Michael Mc Macken

Contemporary Literature

080007020

Fascism is in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us. (Michel Foucault). Consider the ways in which relationships between power and desire are explored in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Sparks novel of Fascism and fascisms1 explores the ideas of power and desire through its main protagonist Miss Brodie; a character who saw in fascism opportunities to exercise iconoclastic forms of individualism2. Not only Miss Brodie, but through the double agent Sandy Stranger and her small, almost nonexistent eyes3, Spark examines the complex undercurrents of desire and power that nourish their dedication to those in the position of leaders despite the ever-diminishing rewards of doing so4 which are so prominent in the novel. This essay will discuss the desire for power and control which Miss Brodie so tirelessly (and jesuitically)5 strives to achieve, as well as the idea that Sandy, in turning her back on Miss Brodie, becomes the most despised Spark type6 insofar as she manipulates in a more devious way than Miss Brodie herself. Furthermore, it speculates upon the idea that part of the reason the girls desire to attach themselves to Miss Brodie is her individualizing power7, as Whiteley suggests that the girls seem more individually defined by virtue of virtue of Brodies influence [] and it is precisely this individualizing power that offers the Brodie set one of its most magnetic forces of attraction.8 To her students, Miss Brodie is desirable because of her rebellious capacity to break up [the] sedimented status quo.9 She offers a break from the normal, monotonous routine which would otherwise dominate the sets lives as students of an all-girls school. As Suh puts it, the micro-fascist Brodie set thrive on the modern desire to decode and flee, to sail from the shores of security.10 Miss Brodie is the only teacher at Marcia Blaines School for Girls radical enough to fulfil their desire to break the mould of the schools pragmatic and conservative groundwork11, which therefore results in the girls placing complete loyalty and trust in their fascist leader. This placement of trust is in turn desirable for the eccentric Brodie, who goes above and beyond (although how consciously she does so is disputable) to fulfil her selfassertive claim Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life. (9) The difference between the normal curriculum and Miss Brodies stems from her political agenda: Art and religion first; then philosophy; lastly science. That is the order of the great subjects of life, thats their order of importance. (25) Miss Brodie favours the aesthetic over the scientific, and emphasises this to her more-than-willing
1

McQuillan, Martin. Theorizing Muriel Spark: Gender, Race, Deconstruction. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) p. 4 2 Suh, Judy. "The Familiar Attractions of Fascism in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." Journal of Modern Literature 30.2 (2007): 86-102. Project MUSE. Web. 1 Feb. 2011. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>. p. 88 3 Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Harmondsworth; Penguin, 1965) p. 7 4 Suh, p. 88 5 Gregson, I. "Muriel Spark's caricatural effects." Essays in criticism 55.1 (2005): p. 14 6 Ibid, p. 14 7 Whiteley, P. "The social framework of knowledge: Muriel Spark's The 'Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'." Mosaic 29.4 (1996): p. 82 8 Ibid, p. 82 9 Suh, p. 89 10 Ibid, p. 91 11 Suh, p. 91

