Hard times Essay Examples Page 3

In chapter 2, “Murdering the Innocents” Dickens uses the title- a quotation from Matthew 2:16- ironically as it describes the attitude and actions of the school, “murdering” the children’s imagination and creativity. The chapter starts with the speaker from chapter whose name is “Thomas Gradgrind. ” He describes the character’s attitude with no verbs. This…

Chapter 1 ‘One thing needful’ starts the book off by introducing Mr Gradgrind’s character. The Chapter is set in the local school of Coketown; a small mining town. Set in the 1800’s this book was first published in 1854. Some say this book reflected dickens own childhood more than fiction, much like ‘David Copperfield’. Charles…

Bitzer is a pupil at Mr Gradgrind’s school. As we learn in later chapters, he is a bully and is quite offensive to other children. In chapter 2 Gradgrind asks Bitzer for his definition of a horse after Sissy is unable to define it exactly how Gradgrind has taught it. We learn that Bitzer is…

“In Hard Times exactly the same spiritual failings underlie the problems of industrial society, a mechanistic education system and the inability of men and women to achieve fulfilling relationships.’ Discuss Charles Dickens (1812-1870), spent his childhood in the rural town of Kent where he was very happy. However, his family met financial problems and his father…