ENG328Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 42: Flashforward, Finishing School, Narration
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Prolepsis - flash-forward
Analepsis = flash-back
○
•
Pg. 15 - Cruel or compassionate killing off of Mary Macgregor
Hits us without preparation
○
She was in her prime while in school
○
Dies as she lived - stupidly, clumsily
○
Our lives are written because they are preordained
Free will is an illusion
§
○
•
Doctrine of predestination - disrupts narrative to remind me
•
"Finishing school" - they are finished as their futures are decided
Deliberative deprivations and omissions challenge readers
○
•
Almost all twists given away early on
Discoveries are based less on fact than on meaning
○
Shift in time detaches us from events to think about meaning
○
•
Each character defined by minimalist labels
•
Prolepsis-flash forward and analepsis-flashback
She uses flash forward- also to let us know about schoolgirls later in life
Pg. 15 mary mcgregor had not thought much of ms. Jean brody- years with ms. Brody
had been the happiest years of her life
No doubt she kills of mary in this passage- but what is tone of passage? Cruel or
compassionate? –
Implying that mary still being judged as harshly as she was at school
Nasty phrase
Tragedy of mary is that unbeknown to her was that she was in her prime at school
How awful that she dies as she had lived
Just as we are absorbing this info spark pulls us back to mary’s clumsiness
Our lives written because they are forordained
The illusion of free will- mary was always going to die at 23 and sandy was always going
to be a nun
But only novelists see life in this all-encompasing way
Should a novelist do what god can do?
Disrupting narrative to tell us what will become of the characters- like pre-destining
god
Calvinist idea of book of life- god having written your life ahead of time and cannot be
changed
Whatever he wills is good- very harsh conception of god- nothing you alone can do to
make yourself good
Sandy dislikes this aspect of ms. Brody but spark is doing the same things and as a
novelist seems she can do nothing else- a novelist has this power over her characters
Not for nothing that this is set at a finishing school- in normal sense and grim sense as
well
Seems like their lives are inescapable and pre-ordained
Spark- deliberate omissions- always represent blunt challenge to the reader- as if
saying you make of this what you can
Desire sparked in reader to complete circle of which spark begins
Issue of predestination…
Book concerns schoolteacher and selected girls
Because of her unorthodox teaching methods she is being forced to betray
We find out early that she has been betrayed by someone and forced to leave
What is weird is that through flashbacks and fastforwards all the intrigues of plot are
given away- we find everything at the beginning
Chronology disrupted- realizing that discoveries we make are based less on fact than on
meaning
Shift in time detaches us from experience presented and makes us think of its meaning-
free from sense of suspense and immediately think of motivations of characters
Each character presented in essential form and defined by minimum of words
They are each famous for one thing
This makes group sound like group of toys wound up by their maker
Ms. Brody tries to manipulate them as if their existence depends upon her will
But spark undercuts wishes of brody-the events are different from what brody plans
One of biggest difficulties in novel is trying to determine what the effects of brody
are…
To understand her must examine character of sandy
Sandy is the eyes of the reader but with her little pig eyes is just as treacherous as
brody and just as involved in making fictions
Sandy is eyes of affair of ms. Brody- also feeds mary lies in class-writes letter
informing of ove of teddy
Sandy is one character who retains objectivity and reflects on moral implications of
ms. Brody’s fantasies
She feels she must subvert the plots of brody
Pg. 72 this was the first time the girls had ever heard of…
Always oblique editorial comments that undercut the uniquenss of ms. Brody-paints
her as a spinster
As long as she is tyrannical only in the classroom ssandy can accept her distortions of
reality
Pg. 11- lionardo divinci is incorrect the answer is slfhb he is my favourite
She decides what is true and what is not
Sandy denies her betrayal- only possible to betray where loyality is due and with ms.
Brody loyalty is due only to a point
The motivations of sandy’s betrayal are ambiguous
The novel judges sandy for the same reasons that sandy judges ms. Brody
Sandy lacks moral perception- but to call her conversion punishment is to overstate the
case
Characters much more transfigured than developed
Narrative method of weaving together past and present shows how linear events have
underlying meaning which transcends separate events
Ordinary events are flouted to demonstrate the extraordinary
Showing the hidden possibilities in all things
Transfiguration of the commonplace is good way to describe her methods
Uses momentous event to betray the bizarre underpinnings of conventional
Characters forced to re-examine circumstances of their lives
Not clear whether sandy or ms. Brody aquire elf knowledge or simply evade by
retreating into different modes of escape
Romantic approach to experience
Similarity of sandy to ms. Brody is center of novel
Ms. Brody is the means by which ms. Brody gains insight into herself
Emphasis falls not on causal sequence
Ms. Brody sees herself as modern day justified sinner-or antinomian
Notion that everything predestined..
