her then accepting their different opinions. Brodie shows throughout the entire extract that she is a ‘free sprit’, who refuses to comply with the school’s curriculum and teaching methods. For example, she takes the girls outside for a ‘lesson’ on a sunny day. This is clearly not the normal thing to do. She even tells the girls to pretend that they are studying English should the head mistress come along. They do not study English, but she regales her group by telling the story of her love who died in the war. This is a very sad story and some of the girls start to cry, so Miss Brodie asks two of the girls to entertain the group. One girl, named Eunice Gardener was instructed to do a somersault to provide ‘comic relief’ to the class, and the other Sandy Stranger, was told to recite a poem. Miss Brodie was ‘enraptured’ by her voice because of the way she pronounced her vowels. This is a very bizarre thing for a teacher to do. Mr Gradgrind would never ask a pupil to do anything like that because he believes that gymnastics and poetry are irrelevant to life.The two different styles of teaching adopted by both Miss Brodie and Mr Gradgrind are completely different, but in other respects, incredibly similar. ...
