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Song, Si-chun. “The Meaning of Loyalty in Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 40.2 (2014): 83-101. Muriel Spark (1918-2006) was a Scottish novelist. She was listed as one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945 by The Times in 2008. This paper examines Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961). Jean Brodie was a charismatic and autocratic teacher of six students called the ‘Brodie set.’ Unlike previous critics who had paid attention to Spark’s experimental writing techniques such as multiple narrators, narrative structure, and the elements of metafiction or satire, the paper analyzes the meaning of loyalty by focusing on Sandy Stranger. Ms. Brodie trusted Sandy more than any of her students in the group. However, Sandy was the one who contributed to causing Ms. Brodie’s forced retirement. First, this paper examines Mary’s role in the group and then addresses Brodies’ influence on Joyce, an outsider of the group. Second, it deals with the meaning of loyalty and betrayal based on Sandy’s arguments. Last, it discusses the meaning of Sandy’s conversion to Roman Catholicism and that of her living as a nun. Through the distorted relationships between Ms. Brodie and her students, Spark warns readers about the dangers of following a leader who lacks a sense of sin and guilt in manipulating others’ behaviors to pursue his or her own self-interest. (Texas A&M University)