5.+THE+PRIME+OF+MISS+JEAN+BRODIE




 * CHAPTER 1**


 * The novella begins by clearly setting the "Brodie Set" apart from normal students at the school. They do not learn the standard school curriculum, but learn many interesting things, both trivial and transcendental, that make them different. They stand [[image:http://www.shushans.com/hats/p123.jpg width="245" height="178" align="right"]]apart. Whether this is true individuality or simply an identification with a smaller group than the full school is still a question. The school itself is a conservative, orthodox school that aims at the raising of "proper" young women. While this is set in the 1920s/1930s, the same debates between traditional and progressive [constructivist] education existed. Miss Brodie is clearly an acolyte for progressive notions of education.**
 * pg. 1-2. "The five girls, standing very close to each other because of the boys, wore their hats each with a definite difference. These girls formed the Brodie set. That was what they had been called even before the headmistress had given them the name, in scorn, when they had moved from the Junior to the Senior school at the age of twelve. At that time they had been immediately recognisable as Miss Brodie's pupils, being vastly informed on a lot of subjects irrelevant to the authorised curriculum, as the headmistress said, and useless to the school as as school. These girls were discovered to have heard of the Buchmanites and Mussolini, the Italian Renaissance painters, the advantages to the skin of cleansing cream and witch-hazel over honest soap and water, and the word 'menarche'; the interior decoration of the London house of the author of //Winnie the Pooh// had been described to them, as had the love lives of Charlotte Bronte and of Miss Brodie herself. They were aware of the existence of Einstein and the arguments of those who considered the Bible to be untrue. They knew the rudiments of astrology but not the date of the Battle of Flodden or the capital of Finland. All of the Brodie set, save one, counted on its fingers, as had Miss Brodie, with accurate results more or less . . . By the time they were sixteen . . . they remained unmistakably Brodie, and were all famous in the school, which is to say they were held in suspicion and not much liking. They had no team spirit and very little in common with each other outside their continuing friendship with Jean Brodie. She still taught in the Junior [middle school] department. She was held in great suspicion."


 * However, they are not clones. Each has their own way of wearing their Panama hat and their own talent and reputation.**
 * pg. 3-4. ". . . Monica Douglas . . . famous mostly for mathematics which she could do in her brain, and for her anger, which when it was lively enough, drove her to slap out to right and left . . . [she] wore her panama hat rather higher on her head than normal, perched as if it were too small and as if she knew she looked grotesque in any case. Rose Stanley was famous for sex. Her hat was placed quite unobtrusively on her blonde short hair, but she dented in the crown on either side. Eunice Gardiner, small, neat, famous for her spritely gymnastics and glamorous swimming, had the brim of her hart turn up at the front and down at the back. Sandy Strange r wore it turned up all round and as far back on her head as it could possibly go; to assist this, she had attached to her hat a strip of elastic which went under the chin . . . She was merely notorious for her small almost nonexistent, eyes, but she was famous for her vowel sounds . . . Jenny Gray . . . was going to be an actress. She was Sandy's best friend. Show wore her hat bent sharply downward; she was the prettiest and most graceful girl of the set, and this was her fame . . . Mary McGregor , the last member of the set, whose fame rested on her being a silent lump, a nobody whom everybody could blame. With her was an outsider, Joy Emily Hammond, the very rich girl, their delinquent, who had been recently sent to Blaine as a last hope, because no other school, no governess, could manage her . . . This Joyce Emily was trying very hard to get into the famous set, and thought the two names might establish her as a something, but there was no chance of it and she could not see why."


 * It is also clear that, while Brodie takes these girls into her confidence, she also controls them and tries to break their ties to other commitments and activities.**
 * pg. 5. "'I'm putting old heads on young shoulders,' Miss Brodie told them at that time, 'and all my pupils are the creme de la creme. . . . I should like you girls to come to supper tomorrow night,' Miss Brodie said. 'Make sure you are free.' 'The Dramatic Society . . .' murmured Jenny. 'Send an excuse,' said Miss Brodie. 'I have to consult you about a new plot which is afoot to force me to resign. Needless to say, I shall not resign.' She spoke calmly as she always did in spite of her forceful words. Miss Brodie never discussed her affairs with the other members of her staff, but only with those former pupils whom she had trained up in her confidence. There had been previous plots to remover her from Blaine, which had been foiled."

It is also interesting about how Brodie sees herself as a teache **r. Her methods are clearly "progressive" for the time, insofar as they flout conventional wisdom, but she does not want to work at a "progressive" school, but sees a broader, apostolic role to her education. She wants "impressionable" girls.**
 * pg. 6. "'It has been suggested again that I should apply for a post at one of the progressive schools, where my methods would be more suited to the system than they are at Blaine. But I shall not apply for a post at a crank school. I shall remain at this education factory. There needs must be a leaven in the lump. Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life." The Brodie set smiled in understanding of various kinds.


 * Part of Brodie's appeal is her defiance of conventional authority, making her "hip" in the eyes of the students, but she also recruits them in her crusades. This makes them feel more "adult" than they are. They are "in" on the secret.**
 * pg. 6. "She would never resign. If the authorities wanted to get rid of her she would have to be assassinated . . . 'We shall discuss tomorrow night the persons who oppose me,' said Miss Brodie. 'But rest assured they shall not succeed.'"
 * pg. 7,9, 10. "'If there are intruders, we are doing our history lesson . . . our poetry . . . English grammar . . . If anyone comes along . . . in the course of the following lesson, remember that it is the hour for English grammar . . .' 'You did well . . . not to answer a question put to you. It is well, when in difficulties, to say never a word. neither black nor white. Speech is silver, but silence is golden . . ."


 * Brodie's beahavior raises professional questions about disagreements among educators. Brodie clearly draws her students into her differences explicitly. What do you think about teachers talking about other teachers in front of students? The substance of the disagreement between Brodie & Mackay is also relevant. Most teachers today emphasize a "safe and secure" classroom. Brodie disagrees. Is she right?**
 * pg. 7. "'Miss Mackay retains him on the wall because she believes in the slogan 'Safety First.' But Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth and Beauty come first. Follow me.' This was the first intimation, to the girls, of an odds between Miss Brodie and the rest of the teaching staff. Indeed, to some of them, it was the first time they had realised it was possible for people glued together in grown-up authority to differ at all . . . with the faint exhilarating feeling of being in on the faint smell of row, without being endangered by it, they followed dangerous Miss Brodie . . ."

