The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Miss Brodie turns her young students into the Brodie set by picking out the girls that she believes will be the easiest to put her ideals on. She spoke to her classes about her travels and her men. The girls were treated to special treatment by her. "Miss Brodie's special girls were taken home to tea and bidden not to tell the others, they were taken into her confidence, they understood her private life and her feud with the headmistress and the allies of the headmistress."(25) By taking the girls into her confidence she made them part of a special club. She constantly took them to tea, to play golf, and even to the ballet. Through all these outings and by telling the girls her secrets she made the girls feel more special than the other girls in their class. Miss Brodie manipulates the girls and soon they are not able to make decisions on their own. They had to get her approval for the simplest school things. They would spout her ideas to the headmistress when questioned by her. Sandy compares the Brodie set to Mussolini's Fascisti because Miss Brodie is a fascist herself. Miss Brodie is constantly telling the girls about how she admires Mussolini's Italy. She admires the fact that his soldiers are in perfect formation, that unemployment has gone down, and that there was almost no litter in the streets. As they were walking "it occurred to Sandy, there at the end of the Middle Meadow Walk, that the Brodie set was Miss Brodie's fascisti, not to the naked eye, marching along, but all knit together for her need and in another way, marching along."(31) Sandy seems to be commenting on how they have lost their individuality and the girls have all become what Miss Brodie wants them to be. They no longer have their own ideas and judgments. All of their ideas are Miss Brodie's. Sparks, through Sandy, reveals her own thoughts about how she believes fascism and group identity to be dangerous to