which was a group formed when they were in Miss Brodie elementary class. This school, taking place in the 1930s whose teacher Miss Brodie is known for her unconventional teaching ways. She taught her student about rennisance painters and foreign words such as “menarche”. Since many of these students of Miss Brodie are considered outcasts, they themselves have a unique bond they share with themselves and their former teacher, which many consider suspicious. Members in the group are ostracized as well as are given names that explain them in a general matter.

            Miss Brodie invites the sets to dinner to tell them all about a new plot to cause her to resign. The students, unlike many have her interest at heart while many others feel as though she should teach at a different more modern school. She disagrees and insists in staying at the school because she is the only one that can make a difference. She is said to be only removed  my assassination.

            Afterward, Miss Brodie tells the students about the information that one of the students in the set Mary Macgregor who they call “ the nobody that everybody can blame”. After the start of World War II, Mary joins the Wrens. She continues to be blamed, and is even left by her new boyfriend. Miss Jean Brodie who is in her prime is looked upon as a crucial member in their society.  The people in the book look to things such as sexual intercourse as a weird thing, which cannot be talked about, further demonstrating that the time period has a great effect on the way characters act in the book.

 Quote:

“ They had no team spirit and very little in common with each other outside their continuing friendship with Jean Brodie” (Spark 2).

Reaction:

Miss Jean Brodie is a very large impact on the lives of these students. She taught them things about the world that no one else would teach them. Other teachers in the school did not appreciate the close bond she had with her students and they felt as though they should make Miss Brodie resign. By Miss Brodie leaving, it would leave all these children in the dark. She is the one that brings all these diverse individuals together.