Although Brodie defies authority, she does not encourage her students to be free-thinkers or challenge her authority. Her view is the right answe **r.** In the next few pages we are given several examples of this: 1) opinions about Renaissance painters, her disparagement of Mary McGregor's reading comic books, her chiding of Sandy for rolling up her sleeves in class, and her prompt to Rose Stanley about the what she meant, followed by Rose parroting back exactly what Brodie had just said. Reflect on whether Brodie is educating or indoctrinating her students.
 * pg. 8,9. "'. . . Who is the greatest Italian Painter?' 'Leonardo Da Vinci, Miss Brodie.' 'That is incorrect, The answer is Giotto, he is my favourite.' . . . 'You are too old for comic papers at ten. Give it to me.' Miss Brodie looked at the coloured sheets. '//Tiger Tiim's// forsooth,' she said and threw it into the wastepaper basket. Perceiving all eyes upon it she lifted it out of the basket, tore it up beyond redemption and put it back again . . . 'I won't have to do with girls who roll up the sleeves of their blouses, however fine the weather. Roll them down at once, we are civilized beings.'"


 * CHAPTER 2**


 * A major writing trope of //The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie// is the role of memory and critically, imperfect and unreliable memory.** In this chapter, we have partial "look back, look forwards" **where we get a glimpse of some of the main characters' futures before we continue with the main narrative line.** We learn that Mary McGregor will die by age of 24 **looking back fondly on her experiences as part of the Brodie Set, even though she was clearly unaware and frequently insulted by Brodie and others. It is common for adults to look back upon their childhood and adolescence as a "happy time" (and children are told that this is the "best time of their lives") despite that many children are frustrated, unhappy, anxious and depressed during their school years. Two questions: 1) should school children be happy (or is unhappiness part of development)? and 2) Why do so many students look back on school as a happy and innocent time.**
 * pg. 14-15. "'I've never come across such a clumsy girl. And if you can't take an interest in what I am saying, please try to look as if you did.' These were the days that Mary McGregor, on looking back, found to be the happiest days of her life. Sandy . . . had a feeling at the time that they were supposed to be the happiest days of her life, and on her tenth birthday she said so to her best friend Jenny Gray . . . 'You know,' Sandy said, 'these are supposed to be the happiest days of our lives.' 'Yes, they are always saying that,' Jenny said, 'They say, make the most of your schooldays, because you never know what lies ahead of you.'"

One dimension of this is sexual innocence. It is alternatively quaint and disturbing to hear the conversation between Sandy and Jenny (the girls are ten years old) **. The girls think themselves curious, mature, and informed, but it is clear to any adult how much they clearly do not understand. They do not appreciate the complexity of adult life and relationships. They are "dress-up" adults, imagining themselves as adults, but their vision is quite simplified, writing romantic love stories, planning their weddings, etc. Ask yourself about what the function of these private, intimate conversations are and what is the male equivalent of Sandy and Jenny's conversation.**

Another aspect **to this is how children view moral relationships as illustrated by the interchange between Sandy and her mother when the parents interrupt their reveries. Adults, when dealing with children, sometimes treat them as miniature adults, who can be talked to like other adults, but the simplistic moral code Sandy holds suggests that they may be able to listen, but not hear and understand all adult conversations.**
 * pg. 16. "Sandy felt offended and belittled by this; it was as if the main idea of the party had been the food. 'What would you like to do now?' Sandy's mother said. Sandy gave her mother a look of secret ferocity which meant: you promised to leave us all on our ow, and a promise is a promise, you know it's very bad to break a promise to a child, you might ruin all my life by breaking your promise, it's my birthday. Sandy's mother backed away bearing Jenny's mother with her. 'Let's leave them to themselves,' she said. 'Just enjoy yourselves, darlings.'"

It may be interesting to compare Sandy's relationship with her own mother -- distant and desiring independence -- with her pseudo "mother-daughter" relationship with Brodie -- intimate and interdependent. Keeping secrets and sharing secrets.

Another point made in the following pages is the interaction of the fantasy-dream life of students and how it intersects and interacts with their real life **. Every teacher has looked onto classes of students daydreaming, offended that their compelling lesson does not hold their attention. Compare your own daydreams to those of Sandy: are they similar or different. In addition, currently we tend to medicalize attention and attention deficits, either by labeling behavior as ADD / ADHD or defining the attention span of school children or idealizing the notion of being "on-task." Is this a positive development or a misunderstanding?**


 * Brodie views Sandy's reveries as a sign of immaturity and frivolity: a character defect.**
 * pg. 22. "'One day, Sandy, you will go too far.' Sandy looked hurt and puzzled. 'Yes,' said Miss Brodie, 'I have my eye upon you, Sandy. I observe a frivolous nature. I fear you will never belong to life's elite or, as one might say, the creme de la creme.'"


 * Next, we are introduced to Miss Lockhart, who in many ways, is a competitor-alternative to Miss Brodie: an inspiring teacher with a lighter influence on her students. However, the behavior of the girls to get dismissed is interesting from a classroom management perspective. Students have competing agendas (texting their friends, picking a prom dress, playing Angry Birds, smoke, etc.) and they are clever at devising ways to be dismissed from instruction to indulge. How should teachers respond to this behavior.**
 * pg. 22. "Sometimes the girls would put a little spot of ink on a sleeve of their tussore silk blouses so that they might be sent to the science room in the Senior school . . . Rose Stanley went to the science room because she was bored, but Sandy and Jenny got ink on their blouses at discreet intervals of four weeks so that they could go and have their arms held by Miss Lockhart who seemed to carry six inches of pure air around her person wherever she moved in that strange-smelling room."
 * Later, the contrast is extended when the girls arrive at the senior school. Compare how Brodie and Lockhart enthrall their students. Also, contrast their approaches to teaching. One focused on content-curriculum, the other on educating the student.**
 * pg. 79-80. "'//I have enough gunpowder in this jar to blow up this school,//' said Miss Lockhart in even tones. She stood behind her bench in her white linen coat, with both hands on a glass jar three-quarters full of a dark grey powder. The extreme hush that fell was only what she expected, for she always opened the first science lesson with these words and with the gunpowder before her, and the first science lesson was no lesson at all, but a naming of the most impressive objects in the science room. Every eye was upon the jar. Miss Lockhart lifted it and placed it carefully in a cupboard which was filled with similar jars full of different-coloured crystals and powders. 'These are bunsen burners, this is a test-tube, this is a pipette, that's a burette, that is a retort, a crucible . . .' Thus she established her mysterious priesthood. She was quite the nicest teacher in the school. But they were all the nicest teachers in the school . . . The teachers here seemed to have no thoughts of anyone's personalities apart from their specialty in life, whether it was mathematics, Latin or science. They treated the new first-formers as if they were not real, but only to be deal with, like symbols of algebra, and Miss Brodie's pupils found this refreshing at first. Wonderful, too, during the first week was the curriculum of dazzling new subjects, and the rushing to and from room to room to keep to the time-table."
 * See also the discussion of the subjects from pages 86-88.


