'was a town of red bricks…'
The word 'was' in the above quote tells us that Coketown is no longer built of red brick because the smoke and ashes from chimneys has stained the building.
We are made to understand that Coketown is 'inhabited by people equally like one another.' This is because everyone especially children were educated to end up in the factories or workhouses, where they did almost the same thing.
Due to the 'smokes and ashes' that made Coketown a town of 'unnatural red and black', Dickens compares it to
'the painted face of a savage.'
The word 'savage'- which means fierce looking- in the above description, tells us that the buildings of Coketown are fierce looking and therefore is unattractive.
To create an image of his description in our mind, the features of Coketown have been described using colours. Dickens used the colour 'red' and 'black' to describe the unnaturalness of Coketown. The colour 'red' as we know is used to create a feeling of danger. Therefore, it puts across the information that the carbon (coke) produces from the 'tall chimneys', is dangerous to the surroundings of Coketown and its inhabitants. In the same way, the colour 'black' tells that the inhabitants are covered in darkness. Metaphorically, this means that they remain in the same situation day after day. They don't progress because the future is not clear but rather retreat.
Dickens also presents the classroom in a similar way to the town itself. He describes the classroom and Coketown as dull places because they don't have a variety of things happening. The scene of the classroom is described as
'a plain, bare, monotonous vault…'
The word 'monotonous' informs us that the same boring, tiresome things occur there consistently. This verifies the fact that 'gallons of facts' are poured into the children everyday.
Similarly to his description of the classroom, the buildings in Coketown are described as places
'where the piston of the steam-engine worked
monotonously up and down...'
Yet again the word 'monotonous' is repeated to emphasise that the same boring, tiresome things occur there, regularly.
Nevertheless, the description of Coketown and the classroom tells that it was really a hard time for people in the Victorian Times because they lived a tedious life.
Dickens descriptions are all of double symbols of Cecilia's' femininity and youth but most important, she represents Art in opposition to mechanisation as she's been forced to. Dickens, as we know so far, is arguing against a mode of factory like, grad-grinding production that takes the fun out of life. He's arguing that art requires an inquisitive and desiring mind by introducing us to Sissy who is still full of imaginations and admiration, which is a common and normal thing with girls of her age. Sissy is identified with light unlike Bitzer who devoid lights due to 'facts'. Dickens said
'the girl was so dark-eyed and dark-haired, that she seemed to receive a deeper
and more lustrous colour from the sun when it shone upon her…'
The above description tells us that Sissy's a normal child, who's peaceful and stands out. She's identified with 'fancy'. She admits that she would carpet a room with representations of flowers because she's 'fond' of them. She said:
'if you please, sir, I am very fond of flowers.'
She goes on to explain her reason but is taught by Mr. M'Choakumchild that she must not fancy and that she is
'to be in all things regulated and governed by facts'
When she was asked to give her definition of a horse, due to her sense of imagination, and shyness, she couldn't. This does not mean that she doesn't know 'one of the commonest animals' but that she can't give the full definition in 'facts'.
However, Bitzer (who has the name of a horse and a name which tells that he has bits of knowledge) is capable of defining a horse using biological classifications:
'Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders,
four eye-teeth and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring,
in marshly countries, shed hoops, too. Hoofs hard,
but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.'
Dickens is just beginning to make his point that education requires more than the learning and memorizing of facts.
Dickens presents Bitzer as a boy of fact as Mr. Gradgrind although his physical descriptions are the opposite of Sissy's. Unlike Sissy who is 'dark-eyed' and 'dark-haired', Bitzer is described as someone whose
'cold-eyes would hardly have been eyes, but for the short ends of lashes which,
by bringing them into immediate contrast with something paler
that themselves, expressed their form.'
The word 'cold' tells that Bitzer has no sense of fancy in him, which are the basics of life. He seems to be devoid of fun unlike Sissy, who believes in fancy. From his description, we are informed that he is not identified with light because Mr. M'Choakumchild, (whose name tells that he's responsible for choking the children with fact and also who has been conditioned to be boring), has successfully eradicated all about 'fancy' from him. Dickens tells us that
'…the boy was so light-eyed and light-haired that the self-shame rays appeared
to draw out of him what little colour he ever possessed.'
