Throughout Dickens Hard Times, the idea of parental responsibility is explored. This concept is seen the relationships of Gradgrind and his children, Louisa and Tom and indirectly through the abandonment of Sissy by Signor Jupe. While the idea of parental responsibility covers a wide aspect, Dickens explores the parental responsibility to develop morality in children and the parental responsibility to realise faults as a parent.
A key character that displays the theme of parental responsibility is Thomas Gradgrind. Gradgrind is a middle-class business man who prides himself on believe that only fact, math and things that are measureable are deemed important. It is based on this belief that shapes the way in which he raises his children, Louisa and Tom. Gradgrind's parental responsibility or lack of, can clearly be seen through Louisa. As Louisa has been raised under the harsh rules of Gradgrind she has developed a lack of morality and a hatred for her father. This can be seen when Louisa confronts Gradgrind one night confessing her almost affair with Harthouse. This confession comes after Harthouse reveals his feelings for Louisa and asks her to run away. When Louisa confesses to Gradgrind, he realises that through his form of teaching and not allowing his children to explore anything other than the idea of fact, he has messed with their sense of morality. This realisation highlights Gradgrind's lack of parental responsibility concerning Louisa morality yet also shows his responsibility when accepting that he has influenced these choices made by Louisa.
Similarly Gradgrind's lack of parental responsibility is seen is through his child Tom. Like Louisa, Tom was raised based on Gradgrind's theory of believing only in fact a...
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...uestioned. Sissy is taken in by Gradgrind who gives her a job as a servant. While his teachings do not affect her in the same way as Louisa and Tom, the act of abandoning Sissy highlights Signor Jupe's lack of parental responsibility. By leaving Sissy to be taken care of by someone else he has neglected his responsibility to help her develop morality and emotional maturity.
It can be noted in Dickens Hard Times that he explores the ways in which the idea of parental responsibility can form and shape the choices of individuals. The notion of how circumstances and education can influence and change a person's morality and emotional maturity. These ideas are explored both indirectly and directly through Gradgrind and his children, Louisa and Tom and through Sissy. Dickens also emphasises how individuals can also notice the lack of parental responsibility and change.
The way Victor explains his parents' relationship to Walton, also portrays a very passive, nourishing, mother who is incapable of taking care of herself so that Victor's father "came as a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care." The relationship between his parents also points out the passiveness and dependence of women.
Thesis: Through the flawed characteristics of Tom and Daisy as well as the irresponsible actions of Jordan in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, it is evident that the theme “wealth can breed carelessness” causes certain characters to forget about their responsibilities and minimizes any potential forethought.
In this essay, I will argue that one of the underlying motives in Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the reinforcement of Christian values in 18th century Victorian England. Dickens was very concerned with the accepted social norms of industrialized England, many of which he felt were very inhumane. Christian values were challenged, largely due to the recent publication of Darwin's Origins of a Species, and philosophy along with literature was greatly affected. In 1859, the industrial age was booming, making many entrepreneurs rich. However, the majority of the lower economic class remained impoverished, working in unsafe and horrific environments as underpaid factory workers. Additionally, child labor was an accepted practice in Victorian England's factories. Dickens, who worked, as a child in a shoe polish factory, detested this social convention with such strength that only one with experience in such exploitation could.
By any contemporary standards of behavior, Griselda actions are reprehensible; not only does she relinquish all semblances of personal volition, she deserts all duties of maternal guardianship as she forfeits her daughter and son to the--in so far as she knows--murderous intent of her husband. Regardless of what we think of her personal subservience to Walter, the surrendering of her children is a hard point to get around. Even the ever-testing Marquis himself, at his wife's release of their second child says he would have suspected her of malice and hardness of her heart had he not known for sure that she loved her children (IV 687-95). It is little wonder our students, in whom we try to foster a sense of personal responsibility and human sensitivity, initially find Griselda an insipid and morally reprehensible wimp.
Every person reaches a point in their lives when they must define themselves in relation to their parents. We all come through this experience differently, depending on our parents and the situation that we are in. For some people the experience comes very early in their lives, and can be a significant life changing experience. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Colonel Sartoris Snopes must decide either to stand with his father and compromise his integrity, or embrace honesty and morality and condemn his family. This is a difficult decision to make, especially for a ten year old boy that has nothing outside of what his father provides. Sarty’s decision to ultimately betray his father is dependent on his observation of Abner’s character and the conflict he feels concerning Abner.
Here, Dickens focuses on the word “suffering”, to reinforce the idea that being wealthy, which is related to being better than other, a materialistic view of society is not what gives happiness, but the surroundings and
In her first week as a maid Griet faces a plethora of challenges that will follow her throughout her stay in the Vermeer household. While most members of the house take well to the new maid, a few have an immediate aversion to Griet. Cornelia, one of the children, and Catharina both seem to dislike Griet and give her a great deal of trouble in the beginning. However, much to Catharina’s dismay, Griet seems to flourish while working in the Vermeer household.