 * The Lockhart-Brody comparison also delves into the balance between structure and freedom in organizing a class and the relative importance of different subjects.**
 * pg. 23-4. "' All the girls in the science room were doing just as they liked,' said Sandy, 'and that's what they were supposed to be doing.' 'We do a lot of what we like in Miss Brodie's class,' Jenny said. 'My mummy says Miss Brodie gives too much freedom.' 'She's not supposed to give us freedom, she's supposed to give us lessons,' said Sandy. 'But the science class is supposed to be free, it's allowed.' 'Well, I like being in Miss Brodie's,' Jenny said. 'So do I,' Sandy said. 'She takes an interest in our general knowledge, my mothers says.'"
 * pg. 24-5. "'Art is greater than science. Art come first, and then science . . . Art and religion first; then philosophy; lastly science. That is the order of the great subjects of life, that's their order in importance.'"

On page 25, we get an important insight into how Brodie selects her set **. I think this is important, especially in the wake of the Sandusky (Penn State), [|Horace Mann], and clerical abuse scandals about how adults view children they abuse or influence and how to identify, as professionals, colleagues who may or may not be endangering children. I think key here is that it is often characteristics of the parents, not the child, that makes them a target for a predator.**
 * pg. 25. "Miss Brodie had already selected her favourites, or rather those who she could trust; or rather those whose parents she could trust not to lodge complaints about the more advanced and seditious aspects of her educational policy, these parents either being too enlightened to complain or too unenlightened, or too awed by their good fortune in getting their girls' education at endowed rates, or too trusting to question the value of what their daughters were learning at this school of sound reputation."
 * pg. 111. "Most of this Miss Brodie obliquely confided in the girls as they grew from thirteen to fourteen and from fourteen to fifteen. She did not say, even obliquely, that she slept with the singing master, for she was still testing them out to see whom she could trust, as it would be her way to put it. She did not want any alarming suspicions to arise in the minds of their parents. Miss Brodie was always very careful to impress the parents of her set and to win their approval and gratitude . So she confided according to what seemed expedient at the time, and was in fact now on the look-out for a girl amongst her set in whom she could confide entirely, whose curiosity was greater than her desire to make a sensation outside, and who, in the need to gain further confidences from Miss Brodie, would never betray what had been gained. Of necessity there had to be but one girl; two would be dangerous. Almost shrewdly, Miss Brodie fixed on Sandy . . ."


 * The next few pages jump from the future to the present and back. The future of Brodie's girls provides context for their present, not their past. As an adult, Eunice Gardner is somewhat dismissive of Brodie, despite being part of her set, but we learn that** Brodie is forced to retire due to betrayal by one of her girls **. We now have our McGuffin! Knowing that Brodie will be betrayed, we are reintroduced once again to the Brodie set with a vignette of one of their day trips off campus. We are told again of Rose Stanley's tomboyishness (and her reputation for sex), Eunice Gardner's athleticism, Mary's dullness (and how she is picked on/bullied), and Sandy's reveries-day dreams with the protagonist of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel //[|Kidnapped]//.**

Sandy also provides a reflection that gives insight into the dynamics of the group as a whole, their relationship to Brodie, the roles they play (desirable and undesirable) and the mean behavior that keeps them bound together that balances the desire to belong with the desire to do the right thing. We understand why a betrayal by one these girls would be so significant.
 * pg. 30. "Sandy looked back on her companions, and understood them as a body with Miss Brodie for a head. She perceived herself, the absent Jenny, the ever-blamed Mary, Rose, Eunice, and Monica, all in a frightening moment, in unified compliance to the destiny of Miss Brodie, as if God had willed them to birth for that purpose. She was even more frightened then, by her temptation to be nice to Mary McGregor, since by this action she would separate herself, and be lonely, and blameable in a more dreadful way than Mary who, although officially the faulty one, was at least inside Miss Brodie's category of heroines in the making. So, for good fellowship's sake, Sandy said to Mary, 'I wouldn't be walking with //you// if Jenny was here.' And Mary said, 'I know.' Then Sandy started to hate herself again and to nag on and on at Mary, with the feeling that if you did a thing a lot of times, you made it into a right thing. Mary started to cry, but quietly, so that Miss Brodie could not see. Sandy was unable to cope and decided to stride on and be a married lady having an argument with her husband."
 * pg. 31. "It occurred to Sandy, there at the end of the Middle Meadow Walk, that the Brodie set was Miss Brodie's fascisti . . . That was all right, but it seemed, too, that Miss Brodie's disapproval of the Girl Guides had jealousy in it, there was an inconsistency, a fault. Perhaps the Guides were too much a rival fascisti, and Miss Brodie could not bear it. Sandy thought she might see about joining the Brownies. Then the group-fright seized her again, and it was necessary to put the idea aside, because she loved Miss Brodie."


 * We have another hint about Sandy being an unreliable narrator of the story of the Brodie Set when she observes how her experience of the city of her youth differed from other persons' experiences of the same time and place. We may broaden this point to teachers and students' experiences of the same school. Some children love certain school environments; others hate it. As a teacher who receives students from many different schools over the years, I am always amazed by the similarities and differences in experience. Also, when describing youth culture, we tend to homogenize it as if everyone in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, etc. lived the save experience.**
 * pg. 33. "And many times throughout her life Sandy knew with a shock, when speaking to people whose childhood had been in Edinburgh, that there were other people's Edinburghs quite different from hers, and with which she held only the names of districts and streets and monuments in common. Similarly, there were other people's nineteen-thirties."