I assume that the expression 'self-shame rays' refers to Mr. M'Choakumchild and Mr. Gradgrind, who have eradicated from him the little sense of imagination and admiration he ever possessed, which is referred to as the 'little colour' in the above quote.
However, they are not to be blamed because they've been trained to do so. Dickens tells us that they were trained in the same manner. Dickens tells us that
'He and some one hundred and forty other school masters, had been lately
turned out the same time, in the same factory, on the same
principles. Like so many pianoforte legs.'
The above quote tells us that they were taught in the same way as they are doing now. Now, we can tell why Mr. Gradgrind called Sissy 'girl number twenty'. The quote tells us that Mr. M'Choakumchild and 'some one hundred and forty' were trained in the same way. The number is quite a large number; therefore they must have been identified with numbers as Sissy is. So calling Sissy 'girl number twenty' is recurring the way they were taught in their days.
Thomas Gradgrind, 'a man of realities' and 'a man of facts and calculations' who is a hard educator that grinds he students through a factory-like process, hoping to produce graduates, isn't very pleased with 'girl number twenty' as he calls her when she couldn't give the definition of a horse. Mr. Gradgrind tries to see everything as fact and therefore being regardless of what you're at home, said:
'Sissy is not a name. Don't call yourself Sissy. Call yourself Cecilia.'
He doesn't see the name Sissy as fact and decides to call her 'girl number twenty' because it sounds serious and fact like. When she failed to answer the question correctly, he used that opportunity to tell her that she is
'possessed of no facts, in reference to one of the commonest of animals.'
When he commanded: 'Give me your definition of a horse', we are told that 'Sissy Jupe was thrown into the greatest alarm by this demand.' Although she brought up the issue about a horse, when he asked 'what is your father' she's not to be blamed because as we all know show still has a sense of 'fancy' and is 'possessed of no facts' as Mr. Gradgrind said.
In contrast to the way he deals with Sissy, he seemed to be satisfied and delighted with the answer Bitzer gives him on a definition of a horse. When Bitzer answered the question, Mr. Gradgrind diverted his attention back to Sissy saying:
'You know what a horse is.'
He didn't comment on Bitzer's answer because his response to the question was based on 'facts.' By doing this, we are given the impression that he's pleased with Bitzer than Sissy.
The way Mr. Thomas Gradgrind treats Sissy and Bitzer differently, tells his view on facts. Dickens criticises the contents of lesson because the children were made to suffer in the name of education, which was of no use at all, to them.
Dickens describes Sissy and Bitzer differently to show us what children are like when they are not 'regulated and governed by facts' and what they seem to be when 'regulated and governed by facts' and also by people like Mr. Gradgrind whose name tells us their aim-which is to grind his students through a factory like process to produce graduates-grad.
Dickens criticises the fact that children should be as devoid of fun as Mr. M'Choakumchild to gain knowledge. He criticises the fact that children should go through the 'same principles', same 'immense variety of paces' and through 'volumes of head breaking questions' as Mr. M'Choakumchild did to gain knowledge. He does this because he believes that Mr. M'Choakumchild did not achieve anything in his so called career and therefore tries to tell the government that doing such to the children will not help them.
This is what Dickens is putting across by introducing people like Sissy and Mr. Gradgrind, who personally possess different views of the education system. Although Sissy is a child when compared to Mr. Gradgrind, we can see that she believes that everything in the world should be dealt with, in a mind of personal belief (which in her case is fancy).
Mr. Gradgrind's view of reality is so authentic that he won't accept anything outside its realm. That is why Dickens describes him as a 'man of realities' and a 'man of calculations and facts.' In my opinion, Mr. Gradgrind is a man that takes the beauty out of things and people.
Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. M'Choakumchild have influenced Bitzer. That is why Bitzer appears to be 'pale' and 'cold' from Dickens description. Although the terms he used in the definition of a horse are correct, personally, it doesn't reveal the beauty and grace of a horse. It rather pictures a horse as an unattractive, obnoxious animal.
In my opinion, I think Dickens has successfully made known his point of view by the words he used to describe people like Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. M'Choakumchild. By describing Mr.Gradgrind as 'a galvanizing apparatus' and as someone who has been 'charged with a grim mechanical substitute…' we can tell that he's not pleased with the genre of educational system in which the children were taught. By such description of these people that were regarded as government workers, we can tell that he's criticising the work of the government.