Muriel Spark Essays

  • Analysis of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodice by Muriel Spark

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    Analysis of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodice by Muriel Spark “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a novel about a teacher’s dedication to her pupils. It is also about loyalty and betrayal.” The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a novel about a teacher’s dedication to her pupils. It is also about loyalty and betrayal. The novel emphasises the effects of dedication, loyalty and betrayal within a small group of people and the way in which they are all intertwined. It forces the reader to look at particular

  • The Dangers of Social Conformity Exposed in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Dangers of Social Conformity Exposed in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie depicts the coming of age of six adolescent girls in Edinburgh, Scotland during the 1930's. The story brings us into the classroom of Miss Jean Brodie, a fascist school teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, and gives close encounter with the social and political climate in Europe during the era surrounding the second World War. Spark's novel is a narrative relating

  • The Pillowman And Muriel Spark's

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    The relations between art and life are explored in Martin McDonagh’s play, The Pillowman and Muriel Spark’s Loitering With Intent. They explore these relations through discussing the stylistic features of their characters and how these characters are perceived in real life. Both authors explore how the preconceived ideas of what a character should be is dismantled and thus, the line which distinguishes between art and life becomes less clear. Another way in which these authors explore the link between

  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Miss Brodie fails to be a good teacher because she teaches on her own accord, gives her students wrong impressions, and displays unprofessional behavior towards her staff and pupils. As a schoolteacher in Edinburgh during the 1930’s there were many rules and regulations that teachers had to adhere to in order to successfully feed the minds of their young pupils. Schoolteachers had more of a responsibility during this period than today because

  • Mary Shelley

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    of his works, which led to the history of biographical-literary criticism (Spark ix). Shelley traveled frequently, once to Italy in 1818, where she composed Italian Lives, which appeared in Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia (Walling 10). Shelley’s marriage persisted for eight years (Spark ix), which ended on July 8, 1822 when Percy Shelley drown (Walling 10), and left her a single mother of a child, and a son on the way (Spark ix). Second, Mary Shelley achieved her highest acknowledgments for her writings

  • roman myth

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    * Stars * A long time ago in the deep dark forest of Astrum lived two brothers named Josephus and Tomas. These two brothers were always getting in trouble, trying to outdo each other. The two were always in competition against one another. When one jumped, the other had to jump twice as high. One day their competitiveness had gone too far. As usual they could be found in the field romping and playing. This day was like no other though. The two brothers were playing with rocks and were seeing who

  • The Metamorphosis Essay

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    Self-sacrifice and hard work are what enable us to look people in the eye. It is this need which was Gregor's motivation for trudging on through a job which he despises. He is like a bottom-feeder for other people's love and respect. He maintains a spark of real intimacy for his sister, which later surfaces when he hears her playing the violin to the guests. At that moment he realizes what he has been starving for as he plays out in his mind the fantasy of keeping her in his room, having her play to

  • Lord Of The Flies, An Analysis

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    keep a signal fire going. Consequently, the boys live without luxury that could have been obtained had they maintained a society on the island. Instead, these young boys take advantage of their freedom and life as they knew it deteriorates. The boys spark the onset of tragedy when the pig hunt evolves as more than just an activity. Jack and his band of hunters love the thrill of the chase. They spend much of their day searching the pig runs enjoying the brutality they cause on other living beings. This

  • Whitman's Interpretation of Emerson

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    Whitman's Interpretation of Emerson Walt Whitman was able to take the spark of an idea from Ralph Waldo Emerson and tend, nurture, and support it until the spark grew into a huge flame of something surprising and original - new American poetry. Whitman did not only learn from Emerson, but he also took Emerson's ideas and expanded them into something much more encompassing. Whitman was able to use Emerson's principles that are outlined in "The Poet" to springboard into something more expansive

  • The Physics of Turbo Charging

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    gasoline and air is pulled into the cylinder through an open valve. As he piston moves back up in the cylinder the valve closes and the mixture is compressed in the combustion chamber. As the piston reaches the top of the cylinder a spark is fired from the spark plug. This spark ignites the mixture and it expands at a very fast rate. This explosion forces the piston down in the cylinder again. On the next rise the left over gasses are expelled through an open valve into the exhaust system. This is a fairly

  • Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse - Portrait of a Real Woman

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    man (husband and father), a woman (wife and mother), and children. The woman is claimed by all. She is held responsible, both in the eyes of her family and in her own eyes, for the happiness and well-being of all. She is the glue, the anchor, the spark, the damper. She is lonely but never alone. The idea of drifting to the bottom of the sea can seem inviting Ð to be free and alone! This short passage aptly illustrates a real woman's very complicated feelings about the demands of family and society

  • Setting and Organization in Poe's The Masque (Mask) of the Red Death

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Setting and Organization in The Masque of the Red Death "The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the 'Red Death,'" (209). As Edgar Allen Poe set the scene for his story, he also created an ominous mood and a sense of suspense supported by the setting. He details the fun and amusement inside the prince's

  • Comparing the Opening Scenes of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth

    3246 Words  | 7 Pages

    important because it can play a major role in establishing key elements throughout the rest of the performance. The main elements are the characters, themes, language, settings and plot. The audience can form a basic idea of these elements involved to spark their interest in the play. There is a great deal of contrast between the opening scenes of “Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet”, both by William Shakespeare. The first scene of “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is very short, but full of impact. The

  • Interventionist or Isolationist?

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    the end, I don’s think we could have stayed out of the war if we wanted to. The world at the time was a tangled web of alliances that meant a local conflict could start a massive war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was the spark that ignited that web. Even after the start of World War I, the United States was content to sell food and munitions to the countries involved in the conflict. It wasn’t until Germany began to attack the ships taking those trade items to Europe that

  • amy tan

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    with. Tan feels as though her mother doesn’t take her own opinions and worries to heart, rather she feels her mother is only concerned about Tan becoming famous so that her mother will be better off. These strong emotions that we feel from Tan also spark something inside most readers to immediately jump on the side of Tan rather than see past these disguised attempts of motivation. Later on in “Two Kinds” Tan’s mother comments on her rugged hair, saying that she “look like Negro-Chinese.” Tan’s emotions

  • Beach Boys

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    the world young men, they idolized the Beach Boys, not only because they had a carefree life style, but also because all of the girls wanted them. Not only that, the Beach Boys gave of the appearance that surfers got the girls. This created a large spark of interest in surfing, making it a popular pastime. There were two main reasons parents did not like the Beach Boys. First of all, they did not like the idea of girls running around in bikini's all of the time. Secondly, parents were not too thrilled

  • Building A Campfire

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    element is easily accessible; it's the air a person breaths or oxygen. Fuel is equivalent to wood. Sometimes lighter fluid is used to start big fires immediately, but usually when dealing with a campfire the fuel is wood. Ignition can come from a spark, match, or lighter. It is anything that initially starts the fire. Going deeper into wood, there are three categories to classify it under. Kindling is the stuff that is easiest to burn. It could be leaves, dryer lint, or very small twigs. The

  • The Fire That Burns Within

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Somewhere along the line I became interested in science, and now I want to become a doctor. From looking back on my past all I can figure out is that my interest in science grew the more I learned. I see it as this burning fire that started out as a spark when I went to my first science fair in second grade and saw all those experiments written out and displayed on tri-folded poster board cut-outs. Now I try to feed that flaming fire of curiosity by learning as much as possible about everything,

  • Free Essays - Impatience and Disrespect in Oedipus the King (Rex)

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    wrongdoing. Oedipus exclaimed, "Then leave me alone-get out!"(198). Oedipus would not accept any other idea than Creon being the killer, so when Creon tried to defend himself, Oedipus grew impatient and sent Creon away. Oedipus' impatience was the spark for his paranoia. Without his impatience, Oedipus would not have jumped to so many harsh, offensive, and paranoid conclusions. Oedipus' paranoia estranged him from people he was close to. One of the main examples of Oedipus' paranoia was the

  • The Meaningless Life of Grendel in John Gardner's Grendel

    2577 Words  | 6 Pages

    we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through which we might tie all of the experiences of our life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness which sometimes consumes the