 * We also get a reflection on how our teenage influences shape our adult selves. It is interesting that yearbooks now include sections that highlight the "big events" of the senior's graduating year.**
 * pg. 34-5. "'. . . what would you say was your greatest influence during the 'thirties? I mean, during your teens. Did you read [W.H.] Auden and [T.S.] Eliot?' 'No,' said Sandy. 'We boys were very keen on Auden and that group of course. We wanted to go and fight in the Spanish Civil War. On the Republican side, of course. Did you take sides in the Spanish Civil War at your school?' . . . 'The influences of one's tens are very important,' said the main. 'Oh yes,' said Sandy, 'even if they provide something to react against.' 'What was your biggest influence . . .?' '. . . there was Miss Jean Brodie in her prime.'"

This chapter concludes with a clear statement of the pedagogical differences between Brodie and Mackay that parallel differences in educational philosophies to this day. It is worth quoting this passage in full, both as a statement of educational philosophy, but also for its demonstration of Brodie's lack of self-awareness. Later we get Mackay's perspective. ..
 * pg. 36-7. "'I have no doubt Miss Mackay wishes to question my methods of instruction. It has happened before. It will happen again. Meanwhile, I follow my principles of education and give of my best in my prime. Teh word 'education' comes from the root e from ex, out, and duco, I lead. It means a leading out. 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, and that is not what I call education, I call it intrusion, from the Latin root prefix in meaning in and the stem trudo, I thrust. Miss Mackay's method is to thrust a lot of information into the pupil's head; mine is leading out of knowledge, and that is true education as is proved by the root meaning. Now Miss Mackay has accused me of putting ideas into my girls' heads, but in fact that is her practice and mine is quite the opposite. Never let it be said that I put ideas into your heads. What is the meaning of education, Sandy?' 'To lead out,' said Sandy . . ."
 * pg. 69. "'You are very fortunate in Miss Brodie. I could wish your arithmetic papers had been better. I am always impressed by Miss Brodie' s girls in one way or another. You will have to work hard at ordinary humble subjects for the qualifying examinations. Miss Brodie is giving you an excellent preparation for the Senior school. Culture cannot compensate for lack of hard knowledge. I am happy to see you are devoted to Miss Brodie. Your loyalty is due to the school rather than to any one individual .'"

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The following illustrates how students' minds can be on other things while the teacher believes they are something compelling. Brodie concludes her statement on education by asserting that as long as students perform adequately on the final examination, her methods cannot be questioned. Do you agree with this? Do test scores vindicate either Brodie or Mackay's view of education?
 * pg. 39. "'. . . my methods cannot be condemned unless they can be proved to be in any part improper or subversive, and so long as the girls are in the least equipped for the end-of-term examination. I trust your girls to work hard and try and scrape through, even if you learn up the stuff and forget it the next day . . .'"
 * The chapter concludes with the girls witnessing an unemployment line (year = 1931 = Great Depression) and one can reflect on the privileged position of the girls on a lark tour with the everyday concerns of the "idle" laborers.**


 * CHAPTER 3**

This chapter opens with an attempt to put Brodie's behavior in context. Her behavior is not abnormal for women or individuals in that period of time **. It is important to remember that this occurs only slightly over a decade after women won the vote in England (including Scotland) and that this radicalized many women of that generation. The issue, the author notes, is that she was also a teacher, a place ill-suited for Brodie's approach to life.**
 * pg. 43-5. "It is not supposed that Miss Brodie was unique at this point of her prime; or that (since such things are relative) she was in any way off her head. She was alone, merely, in that she taught in a school like Marcia Blaine's. There were legions of her kind during the nineteen-thirties, women from the age of thirty and upward . . . The progressive spinsters of Edinburgh did not teach in schools, especially in schools of traditional character like Marcia Blaine's School for Girls . . . They were not, however, committee women. They were not school-teachers. The committee spinsters were less enterprising and not at all rebellious, they were sober churchgoers and quiet workers. The school-mistresses were of still more orderly type, earning their keep, living with aged parents and taking walks on the hills and holidays at North Berwick . . . so, in this light, there was nothing outwardly odd about Miss Brodie. Inwardly was a different manner . . ."

There are, at times, debates about whether certain individuals are not temperamentally suited to teaching or whose lifestyles of political beliefs should not be exposed to children. **In the 1950s, Scarsdale Schools tried to expel teachers who were "Communists" and more recently homosexual teachers have faced similar pressures and purges. On a more subtle level, some individuals would exclude individuals of certain personality or disposition. Specifically, the prevailing wisdom is that teachers should love to be around children and not particularly booky. In the words of education critic Neil Postman, teachers are expected to be "amusing" as their central trait. It is important to note how odd this is from a historical perspective, when within the past century, most teachers were unmarried, childless women like Brodie and Mackay. We can understand why people of certain disposition and personality would not want to become teachers, but should certain people be excluded from becoming teachers on this basis?**


 * Of course, Brodie opens this term flying her full** Fascist colors and her admiration for Mussolini **. She also restates her educational philosophy, staying committed to the "** leading out" **despite the annual qualifying examinations. In addition, she raises the differences between education, broadly conceived and the narrower view of education as a collection of subjects taught in parallel, but not interacting with each other.**
 * pg. 47. "As you know, I don't believe in talking down to children, you are capable of grasping more than is generally appreciated by your elders. Education means a leader out, from e out and duco, I lead. Qualifying examinations or not qualifying examination, you will have the benefit of my experiences in Italy.' . . . 'Next year,' she said, ' you will have the specialists to teach you history and mathematics and languages, a teacher for this and a teacher for that, a period of forty-five minutes for this and another for that. But in this your last years with me you will receive the fruits of my prime.'"

Another dimension of Brodie's approach is the disaffection in causes in her fellow teachers at Marcia Blaine. Ignoring the specific content of Brodie's ideas or her implementation of those ideas, this reaction is quite common: new ideas are often not appreciated in education ( **old ideas with new vocabulary is a different story).**
 * pg. 49. "Even before the official opening of her prime Miss Brodie's colleagues in the Junior school had been gradually turning against her. The teaching staff of the Senior school was indifferent or mildly amused, for they had not yet felt the impact of the Brodie set; that was to come the following year, and even then these Senior mistresses were not unduly irritated by the effects of what they called Miss Brodie's experimental methods. It was in the Junior school, among the lesser paid and lesser qualified women, with whom Miss Brodie had daily dealings that indignation seethed. There were two exceptions on the staff . . . Gordon Lowther, the singing master [and] . . . Mr. Teddy Lloyd, the Senior girls' art master . . ."
 * pg. 56. ". . . Sandy, who had turned eleven, perceived that the tone of 'morning' in good morning made the word seem purposely to rhyme with 'scorning,' so that these colleague of Miss Brodie's might just as well have said, 'I scorn you,' instead of good morning . . . [Brodie] held her head up, up, as she walked, and often, when she reached and entered her own classroom, permitted herself to sag gratefully against the door for an instant. She did not frequent the staff common rooms in the free periods when her class was taking its singing or sewing lessons, but accompanied them."


