English Literature Essay

Describe the contemporary education system as it appears at the beginning of Hard Times. How does Dickens show his distaste for this system up to the end up of chapter foursome? Hard Times is like several separate Dickens refresheds, its full of social criticism. penning in the 1850s, Charles Dickens was focusing mainly on the Industrial Revolution underway. As the backing suggests, this novel is all about harsh times. Dickens functions the principle of utilitarianism throughout the novel. Utilitarianism is a school of thought which argues that all humankind activity, including learning, should be useful in the practical sense.Dickens is a social critic and all his other novels criticise institutions in some way or another such as in Nicholas Nickelby. The title Hard Times suggests they were living in some really harsh times, what with industrialism on the way. Dickens philosophy is shaped from the characters in the book. The two businessmen believe in this philosophy which indicates that when you teach you have to use facts and calculations. This philosophy turns out to be a selfish one, which only focuses on practical learning. Dickens is truly aw ar and understands this society.He has produced three sections to their novel sowing, reaping and garnering. The sowing section is the laying down and scattering of the seeds, mainly the breeding and ideas. This means that you atomic number 18 planting them down for the future and allowing them to grow. The reaping section indicates the harvesting of the seeds and cutting them in mold for them to grow quicker. In other words, dickens has taken an agricultural view to portray how the teaching methods are affecting the children. The final section, garnering, is the considering of the lessons that are learned.There is a famous saying you reap what you sow. This utterly describes this situation with the system and Gradgrind. He reaps what hes sown, which is his family being torn apart at the end of the no vel. We learn that this system is a failing one. It is based mainly on utilitarianism and all they do is force out facts onto the children. The aim of the system is to create children who are like models or robots. Mr Thomas Gradgrind is a businessman who has lived by and supports utilitarianism in teaching.He owns a school which his daughter Louisa and son Thomas attend. The schools principles are also based on facts but as we realise up to the end of chapter four, this method isnt working. Dickens gives the name Gradgrind to show us that he is gradually grinding away the childrens freedom. I shall now analyse how dickens shows his distaste for this education system The first chapter is called The One Thing requisite. Dickens implies that the one thing needful is facts. He is being sarcastic and in doing so, hes also made the first letter of each word in capitals.