As several others have pointed out, it was the beginning of Sandy's inevitable breakup in her relationship with Miss Brodie. At first, the girls chosen to be in the Brodie group were made to feel they were "special", but in truth she manipulated and forced them into particular types of personalities so that she was able to live vicariously the lives of these much younger girls. Mary, the dimmest and thus the most malleable, went off to fight and die for a fascist regime that Brodie admired. Jenny, thought to be prettiest, was chosen by Brodie to be Mr. Lloyd's subject for painting and eventually his lover, in order to fulfill her own love fantasies with Lloyd that was not possible in real life as he was a married man. As for Sandy, Brodie thought she was boring and unattractive, not fit to be painted, but completely loyal and thus fit to be a spy!
But Sandy was the most intelligent of the group, and while what she did was perhaps partly motivated by jealousy, what happened was basically the story of her growing up: she was no longer content with being arbitrarily assigned certain roles without question. She wanted to show herself and Miss Brodie that she was not only fit to be painted (and even pose in the nude), but could even take over Jenny's place as Mr. Lloyd's lover. She was truly offended when she found out that he was painting her to make her look like Miss Brodie, and broke up with him. I am afraid that experience might have scarred her for life. Sandy was old enough to question what Miss Brodie did and know the harms she was causing, but she was not yet mature enough to act wisely herself. I hope the film would show more on what happened to the other girls - like Jenny and Monica. For example, was Jenny aware that she was in a way pimped out to be the lover of a married man, and how did she feel? Monica was not much of a character other than one of Sandy's companions. I would like to see more about what happened to the other Brodie girls and how they felt.
As for the OP's question why Sandy eventually became a nun, I think all the characters - including Miss Brodie - had their own internal conflicts and inconsistencies. Miss Brodie on the surface looked upon herself as the champion of freethinking, questioning traditional teaching and values of society to the displeasure of Miss Mackay and the school board. At the same time, she was attracted to fascist totalitarian regimes. Even for her students she not only forced upon them her own political beliefs but wanted to control and manipulate every aspect of their lives, and all the while she expected complete obedience and no answer from them than "yes, Miss Brodie". It is therefore a little ironical that Sandy, the only girl intelligent enough to see through Miss Brodie and rebel against her, somehow chose to become a nun - which more than anything else required complete and unquestioning obedience to authority. What I liked about the book and the film is that the characters are multilayered, with their own internal conflicts and contradictions, and that made them especially interesting.
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Otter (24464)
3 years ago
I can't imagine that Sandy ever took her final vows! Swearing to become a monk, priest, or nun was what Catholic kids did in those days when they had problems with the real world, and the church was well aware that dramatic teens didn't stick around.
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