A common theme in the novel “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” is control. In the novel, Miss Jean Brodie is an educator at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls. The school is very traditional and Miss Brodie teaches against those values, even being named a progressive spinster by other members of the staff. Miss Brodie oversees a specific group of girls named the Brodie set. In “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”, Spark depicts the control and negative influence Miss Brodie has on the group of girls such as Mary McGregor’s academics, Rose’s potential love affair with Mr. Lloyd and Emily Joyce’s death..
A specific scene in which Miss Brodie has a negative influence on the girls academically is when Brodie set member, Mary McGregor, talks to Headmistress Mackay about signing up for the Classical side, when she does not have the grades. Headmistress Mackay states “Why do you want so much to go on the Classical side, Mary? You aren’t cut out for it. Don’t your parents realize that?” she replied “Miss Brodie prefers it” (Spark 67). The use of the phrase “Miss Brodie prefers it” suggests that the only reason Mary wants to be on the classical side is to please Miss Brodie. Headmistress Mackay even tries to tell her that you will not be successful in the classical side, but Mary pushes for it anyway because she knows that’s what Miss Brodie wants. She lets her own self-interest be dismissed and allows Miss Brodie to control her. Miss Brodie as an educator is aware that Mary is not
Flowers mostly look pretty that doesn’t cause harm.They mostly are a symbol represent love. But some of them when you stand closer and sniff, you probably will die.For example like the Mountain Laurel, Veratrum, and Ragwort.They are bad for people but people still like how the way of it looks and don’t care about anything else.Through To Kill A Mockingbird it displays how part of the people have hope but most of them don't with the connection of blacks are treated badly and people are uneducated by the town of Macomb in the early 1930s.In another way to said, most of the people in the town are waiting to the pathway to heaven. To kill a mockingbird should teach at school because it teaches important moral lessons such as seeing the good even in the bad, the importance of treating everyone equally and the
During the 1900s, men were more dominant than the women and in Zora Neale Hurston's book: Their Eyes Were Watching God she shows the role of men being dominate over the role of women. During this time period the men were in control and had more freedom of rights than the women did. This book expresses through the main character Jaine by showing her struggles in life. This book talks about how she was viewed as less for being a women. Today, we still see problems with gender dominance but it’s not anywhere near as bad as it was during the 1900’s.
She will cherish what she has learned from Miss Hancock forever. Finally, Miss Hancock’s personality makes her a good role model because she is compassionate as “ she could analyze without destroying a piece of literature,” (217) friendly as ‘[she][smiles] tensely, frilled eyes shining.” (218) and cheerful as ‘she announced, clapping her dimpled hands together, her charm bracelet jingling.”(228) If Charlotte gets influenced by Miss Hancock her future will be stress-free She would be passionate about what she is doing and she would live her life positively with a
In the beginning epigraph of To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee quotes a statement made by Charles Lamb: "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once." As told through the eyes of the rambunctious elementary school child, Scout Finch, we see not only how she and her brother's lives are affected by their community, also how they develop and mature under the watch of their father, lawyer Atticus Finch. As a wise role model to his town of Maycomb as well as his children, Atticus Finch becomes a prominently admirable character. As a father, lawyer, friend, and foe, Atticus Finch proves himself to be an honest, selfless, and courageous human being. Throughout many of the
Eliza Wharton’s yearning for freedom is a fundamental underlying theme to Foster’s novel, “The Coquette”. Eliza views freedom as the ability to partake in the pleasures and joys of youth without the restrictions and obligations that come with a commitment to marriage. Furthermore, freedom is the choice to
Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.
How does one define family? Throughout our readings, we find ourselves learning the ideas of theorist, concepts, and definitions to help us define and describe what family is. The family could possibly be what or who we say they are, or in simpler Bozett’s term, who the patient says it is! (Plumer, 2010). A family could consist possibly of values, roles, communication, environment, and relationships. Families may transition through all of these principles that either unites them or tears them apart. For instance, the movie Mrs. Doubtfire portrays these perceptions of what family is when family processes are shifted within a household. We will now discuss in more detail of the family assessment found throughout the movie starring the Hillards.
