Book Club: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Title: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Author: Muriel Spark
Year of publication: 1961
Genre: Literary Fiction; Bildungsroman
Setting:
A teacher at a girl's school in Edinburgh during the 1930s comes into conflict with school authorities because of her unorthodox teaching methods.
Historical Context:
The novel is set in the years leading to WWII, when Mussolini's was Italy's Prime Minister. Throughout the novel, Miss Brodie makes several comments and allusions to the greatness of Italy under Mussolini's government. Muriel Spark based Miss Brodie's character on one of her own teachers, Christina Kay. Like Miss Brodie, Miss Kay also used to display posters of Renaissance art and marching Mussolini's fascisti.
Characters:
- Jean Brodie
- The Brodie set
- Monica Douglas
- Rose Stanley
- Eunice Gardiner
- Sandy Stranger
- Mary Macgregor
- Jenny Gray
- Joyce Emily Hammond
- Teddy Lloyd
- Gordon Lowther
- Miss Mackay
- Elison Kerr
- Ellen Kerr
- Mrs. Gaunt
- Miss Lockhart
Character Map:
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| Adapted from CourseHero |
Plot Diagram:
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| Adapted from CourseHero |
Themes/Symbolism:
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| Data from LitCharts |
Paintings (portraits, more specifically) are used as a symbolism of the platonic love between Miss Brodie and Mr. Lloyd.
A notebook kept by Sandy, Jenny, and Rose, where they fantasize about Miss Brodie's life, symbolizes the portion of the girls' lives Miss Brodie is not aware of, and therefore cannot rule.
First Words:
The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment, the boys were likely to be away.
Last Words:
Sandy said: "There was a Miss Jean Brodie in her prime."
Popularity:
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| Data from LibraryThing |
Awards/Honors:
Memorable Quotes:
Author's Biography:
Literary Links:
There is a connection between The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jean Brodie claims to descend from Willi Brodie (Deacon William Brodie), an actual cabinet maker and Edinburgh town official who was also notorious for being a burglar. This same individual had served as Robert Louis Stevenson's inspiration for his famous Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde character.
Marcia Blaine School for Girls, the school at which Miss Brodie worked and formed her Brodie set is also featured in Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar by Olga Wojitas. The main character of Wojita's novel is a former pupil of Marcia Blaine School for Girls and a time-traveling librarian who dislikes The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Beyond the lines
Adaptations:
🎠The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: A Drama in Three Acts by Jay Presson Allen
🎥 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) Dir.: Ronald Neame
📺 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1978) by Geraldine McEwan
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie has been adapted to theater, film, and television. The film from 1969 starred Dame Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Jean Brodie. The original motion picture soundtrack by Rod McKuen was also remarkable: the song "Jean" was nominated for an Oscar in the best original song category.
Book vs. Book:
We have decided to pair our book club selection with The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky for a Book vs. Book. Both books portrait two schoolmistresses that are far from desirable role models despite appearances to the contrary. You can cast a vote for your favorite here or in our Instagram stories (@twobookramblers).
Tasty Titles:
At one point in the story, Miss Brodie assigns herself the task of preparing Gordon Lowther's with the intention of fattening him up. With this objective and using Mr. Lowther as a replacement for the affections she would rather bestow on Teddy Lloyd, Miss Brodie force-feeds Chester cakes to Mr. Lowther on more than one occasion. Nico and Amy's Literary Kitchen has come up with a recipe for Chester cakes which can be a perfect pairing for an afternoon tea and a reading of the book.
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| Recipe from Nico and Amy's Literary Kitchen |
Six Word Review:
Schoolmistress primes a set of six
Rambling Words:
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| Photos by Lee Chalmers on Unsplash and Connor Mollison on Unsplash |
Several locations in Edinburgh are either portrayed in the novel or inspired locales featured in the novel and the motion picture. Fans of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, on a walk around Edinburgh will be delighted to visit:
- Muriel Spark Walk (located on Brunsfield, the neighborhood in which Muriel Spark grew up)
- James Gillespie's High School (located also in Bruntsfield, this institution was the inspiration for the book's Marcia Blaine's School for Girls. Muriel Spark was a student here where she met Christina Kay, the teacher who inspired Miss Brodie's character. In the film from 1969, it is Edinburgh Academy; however, the place that stood for Marcia Blaine's school.)
- The Vennel (also known as Miss Jean Brodie steps after being featured in the film from 1969)
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| Map of Edinburgh with the Vennel, Muriel Spark Walk, and James Gillespie's High School circled in red. |
Bookstore on Location:
You might find appealing to buy The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in any of the many bookshops located in Edinburgh. We propose you browse through the selections at The Edinburgh Bookshop (located in Bruntsield), or two quirky bookshops near The Vennel: Edinburgh Books and Armchair Books.
Bibliotherapy:
The Cover Story:
There have been several English editions since the publication of the book in 1961. The most recent English edition from 2020 is a very special one. Published by Barrington Stoke is dyslexia-friendly, featuring a specially designed font, increased spacing and tinted paper. The book has also been translated to several languages, the most recent non-English edition being in Hebrew in 2022.
Book Candy:
Our Review:
Discussion Questions:
(Questions by LitLovers. Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Spark) - LitLovers)
1. What is Miss Brodie's "prime"? What does she mean by the term and why is it so significant—she announces it to her class and refers to it time and again? It also brought up in the last line of the book.
2. Do we ever learn why she selects the particular girls she does as her Brodie girls? Talk about the girls, their relationships with one another, and their relationship with the school. Are they individuals...or conformists?
3. What is Miss Brodie's purpose in creating the Brodie set? Is it purely educational...or something else? What does she want for (or from) them? In what ways, if at all, does the Brodie set change over the years? Do the girls alter their feelings for Miss Brodie by the time their schooling ends?
4. What do you think of Miss MacKay, the headmistress, who continually attempts to undermine Miss Brodie? At the end, she says to Sandy, "I'm afraid she put ideas into your young heads." Why has that bothered her for so many years? Is that not precisely what education is about, at least Miss MacKay's own philosophy of teaching? Is Miss MacKay a watchful headmistress doing her job? Or is she inhibiting a vibrant, creative teacher?
5. Speaking of the philosophy of education: according to Miss Brodie, she and Miss MacKay differ on the correct method of education. Discuss the following passage and decide whom you agree with:
To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul. To Miss MacKay it is a putting in of something that is not there.... I call that intrusion.... Miss Mackay's method is to thrust a lot of information into the pupil's head; mine is a leading out of knowledge, and that is true education as is proved by the root meaning [of the word].
6. We know Miss Brodie only through the eyes of the girls, primarily Sandy. How does their perception of her change by the time they are 17 years of age...and also when they are even older?
7. Muriel Spark wrote with a great deal of wit, and her humor is particularly evident in this novel because we view the adult world through the eyes of innocents. What are some of the sections you find particularly funny?
8. Is Miss Brodie a good person? Is she a good teacher? Try, in fact, to explain the enigma that is Miss Jean Brodie? What, for instance, is her background—do we ever find out?
9. What about Teddy Lloyd and Gordon Lowther, Miss Brodie's two love interests? What does she want with them? She refuses Lowther's entreaties to marry her—why? And more mysteriously, she encourages Rose to have an affair with Lloyd—why, again?
10. When she is finally betrayed, was the one who did so right or wrong? What prompted the girl tell Miss MacKay what she told her? Was it a betrayal?
11. In the final analysis, how do you come to think of Miss Brodie? Is she a noble figure? A tragic one? A visionary? Is she silly? Is she dangerous or well-meaning? What impact did she have on her girls, lasting or short-term?