 * You may want to consider whether the opposition to Brodie can be explained by ordinary "cattiness" (Brodie's take) among women and whether it is significant that her only support is a) among the male employees and b) among those involved in the arts and humanities. Would anyone be hostile to Brodie's approach or is it something specific that rubs certain teachers the wrong way?**


 * This chapter begins another major line of the narrative** : the competition between Mr. Lowther and. Mr. Lloyd for Brodie's **affections and the growing knowledge among the Brodie set of her affairs. In addition, we get a glimpse of the nervous laughter among the girls as Mr. Lloyd shows them art techniques using nude forms in Renaissance art. While I doubt this would be a major problem today for high school students, there is always a fine line of propriety that teachers make about what is and what is not appropriate to expose to students, particularly in the areas of violence, sex, politics, and religion.**


 * Note: Sewing classes were required curriculum well into the mid-20th century, especially for girls. Do you think this, or classes like this, should be required today?**


 * When Miss Brodie is ill (it is implied that she may be pregnant), the Brodie set is placed with Miss Gaunt and do not adjust well. It is interesting to note the comparisons made and how students can thrive under one teacher and struggle under another. One may also consider what the impact on a student would be if they started with Miss Gaunt and later had Miss Brodie.**
 * pg. 59-60. "[Miss Gaunt] did not care at all for the Brodie set who were stunned by a sudden plunge into industrious learning an d very put out by Miss Gaunt's horrible sharpness and strict insistence on silence throughout the day . . . The black-marks books which eventually reflected itself on the end-of-term reports, was heavily scored with the names of the Brodie set by the end of the first week . . . So dazed were the Brodie girls that they did not notice the omission during that week of their singing lesson which should have been on Wednesday . . . the absence of Miss Brodie and the presence of Miss Gaunt had a definite subtracting effect from the sexual significance of everything, and the trepidation of the two sewing sisters contributed to the effect of grim realism."


 * We have several more "jump forwards" that have Brodie confiding to Sandy (as an adult) about the background of the main story line. We also learn for the first time that it was** Sandy who "betrayed" her, **and Brodie, unaware confides in her as she wracks her mind to think of who could have betrayed her.**


 * pg. 63. "'Of course the liaison was suspected. Perhaps you girls knew about it. You, Sandy, had a faint idea . . . but nobody could prove what was between Gordon Lowther and myself. It was never proved. It was not on those grounds that I was betrayed. I should like to know who betrayed me. It is incredible that it should have been one of my own girls. I often wonder if it was poor Mary. perhaps I should have bee nicer to Mary . . . '"


 * Next, we see the girls applying to the Upper (Senior/High) School of Marcia Blaine and we find another example of Brodie's passive-aggressive influence. To understand this passage better you need to understand the difference between a "modern" and "classic" curriculum. A modern curriculum is essentially the courses you take today with physical education and science being two of the major differences. A "classic" curriculum would have put a greater emphasis on learning classical languages (Latin and Greek), the humanities, and social training. Brodie expresses her preference for Classics, but this is curious given how much of the rest of her profile embraces a modern and progressive approach for her time:**


 * pg. 64. "Miss Brodie had alre
 * ady prompted them as follows: 'I am not saying anything against the Modern side. Modern and Classical, they are equal, and each provides for a function in life. You must make your free choice. Not everyone is capable of a Classical education. You must make your choice quite freely.' So that the girls were left in no doubt as to Miss Brodie's contempt for the Modern side."
 * pg. 66-7. "[Miss Mackay] invited [the Brodie Set] to tea . . . and asked them the usual questions about what they wanted to do in the Senior school and whether they wanted to do it on the Modern or the Classical side. Mary McGregor was ruled out of the Classical side because her marks did not reach the required standard. She seemed despondent on hearing this. 'Why do you want so much to go on the Classical side, Mary? You aren't cut out for it. don't your parents realise that?' 'Miss Brodie prefers it.' 'It has nothing to do with Miss Brodie . . . It is a question of your marks or what you and your parents think. In your case, your marks don't come up to the standard.' When Jenny and Sandy opted for Classical, she said: 'Because Miss Brodie prefers it, I suppose. What good will Latin and Greek be to you when you get married or take a job? German would be more useful.' But they stuck out for Classical . . ."

Eunice shows signs of breaking out from the Brodie set: she likes math and science (strike one), she is athl etic (strike two), she has involvements in activities outside the Brodie set (strike three). Still, Brodie aims to mold her nevertheless (and Sandy too).
 * pg. 65. "All that term she tried to inspire Eunice to become at least a pioneer missionary in some deadly and dangerous zone of the earth, for it was intolerable to Miss Brodie that any of her girls should grow up not largely dedicated to some vocation. 'You will end up as a Girl Guide leader in a suburb like Corstorphine,' she said warningly to Eunice, who a in fact secretly attracted to this idea and who lived in Corstophine."
 * pg. 66 [Brodie to Sandy] "'. . . That is true dedication. You must all grow up to be dedicated women as I have dedicated myself to you.' A few week before [Brodie] died, when, sitting up in bed in the nursing home, she learnt from Monica Douglas that Sandy had gone to a convent, she said: 'What a waste. that is not the sort of dedication I meant. Do you think she has done this to annoy me? I begin to wonder if it was not Sandy who betrayed me.'"
 * pg. 83. "It was impossible to know how much Miss Brodie planned by deliberation, or how much she worked by instinct alone."


