The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Structure
Spark unfolds her plots not sequentially, but piece by piece, making extensive use of the narrative technique of prolepsis (flash-forward). For example, the reader is aware early on that Miss Brodie is betrayed, though sequentially this happens at the end of their school years. Gradually Spark reveals the betrayer, and lastly all the details surrounding the event are told. Spark develops her characters in this way, too: Joyce Emily is introduced right away as the girl who is rejected from the Brodie set. With this technique, the narrator of the story is omniscient and timeless, relating the entire plot all at once.
Spark creates deep characterizations which are realistic in their human imperfections. Hal Hager, in his commentary on the novel, writes of Sandy and Miss Brodie: "The complexity of these two characters, especially Jean Brodie, mirrors the complexity of human life. Jean Brodie is genuinely intent on opening up her girls' lives, on heightening their awareness of themselves and their world, and on breaking free of restrictive, conventional ways of thinking, feeling, and being"
In The prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark uses certain narrative techniques which reflect the ways of manipulation used by the title character of her novel. On one hand, an omniscient third person narrator is a way for the reader to experience all the character's thoughts and views so that as the novel proceeds, the reader can observe the different views of Miss Jean Brodie by every girl from the set and analyze all the different aspects of Miss Brodie's character. On the other hand, the narrative techniques in the text, such as the specific focalization aspects and the constant use of analepses and prolepses in a visibly authoritative manner, contribute to the impression that the reader's judgements are in fact manipulated by the narrator, although it could seem that there is no particular attitude to characters and events suggested by means of narration.
Obvious
Spark unfolds her plots not sequentially, but piece by piece, making extensive use of the narrative technique of prolepsis (flash-forward). For example, the reader is aware early on that Miss Brodie is betrayed, though sequentially this happens at the end of their school years. Gradually Spark reveals the betrayer, and lastly all the details surrounding the event are told. Spark develops her characters in this way, too: Joyce Emily is introduced right away as the girl who is rejected from the Brodie set. With this technique, the narrator of the story is omniscient and timeless, relating the entire plot all at once.
Spark creates deep characterizations which are realistic in their human imperfections. Hal Hager, in his commentary on the novel, writes of Sandy and Miss Brodie: "The complexity of these two characters, especially Jean Brodie, mirrors the complexity of human life. Jean Brodie is genuinely intent on opening up her girls' lives, on heightening their awareness of themselves and their world, and on breaking free of restrictive, conventional ways of thinking, feeling, and being"
In The prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark uses certain narrative techniques which reflect the ways of manipulation used by the title character of her novel. On one hand, an omniscient third person narrator is a way for the reader to experience all the character's thoughts and views so that as the novel proceeds, the reader can observe the different views of Miss Jean Brodie by every girl from the set and analyze all the different aspects of Miss Brodie's character. On the other hand, the narrative techniques in the text, such as the specific focalization aspects and the constant use of analepses and prolepses in a visibly authoritative manner, contribute to the impression that the reader's judgements are in fact manipulated by the narrator, although it could seem that there is no particular attitude to characters and events suggested by means of narration.
Obvious