⚫ Education - as hard discussed in Hard Times - How do you see it in today's context ?
⚫ Charles Dickens ⚫
Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.
Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most of them published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens improved the character with positive features. His plots were carefully constructed and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives.Masses of the illiterate poor would individually pay a halfpenny to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.
⚫ Hard Times ⚫
Hard Times: For These Times is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys English society and satirises the social and economic conditions of the era.
One of Dickens's reasons for writing Hard Times was that sales of his weekly periodical Household Words were low, and it was hoped the novel's publication in instalments would boost circulation – as indeed proved to be the case. Since publication it has received a mixed response from critics. Critics such as George Bernard Shaw and Thomas Macaulay have mainly focused on Dickens's treatment of trade unions and his post–Industrial Revolution pessimism regarding the divide between capitalist mill owners and undervalued workers during the Victorian era. F. R. Leavis, a great admirer of the book, included it – but not Dickens's work as a whole – as part of his Great Tradition of English novels.
⚫ Education -
Dickens uses many techniques throughout the novel to show his views on education to his readers, the first of which is to create different characters, some of which contrast each other in different ways . Two of such Characters are Sissy Jupe and Bitzer. They differ in the ways they have been taught and the ways they see the education system.
Hard times is set in the 1840’s in the North of England. It’s set at a time when Britain is changing dramatically because of the Industrial Revolution, which is mainly affecting this part of Britain. This revolution moved much of the work from the country into towns and cities, and small cramped villages were built around the factories and mills to house the workers. Dickens novel ‘hard times’ was set during this time.
Bitzer is a model student, he has always strictly followed the system and been taught exactly how the system requires him to be taught. He is shown as lifeless and colourless. When asked, Bitzer describes a Horse as a ‘Quadruped’ and ‘graminivorous’ and gives endless facts about the animal. Although this description is very factual and impressive, the use of long complex words and the amount of facts show that he has simply been taught these facts, and probably has never even seen a Horse. Sissy on the other hand does not understand how to factually define a Horse when asked, this is because
she has been brought up with Horses all her life and they are too familiar and important to her just to be described in facts. This is one way that Dickens tries to show to his audience that this type of education is wrong, the teaching of bare facts limits the imagination of the student and a more practical way of teaching, like Sissy has had, would help the children understand the facts that they are being taught, instead of just learning them.
Dickens also shows the characters of some of the staff at the school to make his views known. Mr Gradgrind is the first to be introduced and Dickens portrays him as ‘squared’ , both in his appearance and character, he reveals little about him apart from the fact he is rigid, and has little individuality. Mr Gradgrind believes in teaching facts and ‘facts alone’. Mr Gradgrind is a very stubborn and self-proud man with. He addresses Sissy as ‘girl number twenty’. He gives no individuality to the students, and as with the teachers, Mr Gradgrind sees the students to have no personality and are all the same.
Dickens creates the name ‘ M’Choakumchild which alone seems to pose a threat to the children.
Dickens also uses a long list of complicated subjects like ‘Orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody, to satirise the education system and show that it is ridiculous to teach young children such things. In effect Dickens says that the teachers had been over taught and maybe if M’ Choakumchild had ‘learnt a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!’ This is saying that if there was slightly less room for facts in his brain there would be more room for thought.
Gradgrind’s children, Thomas and Louisa, demonstrate Dickens views best of all, as they are the ones that are being effected by the education system. As far as education goes Thomas and Louisa are deemed to have the best, as their father is a very knowledgeable man. They have a ‘model house’ and they are seen as ‘model children’. But still they are not complete, Dickens suggests to the reader that the children lack imagination and fun.
According to today's context I found that Dickens believes that children should be taught to use their imagination and to think for themselves as well as being taught facts. And he asked believes that the attitude from the education staff towards learning is wrong, so , they believe that to be the perfect student is to know a great deal of facts, and to think for themselves is not an issue; but Dickens does not believe this.
⚫ Marriage -
Charles Dickens presents that the marriage issue needs to be probed more in so far as Dickens presents the characters of both Bounderby and Stephen Blackpool. The latter is invested by the novelist with an impeccable nature, unquestionable integrity, and unfailing virtue. While he leaves the factory to work at some other place due to his troubled family life, he becomes a target of the leader of the labourers Slackbridge’s scorn. On the other hand, when he refuses to divulge any secrets about the workers’ plans regarding strike or other means of protest, he is equally shunned by Bounderby. Moreover, the way he is implicated by young Tom in the bank robbery invites the sympathy of the readers.
