Jonathan Whitehead 10HJC 17/07/2008
Explore how Dickens presents the theme of education in the first two chapters of Hard Times. What point might he be making about the educational system of his day?
Dickens felt and believed that the educational system of his day was too utilitarian, that it was based too much on fact and reason. Also, he considered it to not be aesthetic enough, and not comprehensive enough.
Dickens used caricature to exaggerate Gradgrind, the third gentleman, M’Choakumchild, Sissy and Bitzer. Gradgrind is obviously caricatured. His name can be broken down into two parts: “Grad-” and “-grind”. “Grad-” being short for “gradual”/”gradually”, and “-grind” being “crush”, “break” or “wear away”. This embellishes his personal beliefs on teaching as hammering away at the children, or “pitchers”, to get them to know Facts. The capitalisation of “Facts” by Dickens shows us that they are revered by Gradgrind at an almost godly level. His figure is mocked: “the speaker’s square wall of a forehead” showing his forehead as a block, flat and plain; and “commodious cellarage in two dark caves, overshadowed by the wall” suggests that his eyes are set back and are obscured by his brow. Dickens uses tricolons to further exaggerate his tone and appearance; “the speaker’s mouth was wide, thin, and hard set”, “the speaker’s voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial”. This creates the impression that Gradgrind’s character is drab and dreary, and thus his company will be tedious and monotonous too. This exaggeration is aided by the repetition of “The emphasis was helped by…” Overall, Gradgrind is expressed by Dickens as being plain, boring, and a perfect stereotype of Utilitarianism, in that he is very factual, and, whilst he would have an interesting facial structure, his features are very boring.