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to listen students in deliberate opposition to the conservatism of Miss Mackay to deterritorialize the overcoded curriculum12 so that the students can find in her an escape from the very fabric from social reality13, and it is this power to provide an escape which characterises part of the desire (however, not all) which attracts the girls to Miss Brodie and her prime (10) of life. An important component of fascism (especially within the Nazi regime) was the idea of a master-race of individuals (Aryans) coming together as one pure superior race, whilst making those thought to be inferior (The Jews, and in the context of this novel, Mary Macgregor) a scapegoat. This somewhat Darwinist ideology enlightened many during the Nazis rise to power, as it allowed people to feel part of a crowd, to be accepted, and above all else to feel like they were the elite. In a likewise manner, as Ian Rankin points out theres no doubt she [Miss Brodie] is elitist14 and leads an elitist group, similar to that of Mussolinis Fascisti, as Sandy notices: They were dark as anything and all marching in the straightest of files, with their hands raised at the same angle, while Mussolini stood on a platform like a gym teacher or a Guides mistress [...] It occurred to Sandy, there at the end of the Middle Meadow Walk, that the Brodie set was Miss Brodies fascisti, not to the naked eye, marching along, but all knit together for her need and in another way, marching along. (31) By likening Mussolini with a gym teacher, Spark explores the idea that power dynamics can take form in even the most everyday situations, and this is emphasised by the comparison between the Fascisti and the Brodie set, which places Miss Brodie on a pedestal as the Fascist leader of her own small army of girls marching in the straightest of files. Even before Sandy makes a direct connection between the two, she unconsciously makes an affiliation between the two when she underst[ands] them as a body with Miss Brodie for the head (30). Not only does this parallel Fascisms ideology of coming together as one unit for the greater good of the nation, but it emphasises the power dynamics of the Brodie set. Metaphorically speaking, if the girls of the Brodie set are the limbs of the body, then they are unthinking parts which are used (stressing the word used) to fulfil the desires of the brain/head. Here Spark is punctuating the fact that Miss Brodie holds absolute power and say over the group, and that the fundamentals of fascist ideologies are present in everyday scenarios insofar that the same kind of emotions are relied upon whether it be in Nazi Germany during Hitlers rise to power, or in the cliques which are formed at school. This desire to shape the future of the girls and control their lives is obviously morally controversial (if not downright wrong), but more importantly it sheds light on the power-hungry nature of Miss Brodies character. By taking on the role of the storyteller15, Brodie fulfils her desire to be in control of the girls lives, making use of a prophetic lens16 to not only dictate the characteristics of the girls but also alters their actions drastically. The most prominent example of this is the character of Joyce Emily and her tragic death which is a result of being en route to fight for the nationalist pro-Franco side in the Spanish Civil War, despite being anti-Franco before
12 13

Suh, p. 91 Deleuze, Gilles, 1925-1995. A thousand plateaus : capitalism and schizophrenia / (Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1987) p. 229 14 Ian Rankin Discusses Jean Brodie - Faulks on Fiction: The Snob, preview - BBC Two <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAlfjVkzAk> 15 Suh, p. 88 16 Ibid, p. 88

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Contemporary Literature

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becoming intoxicated by Miss Brodies charismatic and enveloping influence. Rose Stanley is an example of not only Miss Brodies control over the Brodie sets futures, but of the girls desire to live up to what Miss Brodie has come to expect of them. Miss Brodie tells Rose when you are seventeen or eighteen, Rose, you will come to the moment of your great fulfilment. (110) However, when she is younger, Rose is a tomboy, interested in trains, cranes, motor cars, Meccanos, and other boys affairs [] an energetic climber of walls and trees. (28) Eventually Rose does hold a reputation for sex, and channels these tomboy interests and fits herself to Miss Brodies narrative17 as if they had been a conscious preparation (28). What is interesting is that Miss Brodies power over the girls futures seems to extend beyond the fifth wall, as the narrative often reflects the premonitions of the prophetic Brodie. In preparing Rose to become the lover of Miss Brodies love interest Teddy Lloyd and Sandy to become her informant, Miss Brodie makes not the suggestion, but the declarative statement that Sandy will make an excellent Secret Service agent, a great spy (109). However even before Miss Brodie has been pushing Sandy in this direction, the narrator often hints to the reader at Sandys spy-like qualities, noting her small, almost nonexistent eyes (7) and providing an insight into Sandys imaginations; one which parallels Sandys apparent betrayal of Miss Brodie. Another example of Miss Brodies insight breaking the fifth wall is the character of Mary Macgregor. Miss Brodie reinforces the idea in Marys own head that she is this inept buffoon, as she says Who has spilled this ink on the floor was it you, Mary? [] I dare say it was you. Ive never come across such a clumsy girl. (15-16) Almost immediately before this, the narrative flashes forwards to Marys clumsy death in a hotel fire (She ran into somebody on her third turn, stumbled and died (15)) as if to prematurely confirm Miss Brodies assessment of Mary Macgregor. Almost to remind the reader of Miss Brodies unparalleled control of the future of the girls, the narrative parallels Marys death in the chemistry lab as she took fright and ran along a single lane between two benches, met with a white flame [] Hither and thither she ran in panic between the benches until she was caught (76). These parallels in the narrative act as devices to stress the apparent infinite influence which Miss Brodie holds over the girls, even if that influence extends into realms which are beyond her control (apparently). This attempt to narrate the girls lives links Miss Brodie to fascism and its attempt at control, as Suh makes the point that one of fascisms violations was its attempt to usurp human unpredictability in the quest to narrate beginnings and ends.18 As Marina Mackay puts it in Muriel Spark and the Meaning of Treason, Sandy ultimately defects because her loyalty enables insight; and her insight, treason.19 This insight to which Mackay refers is the same insight which causes Sandy to notice things which the other girls do not. For instance, the acknowledgement that the Brodie set is Miss Brodies own Fascisti. This insight of knowledge and understanding, praised by Miss Brodie quite frequently, is the very reason why Sandy comes to betray Miss Brodie, and Spark is insistent that the leader has created in her follower the conditions of her own betrayal. (Meaning 515) This idea is further continued in Mackays article, as Miss Brodies betrayal is compared with her descendant Deacon Brodies death: cheerfully on a gibbet of his own devising. (88) Mackay argues that like Deacon, Miss Brodies betrayal is due to her
17 18

