What literarytechniques does Charles Dickens employ in order to satirise the education system of Victorian England in the opening chapters of hard times?

What literary techniques does Charles Dickens employ in order to satirise the education system of Victorian England in the opening chapters of hard times? Hard times was wrote by Dickens about the Victorian education system. In the Victorian era the education system was very different with classes containing up to 50 pupils. Education was also only for the wealthy as there was definite class structures in place, with people either being very rich or very poor. Throughout the first two chapters of Hard Times, Dickens uses the literary technique known as satirise. He uses it to mock the education system, which he feels was pointless. In the following paragraphs I am going to look at the techniques that Charles Dickens uses to mock the system. Some of the techniques I am going to explore consist of; exaggeration, metaphors and personal comments made by Dickens himself. In the opening two chapters of Hard Times we get a strong negative image of the education system of that time. Dickens portrays it to be both wrong in the way it is taught and that it has very dangerous effects on the recipients. We see from the opening three sentences, namely, "NOW, all I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life." The sentences are quick and sharp and they simply show how the education system is wrong. Children are programmed with short sharp

  • Word count: 1198
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Hard Times was one of Dickens novels that focuses mainly on the education system and industrialisation.

Hard Times Essay Hard Times was one of Dickens’ novels that focuses mainly on the education system and industrialisation. Dickens was furious about the changes in industrialisation throughout the Victorian period and this motivated him enormously to write the novel. Industrialisation meant that working conditions were poor and it had a massive impact on the way schools were run. Dickens hated Victorian schools; he saw the Victorian education system as boring and monotonous and often wrote essays to show his anger and frustration at the government and those responsible for what he saw as the poor schooling techniques. Dickens creates Coketown in this novel and it is used as a representation of the government at that time and is seen as a perfect world for the fact obsessed characters but the novel explores how this way of living is not healthy. Dickens suggests that facts have become a way of life, like a religion, which was very unacceptable for that time because in the Victorian period people were especially religious and that facts were taking over a religion would have been seen as disgusting Dickens suggests that English towns around the industrialized era are ugly, polluted and debilitated, he suggests this because facts, repetition and the lack of individuality was taking over, one of the ways he achieves this is through his description of coketown.

  • Word count: 1603
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Hard Times Essay

Hard Times How does Dickens show his dislike for the education system in Hard Times? What is the effect of this system on Louisa? Does she manage to resist her very utilitarian upbringing? In the novel Hard Times, set in 'Coke Town' written in 1854, Dickens explores his own ideas of the poverty-ridden, factory towns of the 19th century Industrial Revolution. The book is based on family and it also shows the detail of the social standards of the time, poverty, the difficulty of life and the tough education system. Education at this time was difficult and hard to enjoy for those children who wanted to explore fantasy and surrealism; those with active or overactive imaginations. The reason was that the education system at this time was purely factual. The education that Louisa and her younger brother Thomas receive in this book is an education based on facts, this Charles Dickens seems to detest. I think Dickens may not have liked this type of education because it eliminated all sorts of fantasy and surrealism. Being a fiction author, I think that he would find this annoying as he used his imagination to create his books. I think this may be one of his motives for writing the book. One of the main characters in the book itself, Thomas Gradgrind (Senior) states that the education of children should be 'Facts, facts, facts,' nothing more, nothing less than facts. His young

  • Word count: 1830
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Dickens' view of the conflict of Fact and Fancy in children's education. When Dickens was a very young child, he would think about anything a normal child would think about

Dickens' view of the conflict of Fact and Fancy in children's education. When Dickens was a very young child, he would think about anything a normal child would think about. E.g. castles and dragons, this is the world of fancy, but this is also in conflict with, his education at school, the world of fact. The world of fact is a name for how the children of those times were taught; they wouldn't talk about anything to do with the world of fancy, only facts were useful for their future job so only facts were taught. In Dickens' book Hard Times he describes this method of teaching as having one part of their "tender young imaginations" replaced by a "grim mechanical substitute." This also relates to the title of the chapter, 'Murdering the Innocents' Thomas Gradgrind also numbers his pupils, "Girl number twenty" like machinery, computer 1 and computer 2.Again, Dickens shows how Gradgrind's style of education turns the children into an object rater than a person by giving them numbers. At the end of Chapter 1 he referred to the children as vessels "then and they're arranged in order," he must have been referring to this numbering system. In modern times in the army, a solider in training is referred to as a "jarhead", an empty "vessel" that is filled only with useful information (fact) and is emptied of all useless information (fancy). This could be used to state that the

  • Word count: 635
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Hard times Coursework

English Coursework Hard Times Introduction The novel 'hard times' is a semi industrialist scenario set in a north English town in the fashion of Preston, its title of semi industrialist is well earned, as many machine descriptions and industry related material was erased from the original script due to its all too close resemblance to an industrialist novel. Nevertheless the story has a strong industrial feel to it, with the entire city depending on the machines for jobs, wage and food, with the mill owners having complete power over the workers and dominating almost every aspect possible of their lives, believing this to be the true way to the ideal, however in the opening chapters the methods of turning workers into a driving force do not set on the same principles as raising or teaching children, for the early years emotions are allowed to flourish and an understanding of a humane life of ideas and imagination can begin, this issue of utilitarianism was debated all across England, as well as worker rights and trade unions. This story follows the lives of different people whose lives are changed over the story's duration, the more detailed description and analysis can be found below Characters The character of Thomas Gradgrind the elder is complex and multi levelled, on one hand there is a father willing to do what's best for his children, however this may affect

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Examine Dickens' presentation of the education system in 'Hard Times'.

