Basing your answer on a detailed discussion of two episodes from hard times - book the first sewing - discuss Thomas gradgrind's role and significance in the novel.

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English                                                                                           Vicky Maberley LVI        

BASING YOUR ANSWER ON A DETAILED DISCUSSION OF TWO EPISODES FROM HARD TIMES – BOOK THE FIRST SEWING – DISCUSS THOMAS GRADGRIND’S ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE IN THE NOVEL

“Hard Times” is a book written by Charles Dickens and is set in the fictional city of Coketown. In the book Dickens puts across his views about Victorian society through his characterisation of the individuals in the story. The two episodes I will discuss in this essay are, chapter one and chapter six when Gradgrind informs Louisa of a marriage proposal from Bounderby.

I have chosen these two episodes to draw from when discussing Gradgind’s nature and his portrayal in the novel as they show a progression in his character. In chapter one, Gradgrind, who is not yet named, is shown as a harsh, unattractive figure with a, “square forehead”. His angular face with its’, “cave” shaped eyes, square, “wall” of a forehead and, “a plantation of firs” for hair reflects the, “plain, bare, monotonous schoolroom” which stands before him. This shows him to be full of facts just as the schoolroom is. The emphasis of the contrast between fact and imagination is portrayed in this chapter through the speaker, Gradgrind, and the narrator. The narrator’s speech is full of imaginative language and uses plenty of metaphors and similes, for example, “while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves”. This strongly contrasts with the speaker’s matter-of-fact language, “Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are what are wanted from life”. The word, “Fact” is emphasized by its capital letter, this bursts out at the reader, making this their lasting impression of Gradgrind. It is clear that in this episode Dickens, through the characterisation of Gradgrind, is reflecting his views on the education system. He uses Gradgrind, portraying him as a harsh, unattractive, threatening man, to reflect the education system in the Victorian period. He emphasizes the learning of facts and the lack of any imagination through phrases such as, “The speaker, the schoolmaster and the third grown person present, all backed a little, and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels, then and there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim”. This phrase tells the reader that they will be so full of facts that they will be devoid of everything else, the word, “vessels” also de-personalises the children emphasizing that they will be like fact filled drones.

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Chapter six shows a dramatic change in the way the reader viewed Gradgrind in chapter one. This chapter is very complicated in the terms of Gradgrind’s characterisation. There are three main contrasts in this chapter, that between Gradgrind and Sleary, that between Bounderby and Sleary and that between Gradgrind and Bounderby. These contrasts are very clever as they show Gradgrind to be kinder than Bounderby, which has not been shown in the past, but also show that Gradgrind is not as kind as Sleary who, incidentally is full of imagination (another contrast with Gradgrind to show that being ...

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