Ibid, p.88 Ibid, p. 101 19 MacKay, Marina. "Muriel Spark and the Meaning of Treason." MFS Modern Fiction Studies 54.3 (2008): 505-522. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Jan. 2011. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>. p. 515

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Contemporary Literature

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own obsession over shaping Sandys life. (This kind of betrayal over an obsessive fascist leader can be seen in modern film e.g. in George Lucas Star Wars when Darth Vader decides to thwart the Emperor who has manipulated Vaders life for his own political agenda). Seen at first as a spiteful decision, Sandy desires to break free from Miss Brodies unwarranted power over the destinies of herself and Rose, and so decides to sleep with Teddy Lloyd. However, Sandy decides after a while to continue to manipulate Teddy and Miss Brodie, and turn[s] that gift for acquiring and manipulating knowledge [] on Miss Brodie herself. (Meaning 515) The power dynamics are now completely turned on their heads, as it is Miss Brodie relying on Sandy, and Sandy using Miss Brodie. This in turn begs the question of whether Sandys betrayal was in fact treason against her fascist leader, as Sandy herself explains that Its only possible to betray where loyalty is due. (127) Sandy believes that because of Miss Brodies desire to control the girls for her own reasons, any loyalty which is due to her for shaping them into the women they end up being is relinquished, which allows her to ask herself the question What does she mean by betray? (60) In the beginning of the novel, Sandy and the rest of the Brodie set desire Miss Brodie for her radical approaches to pedagogy. When we are young we do desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us in search for some direction from those we think know what is best for us, and the person (or people) we do turn to for direction are often built up in our heads insofar as we develop a strong image of them and their power over us. This is a possible explanation for Sandys betrayal, as Mackay notes that Sandys treason is the kind of treason West and Boveri envisage when they propose that treason is the product of a capacity for imaginative transformation that renders the real inadequate (Meaning 517). Sandy has an image in her head of the beautiful Miss Brodie and her fascinating stories of ex-lovers and exotic locations. However, once Sandy sees Miss Brodies hidden agenda, she is unable to see Miss Brodie as the powerful roman woman in her prime anymore, but instead she betray[s] Miss Brodie for failing to be what [she] thought she was (Mackay 517). In betraying Miss Brodie, Gregson argues that Sandy has become the most despised Stark type that of the underhand manipulator.20 Although Miss Brodie is arguably a born Fascist (125) as Sandy puts it, she is still a somewhat likeable character, and is treated far more humanely than is usual for Spark.21 This could be due to the fact that we can never get a clear linear focus on the character of Miss Brodie22 as the narrative often jump cuts to different years of Miss Brodies life, and this means that her puppeteering is much more ambiguous in its motives and impacts. Furthermore, we feel sympathetic for the power-hungry Brodie because despite using the girls, she does genuinely open the minds of her pupils and even her faults turn out to have positive value (Gregson 14). Sandy, on the other hand, the reader develops a dislike for, even though she is the one who brings Miss Brodies tyrannical pedagogical rule to an end. The most despised Spark type[s] that Gregson refers to are those who strive for God-like control in a more devious way, especially through blackmail, or plots related to it. (Gregson, 14) Sandy, with her
20

