Martina Pucelj
Ljubica Matek, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Survey of English Literature II
May 26th, 2017
Education in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times
Charles Dickens is one of the most famous writers of the Victorian Age. This period is known for industrialization which brought about many problems. Workers were trying to fight for the rights which were taken from them. Dickens depicts this struggle in many of his works. In Hard Times he focuses on the new way of thinking, a result of the development of technology. The reader is introduced to the new philosophy applied to the upbringing of Victorian children, represented by Thomas Gradgrind and his off spring. This type of education had many negative effects on these young minds. One of them is dehumanization which is noticeable in the acts of Louisa and Tom Gradgrind. This research paper is going to focus on Dickens’ portrait of the Gradgrinds’ education and its
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She does not know how to react to such a situation so she asks her father about the appropriate and expected behavior: “’The question I have to ask myself is, shall I marry him? That is so, father, is it not? You have told me so, father. Have you not?'” (Dickens 89). She is aware of the fact that she does not love Bounderby and will never be able to do so, but she accepts nonetheless because it is the right thing to do considering Mr. Bounderby’s social status. Not once does the thought that one is supposed to love the person they are going to marry cross her mind. Her acceptance does not indicate any emotions. She is not thrilled or happy that she is going to become someone’s wife. She just does what she thinks should be done, as Barbara Hardy summarized: “She perversely represses her capacity for virtue, and tries to act out the utilitarian disregard for feeling which her education has held up as a model” (Hardy
Explore how Dickens makes his readers aware of poverty in A Christmas Carol One of the major themes in "A Christmas Carol" was Dickens' observations of the plight of the children of London's poor and the poverty that the poor had to endure. Dickens causes the reader to be aware of poverty by the use and type of language he uses. He uses similes and metaphors to establish clear and vivid images of the characters who are used to portray his message. Dickens describes his characters like caricatures. Dickens exaggerates characters characteristics in order to make his point and provide the reader with a long living memory.
Poverty is the Product of Child Labour and Juvenile Crime as seen in Charles Dickens’ “The Prisoner’s Van” and Henry Mayhew’s “Boy Crossing-Sweepers and Tumblers” The Industrial Revolution in Britain during the 18th Century required a higher demand for labourers which ultimately forced children part of the poor and working class to work in order to provide for themselves, or for their families in order to escape poverty. Further, “the economic and social difficulties associated with industrialization made the 1830s and 1840s a “Time of Troubles,” characterized by unemployment, desperate poverty, and rioting” (“The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age: Review: Summary”). Charles Dickens’ journalistic sketch, “The Prisoner’s Van,” focuses primarily on two sisters forced into prostitution by their mother, and also touches on a number of boys caught for pickpocketing. Henry Mayhew’s journalistic sketch “Boy Crossing Sweepers and Tumblers” focuses on the interview of a teenaged boy who works as a cross-sweep and tumbler in order to support himself, much like other boys in similar situations. The journalistic sketches of Dickens and Mayhew highlight the child labour and juvenile crime that was a product of poverty within the poor and working classes of early Victorian London.
Charles Dickens' literary works are comparable to one another in many ways; plot, setting, and even experiences. His novels remain captivating to his audiences and he draws them in to teach the readers lessons of life. Although each work exists separate from all of the rest, many similarities remain. Throughout the novels, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, the process of growing up, described by the author, includes the themes of the character's ability to alienate themselves, charity given to the characters and what the money does to their lives, and the differences of good and evil individuals and the effects of their influences.
Another man - we are not told who the man is or why he is present, are
The novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens offers a glimpse into the life and times during the industrial revolution in England during the nineteenth century. Dickens offers a wide range of characters from the upper class factory owner to the lowest class factory workers. He creates characters in this range of social classes and crafts this story that intertwines each person and their transformations throughout the novel. Almost every character in this story is complex and has characteristics that run deeper than their place in society, and this is what makes the novel so very important and intense. While there are many complexities linked to these characters, some do not appear to be as complex but in actuality they are. A strong example would be Josiah Bounderby, the wealthiest character in the novel.
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.
The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focussing mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Both of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology.
"Now what I want is facts… Facts alone are wanted in life… This is the
Hard times is set in the 1840’s in the North of England. It’s set at a
Social Classes of Industrial England in Charles Dickens' Hard Times In his novel, Hard Times, Charles Dickens used his characters to describe the caste system that had been shaped by industrial England. By looking at three main characters, Stephen Blackpool, Mr. Josiah Bounderby, and Mr. Thomas Gradgrind, one can see the different classes that were industrial England. Stephen Blackpool represented the most abundant and least represented caste in industrial England, the lower class (also called the hands) in Charles Dickens' novel. Stephen was an honest, hard-working man who came to much trouble in the novel, often because of his class.
Charles Dickens novel “Hard Times” is set during the Industrial Revolution and reflects life at that period of time. The novel reveals Dickens disapproval of the utilitarian education system, which involves teaching children nothing but facts. He shows his dislike through his language and tones the various settings of the main action and through spiraling character development. Dickens uses Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. McChoakumchild as examples of characters who teach children only facts. This is clearly demonstrated even in their names. The word Grind indicates that he is grinding down the children’s imaginations. It also illustrates that he is being very aggressive and forceful. Mr. McChoakumchild’s, name suggests to readers that he is chocking children and merely stuffing facts in their mind.
Mr. Gradgrind was a prominent school head that believed in “realities, facts, and calculations.” He is described as a cold-hearted man that strictly forbids the fostering of imagination and emotion, especially in his two children: Tom and Louisa (Dickens 5). Mr. Gradgrind raises his children in Coketown, a Capitalistic industrial town that Dickens calls, a waste-yard with “litter of barrels and old iron, the shining heaps of coals, the ashes everywhere, shrouded in a veil of mist and rain” (128). In this town that seems to be impenetrable to the sun’s rays, his children grow up lacking social connections, mor...
The death of God for many in the Victorian era due to scientific discoveries carried with it the implication that life is nothing more than a kind of utilitarian existence that should be lived according to logic and facts, not intuition or feeling – that without God to impose meaning on life, life is meaningless. Charles Dickens, in Hard Times, parodies this way of thought by pushing its ideologies and implications to the extreme in his depiction of the McChoakumchild School.
Sleary's people are shown by Dickens as leading lives which go against everything which Gradgrind represents and as such they are at first a kind of abomination to him. They are shown as people with a life of freedom, not constrained by the rigid set laws and hard facts which Gradgrind's philosophy is based upon. Not only just the physical freedom to roam the countryside almost at will, where Gradgrind is tied to Coketown. But also a mental freedom to enjoy life to the full with all it's spontaneity, unconditional emotions, imagination, failings, shortcomings and passions. Something which Gradgrind is shown not being able to comprehend until late on in the book. You get the feeling that their life on this world is to give pleasure to others at sometimes great risk to themselves "a pretty fair haired girl.......made a will at twelve" 1 , in a place where the "Hands" can e...
...ggles. Mr. Gradgrind’s two oldest children, Tom and Louisa, are examples of how a utilitarian method can fail horribly. Tom and Louisa were never given the opportunity to think for themselves, experience an adventurous life, or even use their imaginations. True, they are intelligent human beings but do not have the capability to understand street smarts. Dickens uses irony as a comical device but also to show how ineffective the utilitarian method of teaching is.