Jane deliberately disobeyed her husband and sought out her wants. Disregarding what others had to say about her strange behavior; Jane proceeded to do what she wanted; to write. Nevertheless, Jane was slightly still submissive towards her husband due to the fact that she hid her journals to prevent displeasing John. Her tiny action that went against John’s morals that was bestowed upon her was the mark of Jane’s awakening. Jane’s awakening had caused a ripple effect on other women; they all began to draw out their inner beings. The conservatives in America could do nothing, but to sit back and watch the changes unfold right in front of them. There was no way out of this change; sooner or later those that degraded the rebellious females would realize that women can and will be much more than those wimpy little wives they were always told to be.
One’s childhood innocence is never lost, it simply plants the seed for the flower of maturity to bloom. It seems that almost every adult chooses to either forget or ignore this childhood vulnerability. But ironically, it was this quality that pushed them into adulthood in the first place. At the peak of their childhood, their post climactic innocence allows room for the foundation of maturity to begin to grow. In the sleepy southern town of Maycomb this is exactly what happens to eight years old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. In To Kill a Mockingbird the character Scout is forced to surround herself with a very adult situation, when a trial comes to the small town of Maycomb. The trial raises the question that shakes the entire town up, what
Another example of how Miss Brodie gives her student the wrong impression was her repetitive attacks on Miss MacKay. It was obvious the two teachers did not like one another, which is bound to happen in any profession. However, advertising this dislike to her classroom only leads to problems. The first time that this occurs is when Miss Brodie was leading here class out to the elm tree for the ‘imaginary’ history lesson. On the way outside she stops her class in front of Miss MacKay’s office, points to a picture of the old Prime
Her influence in Jane's adolescence and early adulthood teach her to have harmonious thoughts, and to give "allegiance to duty and order" (Gilbert 347). Here, Miss Temple teaches Jane to suppress her wild emotions and become compliant under the "superior" male, but still maintain an inward anger that can never be expressed. Jane, however, cannot conform to the lesson being taught to her; through Miss Temple, she learns that her journey into maturity and freedom requires her to be more independent and passionate than Miss Temple instructs. Miss Temple is not only like a mother figure to Jane, but she is also "encouraging of intellectual growth" (Rich 466). Temple's impact on Jane's education allows her to become stronger in character, which will eventually bring her to complete independence. Kathleen Tillotson finds in Miss Temple a sign of hope for Jane: "the warm fire and the cake from the cupboard in Miss Temple's room are assertions of individual loving-kindness, though also of it's limited power" (Tillotson 60) In spite of this, Tillotson writes that Jane at Thornfield is "submitting to virtue in lovable form, as she had once submitted to Miss Temple" (Tillotson 60). In other words, Tillotson argues that although Miss Temple may have positively influenced Jane in certain ways, ultimately her call for repression and submission instigates Jane's realization that she must discover her own place in life,
One artistic aspect of the book is that Stockett chose to tell the story from three different women’s perspectives. Using this stylistic technique helps keep the reader more engaged in the book. Each woman, whether it be Aibileen, Minny, or Skeeter, uses a
'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie unfolds several dimensions of the female role. Set in Edinburgh in the 1930s, we are presented with a protagonist whom is a striking female role model in her domineering, manipulating and sexual powers, powers which we see her use to obtain her desired plans for her 'Brodie set,' the 'creme de la creme.' We see Miss Brodie play a God like figure in the novel, leading, teaching and imposing her opinions on them in hopes they will become like her. She strongly echoes Mussolini the Italian fascist, and we also see several contridictions in her character in terms of believing education is 'to lead out' but actually carrying out actions to draw them in and never let them go. This literature subverts conventional
The novel highlights the significance of class consciousness and how one particular class can become subjective to the hands of the dogmatic elites. The derogative attitudes regarding social class first occurs when Jane suffers horrible treatment from John Reed. He violently torments Jane and constantly reminds her that she is an orphan and a dependent of the Reed family, forcing into her mind that to be without a class is to be without worth. He imposes fear into Jane and reminding her that he is the superior being.
Harper Lee uses her novel to teach us important lessons from the characters presented in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus, a fair and moral character, whose parenting style is unique, lined with honest and example, teaches us to follow his ways. Scout, an innocent girl who teaches us what’s important in life. Tom Robinson, someone who is ostracized for being African American, can teach us the importance of equal treatment and awakens us to our surrounding society. Lee’s construction of characters gives us perspective to issues in our society today, how they still matter and what we can learn from the novel such as compassion, justice and understanding.