Gregson, Ian "Muriel Spark's caricatural effects." Essays in criticism 55.1 (2005): p. 14

21 22

Gregson, p. 14 Ian Rankin Discusses Jean Brodie - Faulks on Fiction: The Snob, preview - BBC Two <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAlfjVkzAk>

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untrustworthy eyes, aims for this kind of control in sleeping with Teddy Lloyd, and it is obvious that Spark wants the reader to dislike Sandy through the narrators derogatory comment about her insolent blackmailing stare (122). Spark herself has commented on this type of manipulative character in her books: Theres lots of blackmail in my works and unspoken blackmail . . . I cant stand it.23 Spark herself cannot stand Sandy Stranger, who is no stranger at all to blackmail. Although Sandy does end up being an unlikeable character, this is only due to the influence of Miss Brodies oppressive power dynamics, and Spark uses Sandy to explore how we operate under the pressure of power dynamics. This effect of the pressure to be part of the group can be seen when Sandy has a fleeting thought of actually being nice to Mary Macgregor. The narrator tells us suddenly Sandy wanted to be kind to Mary Macgregor, and thought of the possibilities of feeling nice from being nice to Mary instead of blaming her. Miss Brodies voice from behind [...] The sound of Miss Brodies voice, just when it was on the tip of Sandys tongue to be nice to Mary Macgregor, arrested the urge. (30) Spark her demonstrates the oppressive overcast which prevents the girls at such an impressionable age from stepping outside of the groups status quo (ironic as the reason Miss Brodie is desirable to them is precisely because she breaks the status quo). The use of the verb arrested here is telling as it suggests that Miss Brodies power is so oppressive that even for Sandy to speak her mind freely would be a crime against Miss Brodie herself. This kind of oppression dominated Nazi Germany when journalists (or anyone for that matter) could be arrested for publishing anything which slandered the name of Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich. In exploring these ideas of power and Miss Brodies desire for it, a necessary question which crops up is: was Miss Brodie actually a born Fascist? (127) To do so it would first be appropriate to look at some of the main tenets of fascist ideology. Noel OSullivan suggests that an important component of fascism is the all embracing vision of an organic, spiritually unified and morally regenerated society.24 This idea has been established earlier in the essay, as Sandy imagines the group as a body with Miss Brodie for the head, emphasising OSullivans point about a unified society. Another important constituent of fascism which can be prominently seen in Miss Brodies case is the idea of mutual self-sacrifice in the national interest.25 Miss Brodie claims that she has sacrificed her life for the interest of her girls, saying You girls are my vocation. If I were to receive a proposal of marriage tomorrow from the Lord Lyon King-of-Arms I would decline it. I am dedicated to you in my prime. (23) Suh comments that Miss Brodies rhetoric replicates that of the BUF by invoking the necessity of womens sacrifice to higher ideals rather than to the narrower reference of the husband/father or family.26 This ideal could be argued to somewhat lack conviction, however, as at the same time, she [Brodie] suggests the possibility that her self-sacrifice is actually a performance [...] by hyperbolizing.27 On the other hand, this hyperbolic speech is something which we have come to associate with political leaders, and more specifically, the Fascist leader Adolf Hitler. OSullivan argues that the leaders task is no longer to instruct his listeners but to arouse their
23