 * Mackay is worried that Brodie is having too much influence and during a conversation with the Brodie set, she tries to elicit information from them about Miss Brodie's methods and her relationship with Mr. Lowther and Mr. Lloyd [g. 67-9]**
 * The balance of Chapter 3 foreshadows future developments in several ways.**


 * 1) JENNY'S INDECENT EXPOSURE/SANDY'S DETECTIVE FANTASY - The purpose of Jenny's indecent exposure incident is to spur Sandy's fantasy of being a police officer and she turns this fantasy on Brodie, who becomes her quarry. Sandy does not seem motivated by Brodie's impropriety, but the thrill of the process. She urges Jenny to keep the incident secret from Brodie because she wants to have a secret of her own.**


 * 2) BRODIE'S CULTIVATION OF ROSE STANLEY / MR. LLOYD - It appears that Brodie plans to make Rose ("Famous for Sex") Stanley the lover of Mr. Lloyd and have her romance vicariously through her. An example of Brodie's influence gone too far.**


 * 3) THE ROLE OF (FALSE) MEMORIES -- Sandy's observation of Brodie's revising her memories of her love "Hugh" to take on elements of her current romance with Mr. Lowther and Mr. Lloyd. The present shapes the past.**
 * pg. 75-6. "Sandy puzzled over this and took counsel with Jenny, and it came to them both that Miss Brodie was making her new love story fit the old. Thereafter the two girls listened with double ears, and the rest of the class with single. Sandy was fascinated by this method of making patterns with facts, and was divided between her admiration for the technique and the pressing need to prove Miss Brodie guilty of misconduct . . . It had been a delicate question how to present Miss Brodie in both a favourable and an unfavourable light, for now, as their last term with Miss Brodie drew to a close, nothing less than this was demanded."


 * CHAPTER 4**


 * This chapter begins with the Brodie Set's introduction to the Upper School. It begins with an implicit comparison of Brodie with Lockhart and their teaching styles. The next scene shows another scene of Miss Mackay trying to break up the Brodie set by taking Mary McGregor into her confidence, only to be frustrated by Mary's inability to be manipulated: she is too dull to understand that Miss Mackay wants to get information for her. In Mary's simple view of the world, all teachers are the same //team// and she cannot imagine that they might be working at cross purposes.**
 * pg. 81-2. "[Miss Mackay] laid a scheme and it failed. It was too ambitious, it aimed at ridding the school of Miss Brodie and breaking up the Brodie set in the one stroke. She befriended Mary McGregor, thinking her to be gullible an dbribable, and underrating her stupidity. She remembered that Mary had, in common with all Miss Brodie's girls, applied to go on the Classical side, but had been refused . . . Miss Mackay . . . allowed her to take Latin. In return she expected to be informed concerning Miss Brodie . . . Give the girl tea as she might, Mary simply did not understand what was required of her and thought all the teachers wee in league together, Miss Brodie and all.


 * Mackay also tried to create new loyalties by breaking apart the girls of the Brodie set . . .**
 * pg. 82-3. "Miss Mackay laid another scheme and the scheme undid her. There was a highly competitive house system in the Senior school . . .they were obliged to compete with each other in every walk of life within the school . . . It was the team spirit, they were told, that counted now, every house must go all out for the Shield and turn up on Saturday mornings to yell encouragement to the house. Interhouse friendships must not suffer, of course, bu the team spirit . . . This phrase was enough for the Brodie set who, after two years at Miss brodie's, had been well directed as to its meaning. 'Phrase like 'the team spirit' are always employed to cut across individualism, love and personal loyalties,' she had said. 'Ideas like 'the team spirit'' she said, 'ought not to be enjoined on the female sex, especially if they are of that dedicated nature whose virtues from time immemorial have been utterly opposed to the concept.'"


 * However, Brodie still endeavors to exercise influence over her girls even though they are no longer her students.**
 * pg. 88. "Miss Brodie had a hard fight of it during those first few months when the Senior school had captivated her set, displaying as did the set that capacity for enthusiasm which she herself had implanted. But having won the battle over the team spirit, she did not despair. It was evident even then that her main concern was lest the girls should become personally attached to any one of the senior teachers, but she carefully refrained from direct attack because the teachers themselves seemed so perfectly indifferent to her brood."


 * The next few pages tell of Brodie's religious views, which show the divisions in her personality. Quite religious and spiritual, but decidedly against any notion of superstition. As the narrator observes, she has the Catholic romantic spirit, but it is merged with a austere, conventional Scottish Presbyterian morality. On one hand, she appears quite liberated and free of prejudice, but on the other very parochial and judgmental. Next, we get the details of her growing affair with Mr. Lowther, which is unremarkable except for the fact that she uses her students as confidantes as she tells them the details of her involvements. And, she uses them as sources of information on her other love connection: Mr. Lloyd, the art teacher, asking them questions at their tea parties.**


 * CHAPTER 5**


 * The chapter begins in Teddy Lloyd's studio with Sandy looking at a portrait of Rose Stanley that bears a striking resemblance to Brodie. She discovers that Lloyd has done many portraits of the Brodie Set that all bear some resemblance to Brodie. You may either read this as a metaphor for Brodie's influence over the Brodie Set or literally about Lloyd's infatuation with Brodie.**
 * pg. 105-09. "'//Why, it's like Miss Brodie!'// said Sandy, '//It's terribly like Miss Brodie.'// Then, perceiving that what she had said had accumulated a meaning between its passing her lips and reaching the ears of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd, she said, 'though of course it's Rose, it's more like Rose, it's terribly like Rose.' . . . The swathing of crimson velvet was so arranged that it did two things at once, it made Rose look one-armed like the artist himself . . . the picture was like Miss Brodie, and this was the main thing about it and the main mystery. Rose had a large-boned pale face. Miss Brodie's bones were small, although her eyes, nose and mouth were large. It was difficult to see how Teddy Lloyd had imposed the dark and Roman face of Miss Brodie on that of pale Rose, but he had done so . . . 'One day,' said Teddy Lloyd as he stacked up his sketches before taking Sandy down to tea, 'I would like to do all you Brodie girls, one by one and then all together.' . . . 'We'd look like on big Miss Brodie, I suppose.'"