Ms. Brody assumes power over students akin to power of novelists over subjects and
god over people
Analogy often drawn between novelist and god of creation
No coincidence that convention of omniscient narrator at the same time that Nietzsche
announced the death of god
Omniscient narration is absolute rather than focalized
We should approve or disapprove of ms. brody
Charismatic who exposes them to her opinions- which to her aremuch more important
than other things
On other hand she has created her own secular religion perhaps as compensation for
the fact that her own prime is over
She tries to create girls in her own image according to her divine plan but the only girl
who becomes hers for life is sandy
If brody is free wheeling justified sinner in tradition of calvanist mythology then sandy
is also a child after calvin’s heart
May seem that ms. Brody is punished
But- is sandy’s moral perceptiveness genuine or ironic? Is her motivation mean or no?
One thing is certain- sandy and ms. Brody chronic fictionalizers
Sandy stranger also highly unreliable fictionalizer
Not clear if she has learned difference between fact and fiction
Theme of education…
Runs through book although not main focus
Spark delves into human psychology- in attempt to understand its true…
Spark studies effects of different factors on human development
With reference to community structured thing of education she structures ideas about
individualistic attainment of knowledge
Fascination with the formation of personality
Plato- all knowledge is recollection
Look up theme of education in prime of ms. Jean brody
Anti-modernity that she represents and liberalism prove to be false-she is restrictive
Manipulative dupliciouts self-involved etc.
Lecture 42
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
9:59 PM
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Prolepsis - flash-forward
Analepsis = flash-back
○
•
Pg. 15 - Cruel or compassionate killing off of Mary Macgregor
Hits us without preparation
○
She was in her prime while in school
○
Dies as she lived - stupidly, clumsily
○
Our lives are written because they are preordained
Free will is an illusion
§
○
•
Doctrine of predestination - disrupts narrative to remind me•
"Finishing school" - they are finished as their futures are decided
Deliberative deprivations and omissions challenge readers
○
•
Almost all twists given away early on
Discoveries are based less on fact than on meaning
○
Shift in time detaches us from events to think about meaning
○
•
Each character defined by minimalist labels•
Prolepsis-flash forward and analepsis-flashback
She uses flash forward- also to let us know about schoolgirls later in life
Pg. 15 mary mcgregor had not thought much of ms. Jean brody- years with ms. Brody
had been the happiest years of her life
No doubt she kills of mary in this passage- but what is tone of passage? Cruel or
compassionate? –
Implying that mary still being judged as harshly as she was at school
Nasty phrase
Tragedy of mary is that unbeknown to her was that she was in her prime at school
How awful that she dies as she had lived
Just as we are absorbing this info spark pulls us back to mary’s clumsiness
Our lives written because they are forordained
The illusion of free will- mary was always going to die at 23 and sandy was always going
to be a nun
But only novelists see life in this all-encompasing way
Should a novelist do what god can do?
Disrupting narrative to tell us what will become of the characters- like pre-destining
god
Calvinist idea of book of life- god having written your life ahead of time and cannot be
changed
Whatever he wills is good- very harsh conception of god- nothing you alone can do to
make yourself good
Sandy dislikes this aspect of ms. Brody but spark is doing the same things and as a
novelist seems she can do nothing else- a novelist has this power over her characters
Not for nothing that this is set at a finishing school- in normal sense and grim sense as
well
Seems like their lives are inescapable and pre-ordained
Spark- deliberate omissions- always represent blunt challenge to the reader- as if
saying you make of this what you can
Desire sparked in reader to complete circle of which spark begins
Issue of predestination…
Book concerns schoolteacher and selected girls
Because of her unorthodox teaching methods she is being forced to betray
We find out early that she has been betrayed by someone and forced to leave
What is weird is that through flashbacks and fastforwards all the intrigues of plot are
given away- we find everything at the beginning
Chronology disrupted- realizing that discoveries we make are based less on fact than on
meaning
Shift in time detaches us from experience presented and makes us think of its meaning-
free from sense of suspense and immediately think of motivations of characters
Each character presented in essential form and defined by minimum of words
They are each famous for one thing
This makes group sound like group of toys wound up by their maker
Ms. Brody tries to manipulate them as if their existence depends upon her will
But spark undercuts wishes of brody-the events are different from what brody plans
One of biggest difficulties in novel is trying to determine what the effects of brody
are…
To understand her must examine character of sandy
Sandy is the eyes of the reader but with her little pig eyes is just as treacherous as
brody and just as involved in making fictions
Sandy is eyes of affair of ms. Brody- also feeds mary lies in class-writes letter
informing of ove of teddy
Sandy is one character who retains objectivity and reflects on moral implications of
ms. Brody’s fantasies
She feels she must subvert the plots of brody
Pg. 72 this was the first time the girls had ever heard of…
Always oblique editorial comments that undercut the uniquenss of ms. Brody-paints
her as a spinster
As long as she is tyrannical only in the classroom ssandy can accept her distortions of
reality
Pg. 11- lionardo divinci is incorrect the answer is slfhb he is my favourite
She decides what is true and what is not
Sandy denies her betrayal- only possible to betray where loyality is due and with ms.
