Control
Jean Brodie exerts her influence to a great extent in the novel. She is the teacher and, in the classroom, she is in charge. Miss Brodie tries to mould her students into what she wants them to become, often putting pressure on them to behave in the way she wants them to. For example, she urges one student Joyce Emily to go and fight in Spain on behalf of the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Joyce Emily does as she is told and is later killed in an attack. This desire for control would not be allowed in a school nowadays but Spark shows us how influential the voice of one adult can be over the lives of children that adult is responsible for.
Politics
Politics play a key role in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. Miss Brodie is, from the start of the novel, understood to be a great admirer of Fascism. She has pictures of Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, in her classroom and talks about him in only highly positive terms to her students. Her beliefs are unique among teachers at the school who think that she is wrong to praise a dictator, especially in front of young, impressionable students. This conflict between Miss Brodie and other staff members and some parents is one of the most important conflicts in the novel overall.
Sexuality and Lesbianism
In recent years, critics have looked at the novel through the lens of sexuality and what they have found is particularly interesting. The setting of the novel is an all-girls school in Edinburgh and the interactions between Miss Brodie and her students suggest that their relationships are not entirely free of the possibility of eroticism or sexual attraction. Miss Brodie also manipulates her students' sexuality. For example, she is fixated with the idea that Rose, one of her most special students, should have an affair with a married male art teacher, Mr Lloyd, instead of her having an affair with him.
Education
What is the point of education? Can education go too far? These are two questions that Spark forces the reader to ask themselves as they read the novel. Miss Brodie emphasizes the importance of the classical languages, travel and experiences in educating oneself about the world. Her education also involves praising a dictator to teenage students and not acknowledging the reality of life under dictatorship, something that a lot of readers will feel uncomfortable about. Aside from the classroom, Miss Brodie's approach to education as something that should happen everywhere includes education about sex and romance, something a lot of her colleagues disagree with.