 * Mr. Lloyd kisses Sandy and the ambivalence and inappropriateness of the event sit with Sandy through the tea. She has become a pawn in the Brodie-Lowther-Llloyd triangle, but she is intent on being a player as well: she has her own schemes. The next scene has Sandy playing golf with Brodie and we are treated to a long Brodie musing on her set, trying to pry information about them from Sandy, but also making interpretations and predictions about their personalities and futures. [pg. 112-14]**


 * Since we know that Sandy will become a Catholic nun, he experience of Calvinism (the predominant religious tradition in Scotland) is interesting by contrast, but it also helps us explain aspects of Brodie's behavior as well. It might seem queer that Brodie is constantly talking about her "prime" and has plans for each of her students, or that she tries to mold their careers, with or without their knowledge and consent, but the Calvinist background, and particularly the doctrine of predestination, may shed some light on this. The Calvinist notion of an "elect" fits Brodie's chosen view of herself: everyone has a preset role with certain rewards and obligations. Brodie believes she has special insight (granted by her prime). A key dimension of Sandy is that she wants to break free of the influence and exercise control and this spawns her "rebellion" from Brodie.**
 * pg. 114-117. "'Do you know, Sandy dear, all my ambitions are for you and Rose. You have got insight, perhaps not quite spiritual, but you're a deep one, and Rose has got instinct, Rose has got instinct.' 'Perhaps not quite spiritual,' said Sandy. 'Yes,' said Brodie, 'you're right. Rose has got a future by virtue of her instinct.' 'She has an instinct how to sit for her portrait,' said Sandy. 'That's what I mean by your insight,' said Miss Brodie. 'I ought to know, because my prime has brought me instinct and insight, both.' . . .. it was the religion of Calvin of which Sandy felt deprived, or rather a specified recognition of it. She desire this birthright, something definite to reject . . . In this oblique way, she began to sense what went to the makings of Miss Brodie who had elected herself to grace in so particular a way and with more exotic suicidal enchantment than if she had simply taken to drink like other spinsters who couldn't stand it any more. I twas plain that Miss Brodie wanted Rose with her instinct to start preparing to be Teddy Lloyd's lover, and Sandy with her insight to act as informant on the affair. It was to end that Rose and Sandy had been chosen as the creme de la creme . . . But in fact the art master's interest in Rose was imply a professional one, she was a good model; Rose had an instinct to be satisfied with this role, and in the event it was Sandy who slept with Teddy Lloyd an Rose who carried back the information."


 * We get another glimpse at the dynamics of the Brodie Set as they continue to share an identity even as they drift apart. I think it is most important to note that there are both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE aspects to belonging in the group. It is also important that, looking back, it is the silliness of Miss Brodie's schemes that are the most endearing to Sandy, not the other role she played.**
 * pg. 118-9. ". . . Miss Brodie as the leader of the set, Miss Brodie as Roman matron, Miss Brodie as an educational reformer were still prominent. It was not always comfortable, from the school point of view, to be associated with her. The lack of team spirit alone, the fact that the Brodie set preferred golf to hockey or netball if they preferred anything at all, were enough tot set them apart, even if they had not dented in the crowns of their hats and tilted them backwards or forwards. It was impossible for them to escape from the Brodie set because they were the Brodie set in the eyes of the school. Nominally, they were members of [school houses], but it had been well known that the Brodie set had no team spirit and did not care which house won the shield. They were not allowed to care. Their disregard had now become an institution, to be respected like the house system itself. For their own part, and without this reputation, the six girls would have gone each her own way by the time she was in the fourth form and had reached the age of sixteen. But it was irrevocable, and they made the most of it, and saw that their position was really quite enviable. Everyone though that the Brodie set had more fun than anyone else . . . And indeed it was so. And Miss Brodie was always a figure of glamorous activity even in the eyes of the non-Brodie girls."

We do also get a statement of the difficulties Brodie faces as a self-conscious educational reformer. Brodie has a sense of mission and tries to improve education and not simply find a situation that already accepts **. As Machiavelli observed: there is nothing more difficult than to institute a new order of things, or, as G.B. Shaw (author of the next book, //Pygmalion//) //"T he reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." // Brodie may be the female exemplar of Shaw's "unreasonable man" **
 * p g. 119-20. "Miss Brodie's struggles with the authorities on account of her educational system were increasing throughout the years, and she made it a moral duty for her set to rally around her each time her battle reached a crisis . . . 'It has been suggested again taht I should apply for a post at one of the progressive, that is to say, crank schools. I shall not apply for a post at a crank school. I shall remain at this education factory where my duty lies. There needs must be a leaven in the lump. Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life. The gang who oppose me shall not succeed . . . If they do not try to unseat me on the grounds of my educational policy, they attempt personal calumny.'"

For all her faults, there is something admirable in Brodie's sense of mission and there is quite a bit of truth in the final statement about how and why teachers are dismissed in her final observation, even today.


 * The chapter ends with us learning that Mr. Lowther marries Brodie's rival, Ms. Lockhart, and that Brodie's schemes and plans, at last, seem to have outdone her. **


 * CHAPTER 6**


 * Miss Mackay is still trying to "get the goods" on Miss Brodie from the Brodie Set, but in doing so reflects that Brodie's youthful enthusiasm, energy, and ability might be slipping.**
 * pg. 123-4. "'Dear Miss Brodie, she sits on under the elm, telling her remarkable life story to the junior children. I mind when Miss Brodie first came to the school, she was a vigorous young teacher, but now -- . . . [what can't be cured must be endured]. But I fear Miss Brodie is past her best. I doubt her class will get through its qualifying examination this year. But don't think I'm criticising Miss Brodie . . .'"


 * We are introduced briefly to another character -- Joyce Emily -- who Brodie brings under her wing, although not as a member of her set. Joyce Emily is the archetype of the rich young female juvenile delinquent, and she plays to that role. First her profile and background.**
 * pg. 124-5. ". . . the new girl called Joyce Emily Hammond . . . had been sent to Blaine School as a last hope, having been obliged to withdraw form a range of expensive schools .. . because of her alleged delinquency which so far had not been revealed . . . She insisted on calling herself Joyce Emily, who brought to school in the morning by a chauffeur in a large black car, though she was obliged to make her own way home; she lived in a huge house . . . she boasted five sets of discarded colours hanging in her wardrobe at home beside such relics of governesses as a substantial switch of hair cut off by Joyce Emily's own hand, a post office savings book belong to a governess called Miss Michie, and the charred remains of a pillow-case upon which the head of yet another governess called Miss Chambers had been resting when Joyce Emily had set fire to it."
 * When she arrives at Marcia Blaine, she tries to catch on with the Brodie Set, unsuccessfully.**
 * pg. 125. "It was the Brodie set to which Joyce Emily mostly desired to attach herself, perceiving their individualism; but they, less than anybody, wanted her. With the exception of Mary MacGregor, they were in fact, among the the brightest girls in the school . . . moreover, they had outside interests . . . So that they had not time to do much about a delinquent whose parents had dumped her on the school by their influence, even if she was apparently a delinquent in name only. Miss Brodie, however, found time to take her up. The Brodie girls slightly resented this but were relieved that they were not obliged to share the girl's company, and that Miss Brodie took her to tea and the theatre on her own."