McQuillan, Martin, The Same Informed Air: An Interview with Muriel Spark, in McQuillan, Theorizing Muriel Spark, p. 225 24 OSullivan, Noel, Five Main Tenets of Fascist Ideology, in Kallis, Aristotle A. The Fascism Reader; ed. by Aristotle A. Kallis (London; Routledge, 2003) p. 157 25 Ibid, p. 157 26 Suh, Familiar Attractions of Fascism, p. 97 27 Ibid, p. 96

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emotions, in a way which encourages them to live out the fascist myth28, and this is exactly what Miss Brodie does. However, Miss Brodies fascist tendencies could be argued to be a result of her idealistic and whimsical view of life, as David Lodge writes her sympathy for the Fascist movements of the thirties is not a reasoned political attitude, but an extension of her egotism and romantic sensibility29. Miss Brodie, although an obvious fascist sympathiser, does not realise herself the adverse effects which her manipulation of power causes the girls, as the principles governing the end of her prime would have astonished herself at the beginning of it. (44) Miss Brodie is so caught up in the aesthetic ideas of fascism that she remains blissfully unaware of the bullying tactics he [Mussolini] and his henchmen ruthlessly employed30 and flippantly concludes that Hitler was rather naughty (122). This levity about these atrocities during the war punctuates Miss Brodies naivety in supporting the fascists based on their aesthetic appeal alone. To say that Miss Brodie is a sucker for power or control would be a gross understatement. It would be more appropriate to infer from her extremist ideologies that she thrives off of it. Her radical approaches to teaching her pupils ensures that they are captivated by her imaginative stories, and her seductive charisma invades their minds until it is rooted deep in their souls, attempting to control them at every point in their lives. However, despite the manipulative way in which she teaches the girls of the Brodie set, Miss Brodie remains a likeable character and it is unfair to pin her down as an evil dictator or a born Fascist. Her methods albeit morally wrong does cause the girls to grow up to become individuals, and her romantic sensibility turns her girls into artists by showing them that the world in which they live is intractably multiple and endlessly rewritable.31 In the end, not even a power hungry fascist like Miss Brodie is so black and white.

Bibliography
28 29

OSullivan, p. 160 Lodge, David. The Uses and Abuses of Omniscience: Method and Meaning in Muriel Sparks The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in Suh, Judy, Familiar Attractions of Fascism, p. 87 30 Murray, I. & Tait, B. Ten Modern Scottish Novels, in Suh, Judy, Familiar Attractions, p. 87 31 Mackay, 513

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1. Deleuze, Gilles,1925-1995. A thousand plateaus : capitalism and schizophrenia / Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1987. <http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dundee/docDetail.action?docID=10151134> 2. Gregson, Ian "Muriel Spark's caricatural effects." Essays in criticism 55.1 (2005): 1-16. 3. Kallis, Aristotle A. The Fascism Reader; ed. by Aristotle A. Kallis (London; Routledge, 2003) 4. MacKay, Marina. "Muriel Spark and the Meaning of Treason." MFS Modern Fiction Studies 54.3 (2008): 505-522. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Jan. 2011. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>. 5. McQuillan, Martin. Theorizing Muriel Spark: Gender, Race, Deconstruction. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) 6. Rankin, Ian; Ian Rankin Discusses Jean Brodie - Faulks on Fiction: The Snob, preview - BBC Two <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAlfjVkzAk> 7. Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Harmondsworth; Penguin, 1965) 8. Suh, Judy. "The Familiar Attractions of Fascism in Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." Journal of Modern Literature 30.2 (2007): 86-102. Project MUSE. Web. 1 Feb. 2011. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>. 9. Whiteley, P. "The social framework of knowledge: Muriel Spark's The 'Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'." Mosaic 29.4 (1996): 79-100.