In addition to Tom being unfaithful, He is consumed with wealth and the ways it was obtained. Tom does not see Gatsby as an equal, even though they both have wealth; the only differences about the wealth are as follows: the ways the wealth was obtained and how
Charles Dickens did not begin his life as a humble middle class child. In fact it was quite the oppisite. He was born in Portsmouth, England in 1812. He was the second child of John and Elizabeth Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Navy pay office, In 1817 Charlews got the first taste of the life he would so strongly desire latter in his life. His family moved to Chatham a small portown in England. Charles enjoyed all the comforts of a humble middle class life. Fresh country air, decent schooling, and books to read on sunny afternoons. It was a short idyll, John Dickens money supply was lacking. He was recalled to London and forced to put his family of 6 in a small, smelly, bleak house in the ugly suburb of Camden town. Then in 1824 a event that shaped Charles Dickens view’s on the world occurred. His family increasingly needing of money, sent there second born child to work in a Warren’s Blackening factory . He worked beside ragged urchins, where paserby’s could see him working through the window. The factory was a foul rat infested palace next to the Thames river. Charles was then abandoned by his parents, John Dickens was arrested for debt, and moved himself and his family into the Marshalsea prison, exceppt for charles who was forced to survive on his own on the streets of London. A place where only have the children raised on them would survive to adulthood. Charles proved to be quite adept at surving for a few months when his father was released thanks to an inheritance, but much to Charles dissappointment his mother forced him to remain at the blackening factory.
Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last novel, exposes the reality Dickens is surrounded by in his life in Victorian England. The novel heavily displays the corruption of society through multiple examples. These examples, that are planted within the novel, relate to both the society in Dickens' writing and his reality. In order to properly portray the fraud taking place within his novels, Dickens' uses morality in his universe to compare to the reality of society. He repetitively references to the change of mind and soul for both the better and the worst. He speaks of the change of heart when poisoned by wealth, and he connects this disease to the balance of the rich and the poor. This is another major factor to novel, where the plot is surrounded by a social hierarchy that condemns the poor to a life of misery, and yet, condones any action that would normally be seen as immoral when it occurs in the aristocracy. It expands on the idea that only an education and inheritance will bring success in society, with few exceptions. Lastly, Dickens expands his opinions of society through his mockery of ...
Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a broad spectrum of moral and social views demonstrated by various characters. At one end, is Tom, a man who attacks Gatsby's sense of propriety and legitimacy, while thinking nothing of running roughshod over the lives of those around him. A direct opposite of Tom's nature is Gatsby, who displays great generosity and caring, yet will stop at nothing to achieve his dream of running off with Daisy. The moral and emotional characteristics of Gastby and Tom are juxtaposed, Tom, the immoral character and Gastby, the moral character while the other characters' moral and emotional developments appear between these two.
To conclude, in order for children to succeed in life Charles Dickens felt their needs must be met. Through his portrayal of child characters in the novel, Great Expectations, Dickens' demonstrates how adults rarely, nor adequately provided for these particular needs that children have. It seems as long as they remain children, that the child characters in Great Expectations will be unhappy. There is no question that children were, in fact, his favourite subjects; and that many of his characters.
Qualities of characters observed in all characters of the Wingfield family are not that rare to find in today’s world. Many families seem to live in distress due to one or the other defect in the quality of a member of the family. Laura’s unsociable and shy characters can often be seen through many children. Amanda’s pushy character or high expectations from her children is also quite common in many mothers. Tom’s character of an ambitious young man, who likes to chase his dreams but is strangled in the family due to his responsibilities towards the family, is often found in many
“Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else” (Dickens 5). So says Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, the proponent of a Utilitarian educational philosophy in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times. Cold, hard facts are what Mr. Thomas Gradgrind’s philosophy consists of, and cold hard facts are exactly what Tom and Louisa Gradgrind are raised on. They are taught by their father and by society to live their lives based on these facts. They are instructed to conduct themselves in accordance to them and nothing else. As stated by Taylor Stoehr, “Tom and Louisa Gradgrind are products of the Gradgrindian system, raised in Stone Lodge, taught in the school of hard facts, model grindings off the parent stone” (Stoehr 171). As a result of being raised in the loveless atmosphere of Stone Lodge and in accordance with the strictly enforced rules of the Gradgrindian system, Tom and Louisa are deprived of opportunities to cultivate imagination, emotions, and “fancy” (Dickens 5). The children are themselves fragmented and insufficient fragments who have been formed by a hard system of hard facts. By blocking every available outlet for the interplay of fantasy and emotion, Mr. Gradgrind unintentionally generates two extreme outcomes for his children. Even though the Gradgrind philosophy has completely different effects on Tom and Louisa Gradgrind, it ultimately deprives them both of the happiness that only a balance between the wisdom of the Head and the wisdom of the Heart can create.
Characters who yearn for appreciation, the portrayal of a depressing ambiance, and the repetition of buried guilt are a few resemblances of the Masterpiece rendition of Great Expectations and Dickens’ novel. In both adaptations, many characters struggle with the loneliness and troubles of life. Although life’s issues differ from when the novel was written until now, the audience can still relate to the characters. This classic story has traveled through many era’s and the moral is still understandable to all people who have enjoyed the tale in its many different formats. It is especially relatable to those who have struggled to cope with the challenges of life.