Brody loyalty is due only to a point
The motivations of sandy’s betrayal are ambiguous
The novel judges sandy for the same reasons that sandy judges ms. Brody
Sandy lacks moral perception- but to call her conversion punishment is to overstate the
case
Characters much more transfigured than developed
Narrative method of weaving together past and present shows how linear events have
underlying meaning which transcends separate events
Ordinary events are flouted to demonstrate the extraordinary
Showing the hidden possibilities in all things
Transfiguration of the commonplace is good way to describe her methods
Uses momentous event to betray the bizarre underpinnings of conventional
Characters forced to re-examine circumstances of their lives
Not clear whether sandy or ms. Brody aquire elf knowledge or simply evade by
retreating into different modes of escape
Romantic approach to experience
Similarity of sandy to ms. Brody is center of novel
Ms. Brody is the means by which ms. Brody gains insight into herself
Emphasis falls not on causal sequence
Ms. Brody sees herself as modern day justified sinner-or antinomian
Notion that everything predestined..
Ms. Brody assumes power over students akin to power of novelists over subjects and
god over people
Analogy often drawn between novelist and god of creation
No coincidence that convention of omniscient narrator at the same time that Nietzsche
announced the death of god
Omniscient narration is absolute rather than focalized
We should approve or disapprove of ms. brody
Charismatic who exposes them to her opinions- which to her aremuch more important
than other things
On other hand she has created her own secular religion perhaps as compensation for
the fact that her own prime is over
She tries to create girls in her own image according to her divine plan but the only girl
who becomes hers for life is sandy
If brody is free wheeling justified sinner in tradition of calvanist mythology then sandy
is also a child after calvin’s heart
May seem that ms. Brody is punished
But- is sandy’s moral perceptiveness genuine or ironic? Is her motivation mean or no?
One thing is certain- sandy and ms. Brody chronic fictionalizers
Sandy stranger also highly unreliable fictionalizer
Not clear if she has learned difference between fact and fiction
Theme of education…
Runs through book although not main focus
Spark delves into human psychology- in attempt to understand its true…
Spark studies effects of different factors on human development
With reference to community structured thing of education she structures ideas about
individualistic attainment of knowledge
Fascination with the formation of personality
Plato- all knowledge is recollection
Look up theme of education in prime of ms. Jean brody
Anti-modernity that she represents and liberalism prove to be false-she is restrictive
Manipulative dupliciouts self-involved etc.
Lecture 42
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
9:59 PM
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Prolepsis - flash-forward
Analepsis = flash-back
○
•
Pg. 15 - Cruel or compassionate killing off of Mary Macgregor
Hits us without preparation
○
She was in her prime while in school
○
Dies as she lived - stupidly, clumsily
○
Our lives are written because they are preordained
Free will is an illusion
§
○
•
Doctrine of predestination - disrupts narrative to remind me•
"Finishing school" - they are finished as their futures are decided
Deliberative deprivations and omissions challenge readers
○
•
Almost all twists given away early on
Discoveries are based less on fact than on meaning
○
Shift in time detaches us from events to think about meaning
○
•
Each character defined by minimalist labels•
Prolepsis-flash forward and analepsis-flashback
She uses flash forward- also to let us know about schoolgirls later in life
Pg. 15 mary mcgregor had not thought much of ms. Jean brody- years with ms. Brody
had been the happiest years of her life
No doubt she kills of mary in this passage- but what is tone of passage? Cruel or
compassionate? –
Implying that mary still being judged as harshly as she was at school
Nasty phrase
Tragedy of mary is that unbeknown to her was that she was in her prime at school
How awful that she dies as she had lived
Just as we are absorbing this info spark pulls us back to mary’s clumsiness
Our lives written because they are forordained
The illusion of free will- mary was always going to die at 23 and sandy was always going
to be a nun
But only novelists see life in this all-encompasing way
Should a novelist do what god can do?
