Summary: As I was reading the first pages of the book, I realized that it is told from the view of a bystander. This book is set in the 1930's. The book starts by giving an explanation of each of the girls that belong to the Brodie Set. But then it goes back six years when they first became this set. The girls that belong to the set are Monica Douglas, Rose Stanley, Eunice Gardiner, Sandy Stranger, Jenny Gray and Mary Macgregor. Monica Douglas was the perfect, mostly famous for mathematics which she could do in her head and for her anger. Rose Stanley was famous for sex. Sandy Stranger was famous for her vowel sounds. Jenny Gray was the prettiest and most graceful girl of the set. Finally, Mary Macgregor was famous for being a silent lump, a nobody whom everybody could blame. They all attend to the Marcia Blaine School. Miss Brodie, who is a teacher at the school and the owner of the group has a feud with Miss Mackay, the headmistress. Their feud is mainly about the way Miss Brodie teaches her students. To Miss Mackay, education is putting information on the pupil's head that they will later forget. On the other hand, to Miss Brodie, education is leading out. In the book, the narrator goes back and forth by giving certain facts about what later happened to the Brodie Set. One of these facts was that Mary died at the age of 23 in a hotel fire. Another was that Sandy became Sister Helena of the Transfiguration. As they were giving background information, they explained how the girls were very different when they were young from what they were now. For example, one of this was that Rose as a child was a tomboy and was interested in trains, and motor cars which is very different from what she has become. When the girls were younger and Miss Brodie was teaching them, she will tell them to keep their books open so that when someone comes into the room, they will think that they were studying but in reality Miss Brodie was actually talking about her real life and her adventures.
Quote: " If only you small girls would listen to me I would make of you the crème de la crème " (Spark 11).
Reaction: Just like when reading Shakespeare and how he likes to repeat stuff, as I was reading this book it is the same thing. But in this case Miss Brodie repeats "the crème de la crème" which means the best of the best. As you said when we were discussing Shakespeare when they repeat the same thing a lot of times it means that it is important. Since Miss Brodie is the one that repeats this phrase I can infer that this is her goal. Miss Brodie is a teacher so her goal towards these girls is to make "the best of the best" so that they be successful when they grow up.
Summary: As the book comes to an end, I am introduced to the last section, Deceit (the fake smile). In this section I learned about the origins of the word "cheese" whenever someone wants to take a photo. This word originated in British public schools in 1920. There are equivalent words to cheese that are used in other languages. Spaniards use patata (potato), the Dane use appelsin (orange), the Japanese use the English word whiskey (as I was reading this it reminded me of my childhood and how in DR we used this word rather than patata). Photographers used the word "cheese" when the person has difficulties to smile naturally. He mentions how the person that gives the news sometimes have to faint a smile so the person that is watching them does not get so traumatized depending on the degree of the information. But there are people that have confessed that no matter the degree on the information it does not affect them because it goes in one ear and out the other. He mentions how the Cheshire Cat is a memorable symbol of a posed smile. As the chapter goes on he mention the scientific development and clinical practice of dentistry changed a lot of people's lives because the ones that had really bad teeth were able to fix their problem. In the conclusion of the book, he confesses that his teeth are not perfect but that he would not consider changing the way they are because by doing this he will change his smile as well.
Quote: " Who knows what will happen to the smile in the future? If current trends in dental science develop as they have in the last thirty years, we may expect more and more effective cosmetic treatments to enhance and improve the function and appearance of our teeth " (Trumble 162).
Reaction: When I read this quote the first thing that came to my mind was plastic surgery and how it connects to what he says about scientific advancements. The other day I was watching Jessica Simpson's show "The Price of Beauty" and they went to Rio de Janeiro to find out what makes a women beautiful there. During the show they showed a women who has had 42 surgeries and she said that whenever she looks in the mirror and she sees something that does not make her happy she goes and get a plastic surgery. As times passes people are becoming more obsessed with plastic surgery without thinking on the consequences that it might bring. When connecting this to the quote, I think the same will happen with the teeth because people will start doing things that are unnecessary just to make them "perfect."
PS: I did my third post that was not on my page when you checked the first 2 but my blogger is not letting me show more than three posts so that you were able to see it.
