Eng426 20th century english literature

Themes and Techniques in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Love: Miss Jean Brodie decides to forgo her love life so that she could be committed to bringing up her girls to become the crème de la crème in the society. While she was still the girls’ teacher, Miss Jean Brodie becomes emotionally involved with two teachers
namely: Mr Lowther, the music teacher and Mr Lloyd, the arts teacher. It is obvious that she is truly in love with Mr Lloyd but she goes ahead in a relationship with Mr. Lowther. She also recounts her experiences with her old lover. The theme of love recurs in the novel.
Loyalty and Betrayal: Though Miss Mackay the headmistress tries her best to get information from the girls so that she could get rid of Jean Brodie from the school, the girls refuse to betray Miss Brodie. They remain loyal to her even after their promotion to upper class. At some point, Jean Brodie decides to test the girls’ loyalty and concludes that Sandy Stranger is the most loyal of the girls. However, the supposedly most loyal Sandy betrays her though Jean Brodie is unaware of this. Sandy does not think that she owes Miss Brodie any loyalty.
Obsession with Control: Miss Jean Brodie is determined to have a set of young girls that would become members of the upper class in the society. Her obsession for control robs the girls of their individuality and uniqueness as they all begin to look and behave like her. In an attempt to maintain her hold on the girls’ lives, she assigns roles and future professions to each of them. She does not think that she should allow them to choose for themselves but thrusts her opinion about life on them.
Education: As a teacher, Miss Jean Brodie knows how important education is to young minds and its effect on what they eventually grow up to become. Her decision to jettison the formal curriculum for an informal one creates a gulf in their education. Once they move to a higher class, they are unable to meet up academically because of the imbalance. Teaching them from personal experiences and history gives the girls a restricted form of education which deprives them of the benefits of mainstream formal education. Miss Brodie’s personality becomes the major factor in the shape that their lives take in future as we see in the examples of Mary Macgregor and Sandy Stranger.