Disrupting narrative to tell us what will become of the characters- like pre-destining
god
Calvinist idea of book of life- god having written your life ahead of time and cannot be
changed
Whatever he wills is good- very harsh conception of god- nothing you alone can do to
make yourself good
Sandy dislikes this aspect of ms. Brody but spark is doing the same things and as a
novelist seems she can do nothing else- a novelist has this power over her characters
Not for nothing that this is set at a finishing school- in normal sense and grim sense as
well
Seems like their lives are inescapable and pre-ordained
Spark- deliberate omissions- always represent blunt challenge to the reader- as if
saying you make of this what you can
Desire sparked in reader to complete circle of which spark begins
Issue of predestination…
Book concerns schoolteacher and selected girls
Because of her unorthodox teaching methods she is being forced to betray
We find out early that she has been betrayed by someone and forced to leave
What is weird is that through flashbacks and fastforwards all the intrigues of plot are
given away- we find everything at the beginning
Chronology disrupted- realizing that discoveries we make are based less on fact than on
meaning
Shift in time detaches us from experience presented and makes us think of its meaning-
free from sense of suspense and immediately think of motivations of characters
Each character presented in essential form and defined by minimum of words
They are each famous for one thing
This makes group sound like group of toys wound up by their maker
Ms. Brody tries to manipulate them as if their existence depends upon her will
But spark undercuts wishes of brody-the events are different from what brody plans
One of biggest difficulties in novel is trying to determine what the effects of brody
are…
To understand her must examine character of sandy
Sandy is the eyes of the reader but with her little pig eyes is just as treacherous as
brody and just as involved in making fictions
Sandy is eyes of affair of ms. Brody- also feeds mary lies in class-writes letter
informing of ove of teddy
Sandy is one character who retains objectivity and reflects on moral implications of
ms. Brody’s fantasies
She feels she must subvert the plots of brody
Pg. 72 this was the first time the girls had ever heard of…
Always oblique editorial comments that undercut the uniquenss of ms. Brody-paints
her as a spinster
As long as she is tyrannical only in the classroom ssandy can accept her distortions of
reality
Pg. 11- lionardo divinci is incorrect the answer is slfhb he is my favourite
She decides what is true and what is not
Sandy denies her betrayal- only possible to betray where loyality is due and with ms.
Brody loyalty is due only to a point
The motivations of sandy’s betrayal are ambiguous
The novel judges sandy for the same reasons that sandy judges ms. Brody
Sandy lacks moral perception- but to call her conversion punishment is to overstate the
case
Characters much more transfigured than developed
Narrative method of weaving together past and present shows how linear events have
underlying meaning which transcends separate events
Ordinary events are flouted to demonstrate the extraordinary
Showing the hidden possibilities in all things
Transfiguration of the commonplace is good way to describe her methods
Uses momentous event to betray the bizarre underpinnings of conventional
Characters forced to re-examine circumstances of their lives
Not clear whether sandy or ms. Brody aquire elf knowledge or simply evade by
retreating into different modes of escape
Romantic approach to experience
Similarity of sandy to ms. Brody is center of novel
Ms. Brody is the means by which ms. Brody gains insight into herself
Emphasis falls not on causal sequence
Ms. Brody sees herself as modern day justified sinner-or antinomian
Notion that everything predestined..
Ms. Brody assumes power over students akin to power of novelists over subjects and
god over people
Analogy often drawn between novelist and god of creation
No coincidence that convention of omniscient narrator at the same time that Nietzsche
announced the death of god
Omniscient narration is absolute rather than focalized
We should approve or disapprove of ms. brody
Charismatic who exposes them to her opinions- which to her aremuch more important
than other things
On other hand she has created her own secular religion perhaps as compensation for
the fact that her own prime is over
She tries to create girls in her own image according to her divine plan but the only girl
who becomes hers for life is sandy
If brody is free wheeling justified sinner in tradition of calvanist mythology then sandy
is also a child after calvin’s heart
May seem that ms. Brody is punished
But- is sandy’s moral perceptiveness genuine or ironic? Is her motivation mean or no?
One thing is certain- sandy and ms. Brody chronic fictionalizers
Sandy stranger also highly unreliable fictionalizer
Not clear if she has learned difference between fact and fiction
Theme of education…
Runs through book although not main focus
Spark delves into human psychology- in attempt to understand its true…
Spark studies effects of different factors on human development
With reference to community structured thing of education she structures ideas about
individualistic attainment of knowledge
Fascination with the formation of personality
Plato- all knowledge is recollection
Look up theme of education in prime of ms. Jean brody
Anti-modernity that she represents and liberalism prove to be false-she is restrictive
Manipulative dupliciouts self-involved etc.
Lecture 42
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 9:59 PM
