1. IB Lit - Paper 1 - Charlotte Mewand her Friends
A biography is a detailed account of a person’s life and as well as entailing basic facts such as their
education and relationships, it aims to impress and engage its readers through its portrayal of a subject’s
experience of various events. This extract taken from Penelope Fitzgerald’s ‘Charlotte Mew and her
Friends’ presents the reader with a captivating description of a Miss Harrison: a seemingly high-spirited
and refined headmistress who had an astounding influence on the subject of the biography and one of
Miss Harrison’s students, Charlotte Mew. The narrator’s positive attitude towards Miss Harrison’s rather
impressive character together with the effect she had on Charlotte Mew is highlighted by the appreciative
tone the narrator adopts when describing her numerously inspiring character traits along with how others
had perceived her. The events are related in an anecdotal style in order to sustain the reader’s interest and
engagement with this fascinating figure whom the narrator captures in epic light.
The passage opens with an immediately positive image of Miss Harrison; she is said to have been ‘adored
by children’ which instantly presents her as being a lovable and caring figure in a typically maternal sort
of way. In addition, the narrator goes on to say ‘what she said was ‘given from above’, and what makes
this statement particularly effective is that it is a direct quotation taken from another person which
establishes that Miss Harrison was ‘adored’ by many of her own age as well as presents her as being a
heavenly and divine figure. Miss Harrison’s divinity is further typified by the narrator’s claim that she
was ‘worshipped by all visiting staff’; the narrator also interjects a formal aside saying that ‘men as well
as women’ revered her to emphasise the level of influence she had on her colleagues to the extent that
even men, who are expected to display less subordination towards any female authority, recognise her as
a figure to be admired and respected. The narrator’s venerating claims and mention of how others treated
her with the utmost respect give the reader an immensely positive impression of the headmistress.
As the passage develops, the narrator goes on to outline the many literary writers whom Miss Harrison
was well acquainted with such as the likes of Shakespeare,Emily Bronte and William Blake; this presents
Miss Harrison as being deeply intellectual and her passion for literature is reflected in the narrator’s
assertion that she encouraged her female students to ‘love music and poetry’ and that during class she
would ‘read aloud to them untiringly’; the adverb ‘untiringly’ demonstrates her assiduousness and
enthusiasm for her occupation and her advocacy of ‘music and poetry’ exemplify her adherence to ideas
about refinement and cultural elegance. What is more intriguing, however, is the way in which the
narrator notes how Miss Harrison in many ways challenged established traditions and briefly touches
upon the multidimensionality of her personality, which thus makes her character only more enthralling.
Later in the passage,the reader is presented with a slightly contrasting view of Miss Harrison’s character.
The narrator affirms that ‘with all Miss Harrison’s liberality and fresh air went a certain morbidity’, the
noun ‘morbidity’ carries with it connotations of mental instability and suggests that despite the
headmistress’s vast impressive qualities, she was nonetheless subject to personal weaknesses,but rather
than expanding upon the details of her setbacks,the narrator reverts to exalting her by complimenting her
maintainance of ‘hard work’ and being a ‘model to imitate’.
Towards the end of the passage,the point of focus is on Miss Harrison’s effect on female students and
Charlotte Mew in particular. Miss Harrison is said to have brought into her classroom ‘the sense of august

2. things’; this metaphoric statement evokes an idyllic and visual image of pleasant summer, which conveys
the warmness and exuberance of her presence,which the narrator also accomplishes through the use
pathetic fallacy. The three friends whom like Charlotte Mew are deeply moved by Miss Harrison’s
‘inexpressible charm’ are said to also possess a desire to become teachers,which demonstrates just how
much of an inspiration Miss Harrison was to her students as well as implies that they were much like her
proteges who, in the case of Charlotte Mew,even attempted to ‘dress like Miss Harrison’.
What makes Miss Harrison’s even more impressive is the way in which she challenges a particular
cultural more by keeping her ‘short’, which as well as being another feature Charlotte Mew imitates in
kindred spirit, is also a testament to her forward-thinkingness, modernity and non-conformist attitude
towards what was once an established norm in most societies which decreed that women should have long
hair as it was widely considered as being a symbol of their beauty; Miss Harrison challenges this notion
and the narrator deliberately mentions so in order to highlight her bohemian spirit.