 * Joyce Emily, whose brother was fighting on the Republican (Leftist) side, left the school to participate in the conflict. She is killed on a train before she was able to participate. No one at Marcia Blaine notices until weeks later and they have a perfunctory remembrance service. This seeming minor event would prove to be the key event in the denouement of the book.**


 * We get a brief synopsis of the girl's senior year and their respective futures, few followed the romantic plans Brodie had for them.**
 * pg. 127. "Mary had gone to be a shorthand typist and Jenny had gone to a school of dramatic art . . . Eunice was to do modern languages, although she changed her mind a year later and became a nurse. Monica was destined for science, Sandy for psychology. Rose had hung on, not for any functional reason, but because her father thought she should get the best of her education, even if she was only going to the art school later on, or at the worst, become a model for artists or dress designers . . . Rose, instinctive as she undoubtedly was, followed her instinct so far as to take on [her father's] hard-headed and merry carnality, and made a good marriage soon after she left school. She shook off Miss Brodie's influence as a dog shakes pond-water from its coat."


 * Brodie holds on to the idea that Mr. Lloyd and Rose will become lovers and she will experience her romance with Mr. Lloyd vicariously through Rose.**
 * pg. 129. "'I am [Lloyd's] Muse,' said Miss Brodie. 'But I have renounced his love in order to dedicate my prime to the young girls in my care. I am his Muse but Rose shall take my place.' She thinks she is Providence, thought Sandy, she thinks she is the Gold of Calvin, she sees the beginning and at the end."
 * However, Brodie has a noble vision of her actions. She is giving up her own happiness to better serve her students. This type of renunciation is not rare in other fields where individuals sacrifice personal relationships due to a vocational calling, and generally people see this as noble, but it strikes someone odd in a teacher. Should it? Her dedication is acknowledged by her students.**
 * pg. 129-30. "'She talked a lot about dedication,' said Rose, 'but she didn't mean your sort of dedication. But don't you think she was dedicated to her girls in a way?' 'Oh yes, I think she was,' said Sandy . . . 'then it was a real renunciation in a way,' said Monica. 'Yes, it was,' said Sandy. 'After all, she was a woman in her prime.' 'You sued to think her talk about renunciation was a joke,' said Monica. 'So did you,' said Sandy."
 * pg. 129-30. "'She talked a lot about dedication,' said Rose, 'but she didn't mean your sort of dedication. But don't you think she was dedicated to her girls in a way?' 'Oh yes, I think she was,' said Sandy . . . 'then it was a real renunciation in a way,' said Monica. 'Yes, it was,' said Sandy. 'After all, she was a woman in her prime.' 'You sued to think her talk about renunciation was a joke,' said Monica. 'So did you,' said Sandy."


 * We get a desultory description of Sandy and Mr. Lloyd's May-September affair (in both senses of the term), but its seems that Sandy is more intrigued in the relationship for analytic, research purposes, than due to a real attraction or passion.**


 * In a conversation about about the affair, Brodie lets slip that it was she who urged Joyce Emily to go fight in the Spanish Civil War. For reference, Brodie had urged her to join the Fascist (Franco) side of the conflict, while her brother was fighting for the Republicans. This prompts Sandy to bring Brodie down and she goes to Miss Mackay to betray Brodie. However, she does so in a business-like, not personal, way.**
 * pg. 133-4. "'I'm afraid she puts ideas into your young heads,' said Miss Mackay . . .'Yes, lots of ideas,' Sandy said. 'I wish I knew what some of them were,' said Miss Mackay, slumping a little and genuinely worried. 'Because it is still going on, I mean class after class, and now she has formed a new set, and they are so out of key with the rest of the school, Miss Brodie's set. They are precocious. Do you know what I mean?' 'Yes,' said Sandy. 'But you won't be able to pin her down on sex. Have you thought about politics?' Miss Mackay turned her chair so that it was nearly square with Sandy's. This was business . . . 'I'm not really interested in world affairs,' said Sandy, 'only in putting a stop to Miss Brodie.' It was clear the headmistress thought this rather unpleasant of Sandy. But she did not fail to say to Miss Brodie, when the time came, 'It was one of your own girls who ave me the tip, one of your set, Miss Brodie.'"


 * Whether she was dismissed because of educational philosophy, and her personal life and politics were just a pretext, or that she had stepped over the line is still left with the reader. Brodie gives her view:**
 * pg. 134-5. "Miss Brodie was forced to retire at the end of the summer term of nineteen-thirty-nine, on the grounds that she had been teaching Fascism. Sandy, when she heard of it, thought of the marching troops of black shirts in the pictures on the wall. By now she had entered the Catholic Church, in whose ranks she had found quite a number of Fascists much less agreeable than Miss Brodie. 'Of course,' said Miss Brodie when she wrote to tell Sandy the news of her retirement, 'this political question was only an excuse. they tried to prove personal immorality against me on many occasions and failed. My girls were always reticent on these matters. It was my educational policy they were up against which had reached its perfection in my prime. I was dedicated to my girls, as you know. But they used this political excuse as a weapon . . .'"


 * Brodie does not suspect Sandy as her betrayer. She would wonder who it was until her death. On page 135, we find her thought process on why each member of her set could be her betrayer, but her insight and instinct fail her.**
 * pg. 136. "'. . .Miss Brodie is past her prime. She keeps wanting to know who betrayed her. It isn't at all like the old Miss Brodie, she was always so full of fight.'"


 * andy has a different perspective:**
 * pg. 135-7. "'If you did not betray us it is impossible that you could have been betrayed by us. The word betrayed does not apply . . .' . . . 'Oh, [Brodie] was quite an innocent in her way,' said Sandy, clutching the bars of the grille . . . 'Before she died,' [Monica] said, 'Miss brodie thought it was you who betrayed her.' 'It's only possible to betray where loyalty is due,' said Sandy. 'Well, wasn't it due to Miss Brodie?' 'Only up to a point,' said Sandy."

 