And Miss Brodie is ... right to resist various efforts to send her to "the more progressive schools," sensing that the education she offers can only be effective against the backdrop of tradition, not in the absence of it.
...
And the Calvinist idea of secular vocation can't bear the weight of [Miss Brodie's] demands (even before she extricates it from its original relation to an omnipotent God).
...
[T]he first outcome we learn about is that of the hapless and stupid girl, Mary, whose hapless and stupid death in a fire is described in maudlin detail. Why does Miss Brodie so to speak "elect" such a pathetic girl to her set? What is the meaning of election if one must live and die like Mary?
Miss Self-Important's review is fascinating, perhaps particularly her insights into Calvinist ideas of vocation.
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