Examine Dickens' presentation of the education system in 'Hard Times'. 'Hard Times' was written in the Victorian period around 1854 when work had became more important. Coketown is meant to represent a typical Victorian town where people were rapidly moving, to work in the mills. However there was no housing for these people and the town is very polluted. Life for the working class was hard; they became a 'unit' with no identity. In 'Hard Times' they are referred to as 'the hands' indicating they have lost their identity in the factory system and are only valued for their ability to work and produce goods using their hands. They worked long hours, many doing dangerous tasks, for very little money and lived in poor accommodation. The rich Victorians, generally, were in charge of the poor and could control them. The rich people lived in big houses, had access to entertainments like the theatre and could have their children home tutored. In this period there was no state funded education system, however many factory owners set up schools in towns for their workers children. This is the case in 'Hard Times'. Charles Dickens was appalled at the conditions for the working class and wrote the novel to show the middle and upper classes just how bad the conditions were. He hoped that after reading 'Hard Times' they would sympathise and understand the working class, and improve

  • Word count: 3719
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"With careful attention to 2-3 episodes in Hard Times, show how Dickens presents and criticises the Gradgrindian view of education".

"With careful attention to 2-3 episodes in Hard Times, show how Dickens presents and criticises the Gradgrindian view of education". "Now what I want is facts... Facts alone are wanted in life... This is the principles on which I bring up my own children." In the opening paragraph of the novel Thomas Gradgrind gives us an uncompromising and utilitarian view of what education and childhood should be. Dickens shows us that by the end of the novel the idea of education has flaws and causes grief and heartache to Gradgrind and his family. The two main characters that promote this system of education are Mr Bounderdy and Mr Gradgrind. "Square forefinger... square wall of a forehead... square coat, square legs, square shoulders... Squarely pointing with his square forefinger" this humorous exaggerated description of Mr Gradgrind by Dickens in the first two chapters of the novel gives a view of the person that mainly installs this system of education. "I was born with inflammation of the lungs, and of everything else... everybody of all ages knocked me about and starved me". Mr Bounderby is not as demanding but boastful and more extreme about his view and how he grew up. This gives a perfect team to run the system of education. From the irony and exaggeration used in the description of both the two leaders way of looking at the school children "looking into all the little

  • Word count: 726
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Hard Times by Charles Dickens - How he mocked the educational system in the 1900's.

Hard Times by Charles Dickens - How he mocked the educational system in the 1900's TASK: What literary techniques does Charles Dickens employ in order to satirise the educational system of Victorian England in the opening chapters of 'Hard Times' The main literary techniques used by Charles Dickens is his use of exaggeration throughout the extract. Dickens exaggerates the names of the characters and the description of the characters to the point of ridiculousness. In doing this Dickens makes the opening of the novel stupidly hilarious getting the reader hooked into the novel making them read on for example "the speakers hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the wind from it's shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie". Dickens is trying to make the point that the educational system in the victorian time is wrong and dangerous for example "this is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle I bring up these children. "Stick to facts," The teacher Mr. Gradgrind is hooked on facts and he believes that everything evolves around facts and only facts. He even believes that to fancy something is a fact and to have taste is a fact. ! "We hope to have , before long, a board of fact, composed of commissioners of fact, who will force people to be a people o fact, and nothing but

  • Word count: 1162
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Hard Times - Charles Dickens: 'Discuss the theme of education in Hard Times'

Hard Times - Charles Dickens 'Discuss the theme of education in Hard Times' Charles Dickens was a great author of the 19th Century and his books are recognised and loved nation wide. Many people understand the meaning to his books, as they are not just plain fiction. In the novel Hard Times Dickens intensely criticises the British system of education and how it has evolved over the years: the 19th Century philosophy of 'Utilitarianism'. Dickens believed this system was a failure, as it changed children's minds and morals, and it is this novel that he attempts to show the horrors that this system has created. A principle was formed by Jeremy Bentham, the eighteenth century philosopher, calculating 'the greatest good for the greatest number'. This theory explained that self-interest was the primary motivating force behind all human conduct; people strived for pleasure and tried in vain to avoid pain. Bentham advocated a system of calculation known as 'moral arithmetic'. This was used whenever a decision had to be made about a particular choice of action, be it an individual deed or a law affecting million. The equation was a simple one: pleasure vs. pain. If all the factors fell in the direction of pleasure for the greatest number then the appropriate course of action was adopted. However, it failed to take account of the happiness and well-being of those who did not belong

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Discussing Hard Times By Charles Dickens.

Simone Michalik 10AGR 'Hard Times' 'Hard Times is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was created in sections; Sowing, Reaping and Cornering. Education was very strict and normal with opinions being forbidden. Gradgrind states "Facts alone are wanted in life" The school was not a stimulating place and you weren't allowed to get your point across, there are also all different ages in one classroom. It was a dark and gloomy room and there was no communication between the teacher and the pupils. The pupils were numbered and never named, by there proper name. You were not praised if you did well but Gradgrind was pleased with Bitzer as he corrects sissy by saying a factual answer to the definition of a horse. Gradgrind's view on education was opinions aren't wanted and to be successful in life all you need are facts. Gradgrind say's "what I want is facts." Tom and Louisa are brought up on facts. They don't socialize or go out and see what happens outside of the house. They are lonely children. They want to see what happens outside the house so they go out to the circus that comes to their town. Where they see Sissy. Gradgrind cannot believe it! When he finds Tom and Louisa he says "With the whole of science before you..." When they get back he sends Tom and Louisa to do some more work

  • Word count: 661
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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