Bounderby’s whole story of success and childhood is exposed when his real mother is brought before his eyes and shatters his hollow claims. His mother, Mrs. Pegler’s revelations prove Bounderby to be a sham and it is learnt that his mother was not dead and he was equally loved by both the parents. She further exposes that her husband died when Bounderby was eight years old and his grandmother died when he was not even born. What is more painful for the mother in all this is that he had forced her not to tell anybody about his childhood and had even forbidden her to meet him though he would provide her thirty pounds per annum. Such insensitivity towards his mother is unbecoming and cannot be spared. He deprives his mother of her motherly affection for all these years by simply giving her money. Relation, that too of a mother and son, is sacrificed at the altar of mammon worship. Stripped of human values, Bounderby fails to acknowledge the power of human love and human relations, be it with his mother, his wife Louisa, or his friend Thomas Gradgrind.
The other case under consideration is that of Bounderby and Louisa. Though much is said earlier, it is important to contrast the character of the banker with that that of Stephen. His very first appearance and conversation with Mrs. Gradgrind portrays him as haughty due to his success and ‘the self mad man’ ranting. He rues how his mother left him with his grandmother who would treat him most cruelly and would even sell his tattered shoes to drink. She would drink four teens in breakfast.
There are many unequal and unhappy marriages in Hard Times, including those of Mr. and Mrs. Gradgrind, Stephen Blackpool and his unnamed drunken wife, and most pertinently, the Bounderbys. Louisa agrees to marry Mr. Bounderby because her father convinces her that doing so would be a rational decision. He even cites statistics to show that the great difference in their ages need not prevent their mutual happiness. However, Louisa’s consequent misery as Bounderby’s wife suggests that love, rather than either reason or convenience, must be the foundation of a happy marriage.
So , in today's context we can say that However, Dickens largely appeals for happy married lives as there is no use living with a person when life turns out to be a real hell devouring all happiness. It is for this reason that he dealt with the marriage laws in his Household Words and advocated lenient laws so that not only women but also men could find an escape from an otherwise caged existence.
click here for full context of marriage and divorce of Hard Times.
⚫Industrialism
In Hard Times Dickens sharply criticizes the poor living conditions of the working class in industrial towns. He depicts life in a fictive industrial town Coketown as a symbol for a typical industrial town in Northern England of that time. It is a place full of exploitation, desperation and oppression. Soot and ash is all over the town; it is a dirty and suffocating place.
In Coketown, machines cause great pollution. The industrial workers have no chance of progress in life. The upper-middle class ignores their misery and denies imagination and creativity . Utilitarianism exerts mechanization of society and human mind. The character of Sissy Jupe represents the personification of fact vs. fancy conflict, she tries hard to learn facts, but is unable to, she freely thinks and imagines. She is the most stable character because she succeeds to find balance between the two. Dickens points out the flaws and limitation of the newly created industrial society and the necessity of social reform.
In today's digital era women can counteract the mechanizing effects of industrialization.During the Victorian era, women were commonly associated with supposedly feminine traits like compassion, moral purity, and emotional sensitivity. Hard Times suggests that because they possess these traits, women can counteract the mechanizing effects of industrialization. when Stephen feels depressed about the monotony of his life as a factory worker, Rachael’s gentle fortitude inspires him to keep going. He sums up her virtues by referring to her as his guiding angel. Similarly, Sissy introduces love into the Gradgrind household, ultimately teaching Louisa how to recognize her emotions. Indeed, Dickens suggests that Mr. Gradgrind’s philosophy of self-interest and calculating rationality has prevented Louisa from developing her natural feminine traits. Perhaps Mrs. Gradgrind’s inability to exercise her femininity allows Gradgrind to overemphasize the importance of fact in the rearing of his children. On his part, Bounderby ensures that his rigidity will remain untouched since he marries the cold, emotionless product of Mr. and Mrs. Gradgrind’s marriage. Through the various female characters in the novel, Dickens suggests that feminine compassion is necessary to restore social harmony.
👉click here to listen Full audiobook of "Hard Times"
👇Here is the full video of Hard Times by Charles Dickens
⚫ Characters
12224
⚫ Words
2017
⚫ Sentences
107
⚫ Paragraphs
32
No comments:
Post a Comment